Mystery recordings will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/ [login to see] /mystery-recordings-will-now-be-heard-for-the-first-time-in-about-100-years
Before audio playlists, before cassette tapes and even before records, there were wax cylinders — the earliest, mass-produced way people could both listen to commercial music and record themselves.

In the 1890s, they were a revolution. People slid blank cylinders onto their Edison phonographs (or shaved down the wax on commercial cylinders) and recorded their families, their environments, themselves.

"When I first started here, it was a format I didn't know much about," said Jessica Wood, assistant curator for music and recorded sound at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. "But it became my favorite format, because there's so many unknowns and it's possible to discover things that haven't been heard since they were recorded."

They haven't been heard because the wax is so fragile. The earliest, putty-colored cylinders deteriorate after only a few dozen listens if played on the Edison machines; they crack if you hold them too long in your hand. And because the wax tubes themselves were unlabeled, many of them remain mysteries.