Free Concerts

October 1, 1907, Menasha Record

The illustration shows a phonograph that play cylinders, though the copy mentions records.  Don't be confused; the cylinders were still referred to as records, unlike the flat discs we associate the term with.  Flat discs were introduced to the public around this time and the cylinder market was largely abandoned in favor of disc records by competing companies around 1912, leaving Edison as the only supplier.  Cylinders had been in play since the 1890s, but they allowed only two minutes recording time while discs of this era offered four minutes and the public saw discs as a better value.  (The whole affair is reminiscent of the old VHS vs. Beta video tape contest in the 70s and 80s.)  In time, Edison saw the handwriting on the wall and marketed a disc playing phonograph of his own in 1913 but continued to manufacture cylinders until 1929.