1878 audio recording unveiled

The modern masses can now listen to what experts say is the oldest playable recording of an American voice and the first-ever capturing of a musical performance, thanks to digital advances that allowed the sound to be transferred from flimsy tinfoil to computer. The recording was originally made on a Thomas Edison-invented phonograph in St. Louis in 1878.

 

 Oldest recording gets digital treatment 

It's scratchy, but a newly digitized recording made on a Thomas Edison-invented phonograph in 1878 captures the oldest playable American voice and the first-ever recording of a musical performance, according to experts