EDISON'S PHONOGRAPH
When conducting experiments on the telegraph, Edison happened upon a way to record sound on tinfoil cylinders in 1877. The next year, he received a patent for his tinfoil phonograph on which only a few words could be recorded, but did little more to it for 10 years. Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter devised an improved model using wax cylinders and received a patent for the machine in 1886, which they later named the graphophone. Unwilling to cooperate with Bell and Tainter in making an improved machine, Edison returned to work on his phonograph, determined to build his own better model. In 1887, he developed the New Phonograph using wax cylinders instead of tinfoil, thus ironically depending on the innovation of Bell and Tainter. This was followed by the Improved Phonograph, the Perfected Phonograph, and other later models. The Edison Phonograph Works, later to become the National Phonograph Co., was set up to manufacture the machines and cylinders. In 1910, the company was reorganized to become Thomas A. Edison, Inc. New, more durable cylinders made from celluloid began to be used. In 1912 Edison began producing the Edison Diamond Discs, Edison's foray into the disc phonograph market.
While initially Edison thought that the phonograph would prove most useful as a type of
dictation machine for offices, it eventually proved to be a popular form of entertainment
in the United States. The Edison companies produced a wide assortment of sound recordings
for public amusement, which featured orchestral and band performances, opera, sacred
songs, comic skits, popular tunes, recitations, and ethnic music. 
Click on the link below for a RealAudio sound file of Edison's first recording.