Playback: From the Victrola to MP3, 100 Years of Music, Machines, and Money - Softcover

Playback is the first book to place the fascinating history of sound reproduction within its larger social, economic, and cultural context-and includes appearances by everyone from Thomas Edison to Enrico Caruso to Dick Clark to Grandmaster Flash to Napster CEO Shawn Fanning. In a narrative that begins with Edison's cylinder and ends with digital music, the ubiquitous iPod, and the file-sharing wars, this is a history we have all experienced in one way or another. From the Victrola, the 78, the 45, and the 33 1/3 to the 8-track, cassette, compact disc, DAT, and MP3, the story of Playback is also the story of music, and the music business in the twentieth century and beyond.

Mark Coleman is a journalist who has written for Rolling Stone, Details, New York Newsday, the Village Voice, and Mojo, among others. He was a contributor to The Rolling Stone Album Guide and lives in New York City.