Here's an attempt at listing some/most/all (?) known/existing audio physical support, and how we map them to our own list:
| Name | Date of creation | Rarity | Details | Picture | Map to
|
| Phonograph cylinder | 1877 | Very rare | Mechanical analog; "hill-and-dale" grooves, vertical stylus motion | Image:CylinderRecordsWPackage.jpg | Wax Cylinder
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| Piano roll | 1883 | Very rare | Mechanical digital | Image:WelteHandnuancierung.jpg/180px- WelteHandnuancierung .jpg | Piano Roll
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| Gramophone record | 1895 | Common | Mechanical analog; lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion. The terms LP record (LP, 33, or 33-1/3 rpm record), EP, 16-2/3 rpm record (16), 45 rpm record (45), and 78 rpm record (78) refers to specific types of gramophone records | Image:Vynil record.jpg/300px-Vynil_record.jpg | Vinyl
|
| Wire recording | 1898 | Rare | Analog; magnetization; no "bias" | Image:Peirce wire recorder.jpg/250px-Peirce_wire_recorder.jpg | Other
|
| Reel-to-Reel | 1930s | Rare | Analog; magnetization; "bias" dramatically increases linearity/fidelity | Image:Reel-to-reel recorder tc-630.jpg/300px-Reel-to-reel_recorder_tc-630.jpg | Reel-to-reel
|
| Vinyl record / Quad Vinyl | 1948/1957/1971 | Common | Is a simple evolution of gramophone record: Analog, with preemphasis and other equalization techniques (LP, RIAA). Lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion. Monaural were created in 1948, then stereo vinyl came later in 1957 and Quad in 1971: analog, with preemphasis and other equalization techniques. Combination lateral/vertical stylus motion with each channel encoded 45 degrees to the vertical. | Image:Vynil record.jpg/300px-Vynil_record.jpg | Vinyl
|
| 4 tracks cartridge / 8 tracks cartridge / Quad 8 tracks | 1962/1965/1970 | Rare? | Analog, 1/4 inch wide tape, 3 3/4 inches/sec, endless loop cartridge. Quad: 4 Channel Stereo. | 270px-Sexpistols8track | 4 Tracks/8 Tracks/Quad 8
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| Compact cassette | 1963 | (still) common? | Analog, with bias, preemphasis, 1/8 inch wide tape, 17/8 inches/sec. 1970: introduced Dolby noise reduction. | Image:Tdkc60cassette.jpg | Audio cassette
|
| Microcassette Minicassette | 1969 | Rare | Analog, 1/8 inch wide tape, mostly mono, some stereo. 2.4 cm/s or 1.2 cm/s. | Image:CassetteAndMicrocassette.jpg/250px- CassetteAndMicrocassette .jpg | Audio cassette
|
| 4 tracks/8 tracks/multitracks recording | ? | Very rare? | This is not in itself a physical format (may be performed on a variety of equipments, from tape based equipment to digital equipment and hard disks). Likely to be only available in studios, as professional equipments. | Image:Tascam-16Track.jpg/300px-Tascam-16Track.jpg | Other
|
| Elcaset | 1976 | Rare | A short lived cassette format. | Image:Elcaset.jpg/350px-Elcaset.jpg | Audio cassette
|
| Compact Disc | 1982 | Widely spread | PCM, Avaialble in 120mm and 80mm formats. | 200px-Typical_Compact_Discsvg | CD
|
| DAT | 1987 | Rare | | Image:Dat cartridge.jpg/250px-Dat_cartridge.jpg | DAT
|
| Mini Disc | 1991 | Common | ATRAC | Image:Minidisc Sony MZ1.jpg/250px-Minidisc_Sony_MZ1.jpg | Minidisc
|
| Digital Compact Cassette | 1992 | Very rare | | Image:DQ Mag DCC IV.jpg/350px-DQ_Mag_DCC_IV.jpg | Other? DAT?
|
| DTS-CD a.k.a. 5.1 Music Disc | 1992 | Very rare | DTS Audio | | CD
|
| DVD-Audio | 1999 | Rare? Common? | | | DVD
|
| SACD | 1999 | Rare? Common? | | Image:CD autolev crop.jpg/200px-CD_autolev_crop.jpg | SACD
|
| Name | Date of creation | Rarity | Details | Picture | Map to
|
| Betamax | 1975 | Common? | 'Dolby Stereo' cinema surround sound. | Image:Beta Max Tape.jpg/180px-Beta_Max_Tape.jpg | Other
|
| Laserdisc | 1978 | Rare? | | Image:LDDVDComparison.jpg/250px-LDDVDComparison.jpg | Laserdisc
|
| DVD | 1997 | Widely spread | | Image:DVD-R bottom-side.jpg/200px-DVD-R_bottom-side.jpg | DVD
|
| DualDisc | 2003 | Common? | An audio cd on one side (though not redbook), and a dvd on the other side | | DualDisc
|
| USB flash drive | 2004 (as music format) | Common? | | Other? Digital?
|
| HD-DVD | 2005 | Rare? | | | ?
|
| Blu-Ray | 2006 | Rare? | | | ?
|
| VinylDisc | 2007 | Rare? | It is made from two fused layers; the silver layer contains the digital information (either in CD or DVD format) and the upper layer has a record groove, meaning it can be played on any record-player. | Image:dvd vinyl gr1.jpg | Other? DualDisc?
|
| slotMusic | 2008 | Common? | slotMusic is a type of microSD memory card developed by SanDisk preloaded with music in DRM-free MP3 format and other content. The current selection of songs comes from EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. | | Other? Digital?
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(*) Rarity is just a rough indication of availability as consumer products - values are: "Very Rare", "Rare", "Common", "Widely spread"
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