Since the history of recorded sound traces back to the early 1800's, many a book can (and has been) written on the topic. Rather than give a detailed history of everything dealing with the development of vinyl records, I will instead stick to the basics, and trace a narrow path based mostly on the materials used to record sound.

Though the first successful phonograph was patented by Thomas Edison on Christmas Eve, 1877, the history of recorded sound, goes back much further. As early as 1806, the English physician and naturalist Thomas Young recorded the vibrations of a tuning fork on a rotating metal drum coated with wax. Between 1806 and 1877, there were many attempts at recording sound, including devices to record the human voice. It was not until much later that the connection between recording vibrations, the human voice, and recording MUSIC was made.

Tomas Edison's first working model recorded sound to tin foil. At this early stage, cylinders were used rather than the familiar round vinyl of today. As Edison modified and improved his early designs, he began to record sound on wax rather than foil. The wax produced better quality recordings, and was easier to etch than tin foil. At this point, and into the early 1900's, various companies began to produce "phonographs" which used various recording media.

The first mass produced recordings of any kind were of Edison style wax cylinders. Large numbers of these cylinders still exist today, and many are still playable. As demand for recordings increased, the limitations of wax cylinders became apparent. Production of wax cylinders was very difficult, and the wax did not stand up to repeated playback. Before reliable mass production could be a reality, new materials were necessary. At this point, records began to be made of a hard "shellac" like material.

Somewhere along the way, the usage of cylinders for recording gave way to the use of flat circular discs. These discs, known as 78's due to their speed of revolution, were much easier to produce, store, package and transport. 78's were manufactured throughout most of the early 1900's, starting a demand for recorded music that lasts to the present.

Sometime during the mid 1900's the limitations of 78's became apparent. First of all, they were very heavy and quite thick. Secondly, the sound quality was poor upon repeated listening, due to the materials used and the very heavy steel needles use to produce sound. Additionally, 78's could only hold a song or two on each side due to their high rate of spin.

About this time, the modern vinyl record as we know it was born. In the 1930s and 1940s, record companies slowly began to use vinyl instead of the easily breakable shellac. Vinyl records were much thinner, offered better sound, and were more flexible. Additonally, they were easier to ship, cheap to produce, and more could fit into a single box for increased profit! With the advent of the slower "45 RPM" and "33 RPM" recording speeds, more music could fit on each record. It was at this time that consumers could purchase entire bound "albums" containing many individual discs of music. It is at this point that the phonograph record matured into the form we recognize today.