Birth of a record: “At one moment we see a mass of dough; 30 seconds later it emerges from the press transformed.”

When George R. Harrison, then director of applied physics at MIT, surveyed the state of the art in audio recording and playback in the November 1938 issue of ­Technology Review, he was full of wonder at the progress achieved in the 60 years since Edison had introduced the phonograph. Although cheap and durable vinyl had yet to replace shellac as the recording industry's medium of choice, and all-electric record players had only recently superseded acoustic ones, Harrison confidently assured his readers that they were on the cusp of a new, "high-fidelity" era.

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