00:00 The ability to record sound revolutionized music and communication, leading to widespread enjoyment and the development of podcasting, with the first evidence of sound recording dating back to the mid-19th century.

02:33 The oldest sound recordings in the world, predating previous recordings by 28 years, were created by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1860, although his system was not practical or useful for playback.

05:01 Edison's tinfoil recordings were usually thrown away after a few plays, but one recording from 1878 was recovered and it featured Edison reciting "Mary had a little lamb"; the first efforts at duplicating a recording involved hooking up the recording device to multiple cylinders, but the process was time-consuming and required artists to record the same thing multiple times a day, until Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Labs developed a system for recording onto a wax disc called a graphophone, which allowed for easier production and distribution of recordings.

07:42 The gramophone, developed by Alexander Graham Bell, was the first commercially successful record player, while the invention of the electrical microphone by the Western Electric Corporation greatly improved sound quality and allowed for amplification and balancing of sound inputs; the next major innovation in sound recording came with the use of magnetic tape after World War II, which greatly improved sound quality and allowed for independent track recording and the development of stereo sound recordings.

09:45 Improvements in recording quality in the 1950s led to the development of high fidelity sound systems for consumers, advancements in vinyl quality, the introduction of the long playing disc (LP), and the eventual development of magnetic tapes in cartridges such as the 8-track tape and compact cassette tape.

11:53 The introduction of the Digital Audio Compact Disc (CD) in the 1980s replaced cassettes and LPs, offering higher sound quality and durability, and the rise of the Internet in the 1990s, along with the development of the MP3 format, transformed music from a physical object to digital data.

14:11 The rise of streaming services like Spotify and the widespread use of the MP3 format have revolutionized how people consume music, allowing access to almost everything recorded all the time.