But the inventor of the record player, the genius Thomas Edison, did not envision his audio device being used for such a frivolous purpose. Apparently he felt his invention was too serious for the purposes of entertainment.
According to Jared Diamond, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, playing recorded music was not what Edison had in mind when he invented the wondrous device that became an essential electronic accessory for teenagers when I was growing up.
“When Edison built his first phonograph in 1877, he published an article proposing ten uses in which his invention might be put. They included preserving the last words of dying people, recording books for blind people to hear, announcing clock time, and teaching spelling. Reproduction of music was not high on Edison’s list of priorities.”
The record industry in the 20th Century would become a multi-billion dollar business, but Edison evidently didn’t think his contribution was worth that much. A few years after developing the phonograph, Edison reportedly “told his assistant that his invention had no commercial value,” according to Diamond’s book “Guns, Germs, and Steel; The Fates of Human Societies.”
“Within another few years he changed his mind and did enter business to sell phonographs – but for use as office dictating machines. When other entrepreneurs created jukeboxes by arranging for a phonograph to play popular music at the drop of a coin, Edison objected to the debasement, which he apparently felt detracted from serious office use of his invention.
But as Gloria Estephan would predict many years later when she sang, “The Rhythm is Gonna Get You,” Edison did eventually come around.
“Only after about 20 years did Edison reluctantly conclude that the main use of his phonograph was to record and play music.”
He was man of great vision but I wonder if even he could have ever have imagined that almost a century and half after his creation that a lot of us would still be spinning musical discs.