The world's first streaming service!

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Today we have Netflix, Amazon prime, Apple TV and one god knows how many more streaming services.

But streaming is not a new business. It goes back. Way back. So back that you would never imagine!

The world's first streaming service predates the internet. Heck, it's so old that electricity was a word unknown to a good chunk of the world.

Meet the theatrophone, introduced back in 1880s, that allowed subscribers to listen to opera and theater over their telephone line.

It was invented in 1881 by French engineer Clément Ader and was first demonstrated at the 1881 International Exposition of Electricity in Paris. In the 1890s it became a commercial service in Paris, London, Budapest and some other cities.

It worked with the help of microphones that were placed near the stage or in the orchestra pit of a theater. These microphones were connected to telephone lines and transmitted the audio live to the subscribers of the service.

Eventually the theatrophone faded away in the early 20th century as the radio became more widespread.

Anyways, that's something cool I learnt today and I thought you guys would find it interesting.

Here's a link to the original article I read before writing the post in case you would like to read more on it!

Or just watch this video !

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31 comments
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Cool! I didn't know about this. Rich people could listen to the opera live, even if the quality was not good.

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I believe they had this at the (now refurbished) Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras in London in the 1920's, they also boasted the only ladies smoking room , very progressive.

A big oversight in the hotel design was not including the new fangled central heating or plumbing, after WW1 the increased cost of labour meant that staff to light fires and bring hot water to rooms for baths became uneconomical.

The once stately grand languished until the new EuroStar line to Paris moved to St Pancras and it was remodelled.

Fans of the Spice Girls will spot the then dilapidated central staircase in their video for "Wannabe"

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Ha! Thanks for sharing this, interesting!

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When you said first I thought 2000s. I didn't think it goes way, way back 😀

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You received an upvote of 100% from Precious the Silver Mermaid!

Please remember to contribute great content to the #SilverGoldStackers tag to create another Precious Gem.

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It sounds like something so outdated, but it was probably revolutionary back in the day. Technology has improved so much.

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I can hardly believe this

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That was a really cool idea, talk about innovation! But just like all industries eventually they are replaced by something bigger and better! Awesome post!
!PIMP

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I still would prefer netflix to the 80s. The world has really advance over the years

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