From Brown Wax to Bytes
How Audio Formats Have Been Transforming Music for the Last 150 Years
Eva MoredaA unique and lively look at the history of recording formats and how they have shaped music over the last 150 years
From Brown Wax to Bytes is an accessible and surprising history of audio formats and the indelible imprint they have left on music over the last 150 years.
Formats – be it Edison’s phonograph or file-sharing – have revolutionized how we listen to and think about music, going so far as to influence the music being made. Technological advancements have created waves that have rippled through every aspect of the music industry: from the working lives and creative decisions of composers and performers to the radical reshaping of our listening habits.
Ultimately, the formats we listen to have helped fashion our musical identities. In this brilliant, original survey, Eva Moreda explains the who, how, when and why of all this – what we can learn from the past and where the future might take us.
Introduction
Chapter One: The Wax Cylinder
Chapter Two: The Piano Roll
Chapter Three: The 78 rpm (Mechanical)
Chapter Four: The 78 rpm (Electrical)
Chapter Five: The LP
Chapter Six: The 45 rpm
Chapter Seven: Magnetic Tape
Chapter Eight: The Compact Disc
Chapter Nine: The dat, dcc and Minidisc
Chapter Ten: The Downloadable Audio File
Chapter Eleven: The Streamed Audio File
Conclusion
References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index
Eva Moreda is Professor of Musicology at the University of Glasgow. She has written four books on music in Spain, focusing on music and politics under Franco and an early history of recorded sound.