Person

Emile Berliner

Emile Berliner developed the gramophone and promoted flat disc records as an alternative to cylinder-based sound recording.

Period
1850
Known for
Gramophone and disc records
Historical contribution

What Berliner contributed

His lateral-cut disc system separated recording from the manufacture of duplicate copies, helping recorded sound become a reproducible commercial medium.

Why it mattered

Disc records supported mass duplication, catalogues and a durable recorded-music industry.

Connected topics

Where this fits in ITEM

Evidence

Sources and further reading

  1. Edison’s Talking Machine

    Smithsonian National Museum of American History

    Open source ↗

  2. From the Recording Registry: Phonautograms

    Library of Congress

    Open source ↗

  3. History of the Cylinder Phonograph

    Library of Congress

    Open source ↗

  4. Phonautograms,

    Library of Congress, National Recording Preservation Board

    Open source ↗

  5. The Gramophone

    Library of Congress

    Open source ↗

  6. Volta Laboratory experimental recording and graphophone collections

    Smithsonian Institution

    Open source ↗