A relevant post from my other blog, at http://soupgreens.com/2009/05/13/encountering-recorded-music-for-the-first-time/

“When … records first circulated, the very notion of recorded music was still a novelty. All music had been created live and tied to particular, intimate occasions. How were listeners to understand an impersonal technology like the phonograph record as a musical event? How could they reconcile firsthand interactions and traditional customs with technological innovations and mass media? “