The phonograph was the first recording device that ever recorded and played back the human voice. Thomas Edison created the phonograph in 1877 after he had developed the telegraph and telephone. Out of the two ideas of moving a diaphragm linked to a coil (which produced a voice modulated signal), and using a telegraph repeater (which was a device that used a needle to indent paper with the dashes and dots of Morse code), Edison concluded with "the concept of attaching the stylus from a telegraph repeater to the diaphragm in the mouthpiece of a telephone," according to Videointerchange.com. As the phonograph continued to be improved, Emile Berliner patented a talking recording device in 1888 called the gramophone. However, instead of using a cylinder to record on, he used a flat disc and a stylus (which cut a spiral groove; similar to the phonograph).
The soundscriber was created in 1945 as one of the earliest uses of vinyl as a recording medium. The vinyl records were cut using a stylus cutting head, while the playback was developed on a dedicated player. Although the term "cut" is used, the records were actually "pressed" (or imprinted) into the vinyl by the stylus. The media of the soundscriber came in two sizes: the 15-minute "Mail Chute" discs on 6-inch media and the 8-minute "Memo Discs" on 4-inch media.
The open reel-to-reel recording devices were the first audio tape machines that produced numerous tape widths and track configuration. The first machine was the Ampex Model 200, which was released in 1948 and bought by ABC for the recording of its delayed broadcasts. In 1954, Ampex started to market the first multi-track machines; the company began with 2-track mono machines and eventually expanded to 4-track and 8-track machines. The introduction of the multi-track machines inspired other recording enthusiasts to start recording on magnetic tape. According to Videointerchange.com, "popular tape widths ranged from 1/4 inch to 2 inch, while track formats ranged from 1/4 inch mono to discrete 32 track analog 2 inch tape - and almost anything in between."
The standard audio cassette tape was initially created by Philips in 1962 for the use of their new devices called the dictation machines. But with the cassette tape's compact size, reliability, low costs and Hi-Fi stereo production, it became a phenomenon in the market industry. By the 1970s, the cassette had become the "predominant consumer tape format," according to Videointerchange.com. It wasn't until 1982 that Philips and Sony developed what would become the most used and preferred mediums of the 80s and 90s: the compact disc (CD). The CD was invented in Japan and released in the UK. According to Videointerchange.com, "the CD ultimately became the final 'nail in the coffin' for the long-running reign of LP records. Skips, crackles, pops, flutter and surface noise was now a thing of the past."
By 1987 the world of recording equipment was officially turning digital. The introduction of the Digital Audio Tape (DAT) to the studio market was immediately noted as the high ground in professional recording. According to Videointerchange.com, "the DAT system design more closely resembles a helical scan VCR than traditional reel-to-reel or cassette-based recorder. Digital audio is recorded much like video, using a helical scan FM technique." The emergence of the 1992 TASCAM DA-88/DA-38 machine caught a huge amount of attention as well. The machine is an 8-track digital recorder that uses standard Hi8/Digital8 standard videocassettes as the medium. The TASCAM machine produced 8-track tapes that could record up to an 1 hour and 48 minutes of digital audio.