Chapter 9
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147
Through the 1900s and early 2000s,
technology that began with the radio has
continued to change to the point that now
we have home entertainment centers with
radios, record players, tape cassette
recorders and CD (compact disc) players.
The record player was invented by Thomas
Edison as long ago as 1877. Today, it has
been replaced with CDs and other digital
musicplayers. Thesedevices alsoareused in
portable stereos, in cars and in boats.
The first
motion picture
machine was
invented in 1895. It took some time to
improve it. By the early 1900s, movie
theaterswerebuilt inmany towns and cities.
At first, movies had no sound, but that
changed in the 1920s. Movies became a
popular form of enjoyment. Outdoor movie
theaterswere built in the 1950s, but they are
now a nearly extinct business. However,
movies have remainedpopular. Through the
1900s and into the 2000s, the single screen
movie theater has changed in two ways.
Today, we have buildings in which several
movies are shown, and many of them are
located in shopping malls. Also, with the
arrival of video movies in the 1970s and
digital video discs (DVDs) in the 1990s,
movie theaters have not been as popular as
they oncewere.
Newspapers have been around for a long
time. Throughout the 1900s, the newspaper
industry continued to improve the
machinery that prints thenewspaper. Today,
our state has around 85 daily newspaper
companies and more than 350 other than
daily newspapers. Meanwhile, magazines
and comic books became popular forms of
entertainment. Trading cards of professional
sports players have also become popular.
Ordering goods from catalogs became
popular, and still is in the 2000s. Today, a
person also can order goods through TV
shopping channels or on the Internet.
Television
was invented in the 1930s.
However, it was not affordable to people
until after World War II (1945). Television
became a very popular form of enter-
tainment. New technologies, or inventions,
have been added to the TV, such as video
games and DVDs. Cable TV has brought a
greater choice of channels and on-demand
programming.Wide-screenTVshavebecome
popular, as have satellite dishes. Today, our
state has 52 TV stations.
Many devices are being invented that
have changed the way we work and
spend free time. In the 1990s and the
2000s, a revolution occurred in the field of
Modern technologymakes communication
faster and saves time.
