This is a history of recorded sound. Initially the inventors, Edison and others, thought this would benefit businessmen the most, as they could record their notes or whatnot. Reporters could record an event then dictate off that recording for their articles. The inventors didn’t foresee how music would dominate.

Jonathan Scott had done incredible research about the recorders and players, and the formats for these devices. In the early days it wasn’t clear if the cylinder, which was most popular, or the disc would win out. Later there were format wars of speed of the discs, and of course the materials used until we land on vinyl that is used today.

There’s an extensive glossary at the back, which I perused but didn’t thoroughly read. Links and pointers to old archives and the earliest recordings are included. All in all an extensive book and interesting, however it didn’t hold up to extensive reading. The writing style at times was a bit hokey, gimmicky with trying to make puns and otherwise funny remarks, but they fell flat for me. Not sure it matters terribly, but the writer is based in England so there was a focus more on the UK than the United States, so a little slant away from my own experience.

Musicophiles and those dedicated history buffs about things or stuff, may find this a more engaging read than myself.

Fun fact: Jazz was first known as jass but everyone thought the letter J would be too easily erased, so they switched the last letters to Z so we have: JAZZ.

As a huge music fan/record collector/amateur musician, I found this book absolutely fascinating. The writing is compelling and it is filled with new info/history that I was not aware of. I have been sharing this recommendation with my fellow music obsessives. Thanks for letting me read this!

As someone who has been collecting vinyl since I was 13 (I’m 29 now!) I loved learning the how and history behind one of my favorite hobbies. I think there were some points that were a bit too in the weeds, but overall really enjoyed

Maybe this one just wasn't for me. Scott's research is spot on and it does all the things it says it would do. I just found myself drifting. This was very much a it's not you, it's me problem. I know a ton of people who will love this book.

Jonathan Scott's Into the Groove: The Story of Sound from Tin Foil to Vinyl is the human history of recorded sound as a physical object. Scott discusses the steady development of innovation and widespread acceptance of the record as and industrially developed product as he also explores recorded music as a commodity. From Edison's labs to the space launched golden record and beyond.

While coverage of some 150 years of development could sound dense and tedious, Scott quite ably condenses the history documenting the key developments and the people responsible for them. It is both comprehensive, but detailed. We learn of the various mediums used for recorded sound: wax, treated cardboard, shellac and vinyl. Scott also extends the narrative to discuss the brief post vinyl period of CDs and mp3s.

It is intended to be a popular history, but has enough detailed content to appeal to those more interested in the development and challenges of recording or music in general.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Bloomsbury USA for an advanced copy of the book on history of man's attempt to record the perfect sound, and make money on the process.

As a child I was a huge fan of making noise, and the large Hi-Fi stereo that was the size of a coffee table my parents had in the living room. It honestly was a piece of furniture, speakers hidden behind wood doors that would slide over, radio, and phonograph, able to play a stack a records, with a faint electric smell, and wonderful sound. I loved that system, and cried real tears when it finally departed this world. My Dad also had a reel-to-reel system, that I loved too, able to reverse, fast forward and record anything I wanted. And of course my own cassette recorder with tapes I would buy at the pharmacy, that I used to read books or movie lines into and play them for my younger brother, scared at how my voice sounded, but still in awe that I could do this. There have been others, micro cassettes, DAT recorders, I remember a car with an 8 track, but I don't think I was a fan, compact disc players and more. I have always been a found of making noise, and listening to music. And that is why I loved this book. Into the Groove: The Story of Sound From Tin Foil to Vinyl by collector and writer Jonathan Scott is a history from the earliest days of recording to the return of vinyl and the world of streaming music.

The book begins with the interest that humans have always had in trying to record music, from early hucksters, to inventors, whose successes might be lost to time. The idea of mechanically recording sound starts in the 1850s with the idea of making marks on paper with dust, or even on glass. From there we move to Thomas Alva Edison who made the phonograph an idea that he liked but had a hard time with finding the proper recording medium which made it hard to find investors to get behind. Edison let the idea slide, ignoring while working on many more ideas, until Alexader Graham Bell, who was so close whose idea of the gramaphone, pushed Edison back to inventing, and suing for the rights. As time went on so did the technology, as more and more people began to take an interest in recording sound, and companies began to spring up, to make money in this new medium.

Jonathan Scott has written a really wonderful history of recording and the different formats that have come along. Each page has different interesting facts and ideas, and a lot of recording mediums that I knew nothing about. Also Scott mentions websites where many of these early recordings can be found, as technology has found a way to read music off of paper, glass, and other early records. On the site one can hear how to enunciate worlds correctly, a bit of poetry, even the first curse word recorded. The book is very well written and extremely readable. Scott is able to show not only the technology used, by captures the different people involved, their strangeness and the hard work they were involved in. There is a tremendous amount of information, and really is a labour of love.

Recommended for music fans, and for burgeoning musical producers and engineers. Knowing the history of something that one is trying to work in can only help. A very good Father's Day for music lovers.

Into the Groove: The Story of Sound From Tin Foil to Vinyl will be released on May 9, 2023. Bloomsbury USA provided an early galley for review.

From a very young age, recorded music has been a part of my life. The earliest record I remember listening to was Meet the Beatles when I was still under four years old back in the late 1960's. I remember my father's stereo record player that would occasionally shock me if I wasn't careful. He even had a set of classical records on 78rpm. Even then I was still fascinated how sound was captured on these disks and how it then could be released with a needle and amplifier.

This book dives into all the history of this music medium, going back to the days when sound could be recorded long before anyone figured out how to play it back. Scott's delivery of the history and the science is very accessible and easy to follow. He unfolds the story chronologically and provides some very deep-cut details into this area of the audio technology. He even explores the overlap between recorded sound and recorded images and the relationship between recorded sound and radio broadcasting. I learned quite a few things from this read.

One of the lines in the last paragraph of the last chapter really resonated with me. Paraphrasing, Scott reminds the reader that the format one listens to isn't important; instead, it is what one listens to and how it makes one feel that is most important. I very much agree with this sentiment.