ENGLISH

I have just come across this (article in French) related to early days of audio technology
http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/instantanes/histoiredujour/318163.FR.php?rss=true&xtor=RSS-450

Which leads to the oldest recording in the world (1860) of "Au clair de la Lune" that you can hear from   
http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/1860-Scott-Au-Clair-de-la-Lune.mp3. I assume it is legal to download it and put it on your MP3 player since the author and the singer did not have a record contract. It probably won't be long before a major sues them :).

Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (a Frenchman, of course :) ) invented a method of recording sounds 17 years before Thomas Edison invented the phonograph! A US association First Sounds, found a way to reproduce the sounds. In those days, you could record, but not playback...

A good history lesson for our IPODs and other MP3 players...

Long live technology