The Mikiphone: The world’s first portable music device from 1924
One of humanity’s greatest strengths is its ability to look to the future. While many are often fixated on the past, romanticising warped memories of a supposedly better time to escape the challenges of the present, there have always been those who look forward. From the moment we evolved from our ape-like ancestors, these visionaries have sought ways to improve and refine life. This forward-thinking spirit is evident across all aspects of existence, from healthcare to cinema and music.
Music is one place where development has continued at a fast pace. Even in our lifetime, the form and means of consuming it have changed considerably. While 30 years ago, popular music used to be written and consumed in analogue ways, often penned on a guitar, with solid structures in place – verse, chorus, bridge – and then listened to on a physical copy such as vinyl or tape, things are much more fluid these days.
This is thanks in part to the development of DAWs and the accessibility of computers to the masses. Now, artists can write music how they please, with many of them autodidacts free from the traditional standards. Although physical copies have recently made something of a comeback, the primary way of consuming music is now done digitally via streaming sites such as Spotify and Apple Music on smartphones, which, regardless of their popularity and the ease of access they provide, have also transformed the economics of music for the worse. Therefore, in this aspect, you’d argue that music has regressed.
There was a time when portable music devices, let alone mobile phones, were just an optimistic figment of the imagination, and even now, outdated devices such as the Sony Walkman or iPod were things that most couldn’t have even fathomed. Some, though, had the bright idea and possessed the intellectual minerals to start this long route to portable speakers, the Walkman, and now streaming apps.
A century ago, in 1924, the Hungarian siblings Miklós and Étienne Vadász invented The Mikiphone, the world’s first portable music device. Awarded the winning prize at a Geneva music exhibition in 1927, it was mass-produced by the Swiss company Maison Paillard, which manufactured around 180,000 models.
While a monumental achievement, this was 1924, so it was still a rudimentary device by our standards. Instead of using batteries like the Walkman and stereos or lithium-ion batteries such as smartphones, it used a hand-crank for power due to having a motor. As a sign of the times, its sound was amplified through a small Bakelite resonator.
Although it was still technically portable, with it fitting inside a purse, to use it, it had to be folded out and assembled. The recording head and a two-piece resonator were connected to a foldout tone arm before a shellac disc was placed on the turntable’s central pin. Extolling its supposedly easy use, one advertisement read: “Fits in a jacket pocket / Goes in a lady’s handbag / Will hang on a cycle frame / Goes in a car door pocket / Ideal for picnics, car jaunts, river trips”.
While it might have been portable, alongside the set-up, there was still the issue that it played 10-inch, 78 RPM records. So, despite fitting in a handbag or a cycle frame, listeners would still need to find a means of bringing along the cumbersome music of their choice. Unsurprisingly, in 1927, sales plummeted, and Maison Paillard sold off its remaining stock for seriously discounted prices.
Ultimately, The Mikiphone might have failed, but it showed hope for portable music. The future was to be a mostly bright one.
