 In 1877 , Thomas Edison invented the phonograph , a device allowing sound to be recorded and reproduced on a rotating cylinder with a stylus ( or " needle " ) attached to a diaphragm mounted at the narrow end of a horn . Emile Berliner invented the familiar lateral @-@ cut disc phonograph record in 1888 . His design overtook the Edison phonograph in the 1920s , partly because Berliner 's patent expired in 1918 , leaving others free to use his invention . 
