Tony Schwartz 1923 - 2008 Tony Schwartz started his love affair of recorded sound at a young age. In the 1940s he started with wire recording. He quickly adapted to tape when it was released, designing and building the first portable tape recorder himself. His goal was to record the sounds that filled his life. Schwartz traded wire recordings after getting a list of registered owners from the manufacturer. In a sense, he had the first 'record pool' or 'peer to peer file sharing service' out there. In the least it fulfilled Edison's zeal to spread sound and share the sonic life of the world. Schwartz' love affair with sound led him to release recordings on Folkways that isolated and elevated everyday sounds so their musicality could be more easily grasped by the listener. The result is a new way to hear the world around you. Turning his keen ear towards advertising, Schwartz earned a steady living and introduced radical changes that brought immediate results for the advertisers. He also used this same knack for political campaign advertisements, producing most notably the 'Daisy Ad' which was aired only a few times but has been studied ever since. The results of years working in-depth with the sound recording medium led him to realize how close our sonic environment is to our human nature and how great the impact of media can be. The Responsive Chord was the first in a series of books where Schwartz outlines incredibly forwarding thinking ideas regarding media and their impact on our lives. His ideas amount to a Copernican revolution in communication. Equivalent to the insights of Marshall McLuhan, Schwartz is more clear in his explanation producing a more practical read. Surprisingly, many have yet to fully grasp his concepts. Those who do fully appreciate his improved model of communication are more politically and commecially successful than ever. Schwartz has never stopped trading sounds and boasts perhaps the best record collection ever. At least the United States Library of Congress thinks so, they've requested his collection be placed in their archives. Read more here: Tony Schwartz Site