Lambert Song
 

    Early cylinder player developed by Thomas Edison in late 1870s
 

   More sophisticated model marketed by Edison at the turn of the century
 
 
 

   Edison Triumph cylinder player with horn
 

   Higher end phonograph for playing 78 r.p.m. discs, c. 1920
 
 

   Black wax cylinder available from roughly 1900-1912
 
 
 

   Edison black wax cylinder with accompanying materials
 

   Typical retail display of Edison cylinders, c. 1910
 
 
 
 

   3 early disc sizes: 12-inch (top; Victor blue label); 10-inch (bottom left; Perfect burgundy colored record); 7-inch (bottom right; one-sided Victor, c. 1902)
 
 
 

   45 r.p.m., vinyl, 7-inch disc introduced in 1949 by RCA; this recording was issued in 1964 as special offer with full 33 1/3 r.p.m. album
 
 
 
 

   Bootleg album set issued in 1976
 
 
 
 
 

   3-part, 45 r.p.m., picture disc set, c. 1984
 
 
 
 
 

   Leading audio configurations in the late 1980s; precorded audiocassette (top left; introduced in 1969) - blank audiocassette (top right) - mini-disc (left center; introduced by Sony as first digital laser recording format in late 1980s) - 5-inch compact disc (lower left; first marketed in 1983) - 3-inch CD with adapter to allow for use in standard compact disc players (bottom right)
 
 
 

   Laser video discs also offered digitally recorded musical to consumers.  The medium first appeared in the U.S. in the late 1970s; in addition to the 12-inch (left) and 8-inch (right) versions, compact disc video (CD-V) offered a merger of sight and sound in the more successful 5-inch configuration (the latter, however, could only be played on combination laser disc players.  The introduction of DVDs in 1997 mean the beginning of the end for this format.
 
 

More to come!