A: The phonograph (gramophone) was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the late 1870s until the late 1980s. This was yet another invention was brought to the world by Thomas Edison.

The phonograph was developed as a result of Edison's work on two previous inventions, the telegraph and the telephone.

It had two needles: one for recording and the other for playback. When people spoke into the mouthpiece, the sound vibrations were marked on the cylinder by the recording needle. This cylinder phonograph was the first machine capable of recording and reproducing sound.

The first-generation phonograph was shown at the Paris Expo in 1878. Edison set up his Edison Speaking Phonograph Company in January of the same year and had his invention patented on Feb 19. Then-US President Rutherford B. Hays also invited Edison to present his invention at the White House.

The phonograph established the foundation for proceding inventions such as videotape recorders.