The first music player was the turntable, which originated from Thomas Edison's phonograph in 1877. The turntable was invented in 1924 by the English Néophone company. Compact discs were invented in 1978 by Philips and Sony as they provided an easier way to listen to music at home, in cars, at work and at school by holding multiple songs on a single disc. Compact discs were preferable to iPods because the music burned onto CDs will last forever, CDs are inexpensive, and they allow hands-free listening in cars to reduce accidents.