Music recording was invented only about 125 years ago.
People who could afford it had a piano and until the mid 1950's more sheet music were being sold than actual recordings.
Before the advent of the radio, song sheets were 'pushed' by employees of stores who sang the new songs in order to have people buy the music sheets. And, of course there were the reviews - or as we call them today, musicals or vaudeville acts.
But recordings on cylinders were being sold (around 1900 - mostly just marching band music, novelty and spoken words recordings). And you had to have the players (Victrola?) for them.
Eventually the vinyl disc was introduced, playing at a 78rpm speed. They didn't allow for anything more than about 4 minutes of recording on each side of the platters.
There were even player pianos, but that was a whole different industry, and not very common.
Then the 33rpm records came to be - or as we know them today as albums allowing for around 20 minutes per side.
At about the same time, for the very wealthy, the personal recorder was available (see The King's Speech) but they were not exactly a commonly owned item - not was it's successor, the reel to reel (my dad owned one of those. not great quality but it did record sound - mostly just people talking).
In the meantime, the boomer generation arrived and required a new format - the 45rpm.
And Stereo - and even Quadraphonic sound.
As we matured, the 'album' took on a more prominent gotta-have-it item, so the 8 track and audio cassettes were also must have items - for the on-the-go car driving/music listening crowd.
Quality of sound was important, so woofers and twitters (and all those other speakers in between) and high definition amplifiers were sold to go with the latest high quality turntable or audio cassette players (remember 'Is it live - or is it Memorex?'). In those days, the biggest speakers (mine were 1 metre high) meant higher quality.
Then came the boom box,
the Walkman ...
the CD, supposedly for quality ...
the mp3 for miniaturization,
the I-pod and all the subsequent personal music devices.
Anyone out there still own an 8 track or 2 (I do).
Or audio cassettes (you try and buy a cassette player lately? - I have - it wasn't easy - and the sound from that boom box is/was awful).
Pop music over time? - that's for another post ...