Edison's Favorite? Amberola or Edison Diamond Disc

[Lucius1958]

I couldn't point to specific sources without doing a bit of research, but my abiding impression based on past reading is that Edison came to disc recording rather late and begrudgingly because the market place required it, not because he wanted to, and that cylinder technology was always first in his heart. In general he seems to have suffered from "not invented here" syndrome--late to discs, late to electric recording, late to adopt to changing public tastes in music, etc.

Clay

But Edisons original patents DID include disc recording and playback, but hill and dale technique, just as he developed later. The material that made the disc possible was the invention of "condensite".

Unfortunately, his patent for the earliest disc version of phonograph was not upheld in the US.

It's my understanding that it was applied for in Europe, and this prevented him from developing the disc technology here, until he was able to develop the Diamond Disc machine and records much, much later.

Fran

That may be a good reason why: it also may have been a growing dissatisfaction with metal foil as a medium (although he may have contemplated making electrotype copies, and pressing them in some more durable material.
Bill