John Schneiter, a trustee at the Museum of Innovation and Science, talks about tinfoil phonographs on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, in Schenectady, N.Y. Researchers have digitized what experts say is the oldest recording of a playable American voice and history�s first-ever recorded musical performance, along with the first recorded blooper. Recorded on a sheet of tinfoil on a phonograph invented by Thomas Edison, the recording was made in St. Louis in 1878. It contains a short coronet solo of an unidentified song, followed by the voices of a man reciting popular nursery rhymes.
Section:Photo
