Music technology from past to present

As we are all becoming more aware, we are spoiled today when it comes to being able to click a button and hear the song we just heard on the radio. But during the 1800's and before, everything was performed live and that was the only way we got to hear music. Since then, with the help of Thomas Edison and his phonograph, analog recording came about and remained popular for many years. Until digital recording was introduced in the 1980's." Tape can also have multiple tracks. Multiple track recording can record individual tracks of sound (such as drums, guitar, voice, etc) on one tape. These tracks are later mixed which is adjusting the levels of individual tracks to make a master tape. Adding effects such as, delay, echo, flanging, and phasing was also found to be possible with tape recordings.

The cassette tape, released in 1964, displaced the LP record. This medium [HL4] was available in most homes, cars, and in portable devices like the Sony Walkman. Also, the availability and functionality of tape recording devices helped in the success of the cassette tape."

After the cassette tape lost its popularity with the invention of the CD in the 1980's, music technology continued to change from there. Although CD's today are still rather popular, the i-pod is slowly taking over.