Before audio playlists, before CDs or cassette tapes, even before vinyl, there were wax cylinders. By the late 1890s, sliding a wax cylinder onto a Thomas Edison phonograph was the way that people listened to commercial music. It was also a way they could record themselves.

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Early opera recordings on wax cylinders 1900–1904, recorded by Lionel Mapleson. Robert Kato Lionel/New York Public Library hide caption

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