Yes, There Were Jukeboxes In 1889

I’m not even sure what the analogue would even be for this audio device, which is shown in a photo circa 1889. It’s part-phonograph, part-walkman, part-jukebox, all-strange.

According to Life, who featured this music maker in their timeline of music players, the device funnelled noise from the record player through stethograph-like tubes and into the ears of listeners, who dropped a coin in to hear the song. Who even knows what they were listening to.

But judging from the general personnel in the photo, I like to imagine they were listening to the Rebecca Black of their day, imagining what they would do with their friday after a day spent working on the farm, or in the factory, or something.

[Life]

Image: Life/Getty/Fotosearch