CELEBRATING OUR TENTH ANNIVERSARY!
A Brief History of Sound Recording: Fully Incomplete and Highly Biased
Our new book is both a Gallery Guide and a standalone history of audio recording!
•2015–2025•
OUR MUSEUM
Our visitors make an appointment to listen, alone or in group!
SPECIAL FEATURES
Do cassettes make an “unexpected comeback” every year? Find out in our special report!
Listen to alphabets from around the world–and contribute your own!
Read the 1947 US Army pamphlet about tape that helped inspire the creation of Sony!
OUR SOUND COLLECTION
Our sounds are displayed by topic – the same way other museums exhibit visual objects.
OUR COLLECTIONS
Browse hundreds of Physical Objects!
Find hundreds of references!
Watch dozens of videos about sound!
ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
Visit our in-depth look back at a time when political corruption still had consequences!
Learn the history of how we created Soundscape™ Barbie® – and how the world reacted!
Experience the chaos when the Internet caused the collapse of the music business!
EDUCATION
We offer classes & workshops, organise conferences, and publish writing about sound.
What our visitors say:
‘Interrogates what museums are with an inventive curatorial approach and presents its artefacts with a sense of fun often absent in sound art.’
—The Wire Magazine
‘An amazing project – magical.’
—Judith Clark
‘A thing of beauty!’
—Londonist.com
‘I’ve never thought about sound in this way before!’
—First Year Student, Bournemouth Film School
‘*****, would go back’
—Seth Cluett
‘Plays with sound as media and media as sound…investigates the many facets of a young and quickly evolving culture of sound and listening.’
—Reviews in Digital Humanities
Our Director was awarded a PhD from University of the Arts London for the thesis he wrote about his creation of this museum, Listening to Museums: Sounds as Objects of Culture and Curatorial Care.
Latest News
Resonance FM’s Rogue Planets to interview MOPS Director
LONDON – Museum of Portable Sound Director, Chief Curator, and author of A Brief History of Sound Recording John Kannenberg will appear live in the studio at Resonance FM London on the Rogue Planets show with Frank Malachi Thursday 30 April 7-8pm. The live interview will cover a variety of topics including the history of…
‘A Brief History of Sound Recording’ reviewed by The Wire magazine
The latest issue of The Wire magazine (no. 505, March 2026) features a 3/4 page review of our new book A Brief History of Sound Recording. Written by staff writer Derek Walmsley, the review is transcribed below: A small museum’s survey of recorded sound and music documents a sonic avalanche across time, space and formatsBy…
Museum of Portable Sound Marks Its First Decade Of Operation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PORTSMOUTH, UK, 11 November: The Museum of Portable Sound (MOPS) today commemorates the tenth anniversary of its first public event, its Grand Opening Gala which took place at 6:30pm at the London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle, London. The capacity crowd in attendance witnessed a ribbon cutting ceremony officiated by Professor…
We bring the culture & history of sound beyond music to the world, one listener at a time.
Who We Are
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The Museum of Portable Sound is a member of these professional organisations:
The Museum of Portable Sound 