INTO THE GROOVE: The Story of Sound from Tin Foil to Vinyl

The music journalist has covered weird, rare and collectable records for Record Collector magazine and by mixing lo-fi charm into hi-fi science Scott's book is 'skipping with real analogue delight'. It is the story of recorded sound - the technological developments, the people that made them happen, and the impact they had on society, from the earliest inventions via the phonograph to LPs, EPs and the recent resurgence of vinyl. While Thomas Edison's phonograph represented an important turning point in the story of recorded sound, it came only after decades of invention, tinkering and experimentation. The book looks at the origins of record-playing machinery and the development of the first commercial discs. We learn about the rise of the LP record, the drama of competing speed and format wars, and the fall of the 7-inch, the story of a format repeatedly written off, threats from radio, tape, compact disc and download, vinyl only seems to endure and come back stronger. The story starts with grooves in tin foil in a workshop in New Jersey in 1877 and sees records evolving and blossoming to become a cornerstone for musical culture worldwide, and even into outer space. 320pp.