Record Players

Until the late nineteenth century, the only form of musical entertainment available in the home was live performance. While wealthy householders could afford to hire professional singers and musicians to provide entertainment at social gatherings, most people had to rely on their own musical abilities. The invention of the phonograph in 1877, followed by the gramophone in 1888, introduced recorded music to the home. Although a third of British homes had a gramophone by 1913, it was only after the advent of vinyl discs in the late 1940s that recorded music became a huge money earner.