B2CEFRReading18 min

Reading: The Evolution of Recorded Music

Music and the music industry

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IELTS Academic Reading • B2 Level ⏱️ Suggested Time: 18 Minutes

The Evolution of Recorded Music Technology

Explore how sound recording developed from nineteenth-century mechanical cylinders to modern digital stores. Master key reading strategies: identifying author hedging, verifying factual claims against Not Given statements, and scanning for timeline data without relying on single-word matching.

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Teacher Guide

Allocate 18 minutes for independent completion followed by structured review.

Direct students to the embedded explanations to evaluate why distractor keywords fail academic verification.

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Learner Guide

Spend exactly 3 minutes skimming Paragraphs A–D to grasp the chronology and the writer's stance.

Complete the 10 questions sequentially; beware of exact word matches that misrepresent the passage.

Official Reading Passage

Sound Waves: A Century of Storage

4 Paragraphs (A–D)

In 1877 Thomas Edison developed a phonograph that the American Society of Mechanical Engineers calls the world's first practical sound recording machine. The machine marked the sound as a groove on tinfoil wrapped around a cylinder, and for the first time it allowed the permanent recording and playback of sound, especially the human voice. The society says that the record industries of the world grew from this machine.

A detailed mechanical phonograph from 1877 with a grooved tinfoil cylinder and brass acoustic horn, technical diagram ae

Figure 1.1: Mechanical engraving on a cylindrical foil surface (1877).

The compact disc (CD) was developed by Sony and Philips. A Japanese museum says that Sony launched the world's first CD player for consumers in 1982, and a technology news site reports that the first commercial player and the first commercial disc, Billy Joel’s album 52nd Street, were introduced in Japan on 1 October 1982.

On 28 April 2003 Apple launched its iTunes Music Store. At the start it offered over 200,000 songs from five music companies, at 99 cents each, and customers did not have to pay a subscription fee.

A sleek modern compact disc reflecting prismatic laser light next to a clean digital audio interface screen, neo-brutali

Figure 1.2: The shift toward optical and digital audio distribution.

These three changes seem to show that new technology keeps changing how people buy and keep music, and I think each one made music easier to reach. However, the facts here do not show how much money artists earned from any of these formats.

IELTS Reading Practice Tasks

Answer all 10 questions using information exclusively from Paragraphs A–D.

Questions 1–10

Questions 1–3: Identifying the Writer’s Views (Yes / No / Not Given)

Do the following statements agree with the claims or views of the writer? Select YES if the statement agrees, NO if it contradicts, or NOT GIVEN if impossible to know.

The writer believes that new technology repeatedly alters how people purchase music.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

Manufacturing commercial compact discs was significantly more expensive than producing early tinfoil cylinders.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

The writer thinks that each of the three changes made music easier for people to get.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

Questions 4–5: Multiple Choice

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

What does the technology news site report about 1 October 1982 in Japan?

____ A. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers praised the compact disc system. ____ B. A commercial player and Billy Joel's 52nd Street were introduced together. ____ C. A Japanese museum began to make disc players for the home. ____ D. Five music corporations signed an agreement to eliminate physical music distribution.

Which condition applied to consumers using Apple's iTunes Music Store upon its release in 2003?

____ A. Users were obliged to maintain an active annual membership subscription. ____ B. Every individual track was distributed at no cost for promotional purposes. ____ C. Purchases were calculated at 99 cents per song rather than recurring payments. ____ D. Music files had to be manually transferred onto grooved metallic cylinders.

Questions 6–7: Matching Information to Paragraphs

Which paragraph contains the following information? Select the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

A reference to the earliest apparatus designed to permanently retain spoken sound.

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

A comment that the facts given do not show how much money artists earned.

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

Questions 8–10: Summary Completion

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in the boxes provided.

Summary: The Changing Mediums of Sound

The earliest practical sound recordings were marked as a groove on

Q8: ____ (Type 1-2 words...)

wrapped around a cylinder. Later, the companies Sony and Philips developed the

Q9: ____ (Type 1-2 words...)

for home consumers. In 2003 Apple's online music store sold songs one at a time, so customers did not have to pay a regular

Q10: ____ (Type 1-2 words...)

charged to users.

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Academic Exam Tip: Notice how the author in Paragraph D employs hedging expressions ("seem to show", "I think") to differentiate verified historical records from evaluative opinions. Always verify whether a claim is an established fact or an authorial projection when tackling IELTS Reading sections.

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