.....that is, until I read what the author wrote

"The earliest commercial medium of its type, Edison’s phonograph recorded on paraffin paper cylinders embossed by a needle and diaphragm. Pre-recorded phonograph cylinders were soon available commercially, the crackly ancestor of today’s CDs and MP4s. The paraffin cylinders were soon replaced by more durable metal cylinders covered in tin foil, but these likewise suffered rapid deterioration, so the tin foil covering was finally replaced with hard wax coating."
OrthoFan