Like any profound technological breakthrough, the advent of sound recording ushered in a period of explosive and imaginative experimentation, growth and competition. Between the commercial debut of Edison's ?talking machine? in 1889 and the first commercial radio broadcast three decades later, the recording industry was uncharted territory in terms of both technology and content. This history of the earliest years of sound recording?the time between the phonograph's appearance and the licensing of commercial radio?examines a newly created technology and industry in search of itself. It...