Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph contains some interesting aspects, typical of the circumstantial and sometimes accidental nature of some important inventions. Edison envisioned applications: recording the last words of dying people, recording books for the blind, announcing the exact time, and teaching correct pronunciation. Period. Reproducing music proved too frivolous an application for Edison. A few years after its invention, Edison declared the invention a failure and had no real practical commercial application and stopped trying to sell it. A few years later, he began selling it as a dictating machine for offices. Then other entrepreneurs began using it in the first jukeboxes, while Edison objected that it was useless compared to the office, business-related use he proposed. Another 20 years would pass before Edison admitted that the primary use of his phonograph was for recording and listening to music.
