Diamonds are forever? Edison, the disc and the cylinder

Our experts discuss the consequences of the fire that sounded the death knell for cylinder recordings

In December 1914 a devastating fire raged through the factory that produced Thomas Edison’s famous Diamond Discs and Blue Amberol Cylinder recordings. The very next day Edison started the rebuilding process which concentrated on the Diamond Disc as the predominant medium – was this fire the death knell for the cylinder in the first audio format war? Was the disc in fact the better format?

Tim Wood-Woolley and Keith Harrison of the City of London Gramophone and Phonograph Society discuss the consequences of the fire illustrated with rare jazz, blues and other recordings on Edison Diamond Discs and Blue Amberol cylinder records played on authentic equipment of the time.