From 2006:
It is at times like these that I bless the name of Thomas Edison, and recall Shakespeare’s words: Death makes no conquest of this conqueror,/For now he lives in fame though not in life. Thanks to the invention of the phonograph and its successor technologies, we no longer need settle for the fading memories of those lucky enough to have heard the great musicians of the past in person. We can hear them ourselves, and know that they were as good as their reputations (or not)….
Read the whole thing here.