FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE A Brief History of Sound Recording: Fully Incomplete and Highly Biasedby Dr John Kannenberg Imprint: Museum of Portable Sound PressOn sale: 27 November 2025Price: £30.00Pages: 124ISBN: 9798347413720 CONTACT:Johnjohn[at]museumofportablesound.com “A true labour of love and well worth your time.” —Wallpaper* Magazine, December 2025 Ten years in the making, this unconventional history of audioContinue reading “A Brief History of Sound Recording book now available”
Author Archives: Dr John Kannenberg
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 ProfessorContinue reading “Museum of Portable Sound Marks Its First Decade Of Operation”
Wallpaper* Magazine Reviews ‘A Brief History of Sound Recording’
Wallpaper* Magazine has published a review of our forthcoming book, A Brief History of Sound Recording: Fully Incomplete and Highly Biased, in a new listicle entitled “14 of the best new books for music buffs.” “The book is a true labour of love and well worth your time.” – Wallpaper* Magazine The entire review reads:Continue reading “Wallpaper* Magazine Reviews ‘A Brief History of Sound Recording’”
Live Museum Tour in New Delhi
NEW DELHI, INDIA — On Saturday, 18 May 2024, Museum of Portable Sound (MOPS) Chief Curator John Kannenberg will lead a live guided tour of the world’s number one portable sound museum for current sound students and the general public at the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication, New Mehrauli Road, Adchini, New Delhi,Continue reading “Live Museum Tour in New Delhi”
Sounds Beyond Music Curator’s Talk: Thursday 8 February 2024
Our Director & Chief Curator Dr John Kannenberg will give a Curator’s Talk on Thursday evening, 8 February 2024 at 5:30pm in conjunction with our Sounds Beyond Music exhibit currently on view at the University of Portsmouth Library. The talk will include a brief introduction to our museum, a listening session of some sounds in ourContinue reading “Sounds Beyond Music Curator’s Talk: Thursday 8 February 2024”
The Radio Tower: Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society Podcast
SAYVILLE, NEW YORK—Our Director was recently interviewed by Chris Kretz of the Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society for an episode of their podcast, The Radio Tower. You can listen to the episode by clicking here or on the image of the player below. The Historical Society is based around the preservation of theContinue reading “The Radio Tower: Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society Podcast”
Sound Matters Symposium Presentation, South Africa
STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA – Our Director was invited to participate in the virtual symposium Sound Matters, a virtual symposium hosted by the South African Research Chair in Science Communication at Stellenbosch University, The Academic Citizen, and the South African Journal of Science. His presentation ‘Science of Sound, Science as Sound’ was a brief introduction toContinue reading “Sound Matters Symposium Presentation, South Africa”
Audio.com Podcast featuring our Director
Sound sharing website Audio.com has published a podcast interview conducted by Audio.com’s Ilia Rogachevski with John Kannenberg, our Director & Chief Curator. #RIYL listening to a grumpy old white guy say things about sound, music, and sound art that you probably won’t agree with! Here’s their official summary: John Kannenberg, founder of the Museum ofContinue reading “Audio.com Podcast featuring our Director”
The Listening Biennial 2023: Listening Tambayan, Manila, Philippines
Our Director presented a pre-recorded guided tour of our museum and participated in a live discussion via Zoom today in Manila, Philippines as part of the Listening Biennial 2023, a worldwide symposium, exhibition and series of events from 6 July – 8 August. Curated by Filipina curator Dayang Yraola, the Listening Tambayan is one ofContinue reading “The Listening Biennial 2023: Listening Tambayan, Manila, Philippines”
The Wire Issue 474 Review
The current issue of the London experimental music magazine The Wire (issue 474, August 2023) contains a full-page review of our museum written by Ilia Rogatchevski, who visited our museum both online and in-person in order to research the piece. The text reads: “Are you familiar with the story of the First MP3?” asks JohnContinue reading “The Wire Issue 474 Review”
Decolonising Sonic Heritage Spaces
Knowledge Exchange Workshop, City, University of London London, 19 June 2023—Our Director has participated in the Decolonising Sonic Heritage Spaces knowledge exchange workshop at City, University of London convened by Dr Maria Mendonça (Kenyon College, US/City) and Professor Laudan Nooshin (City). His morning presentation, Sound Studies as a Museum Decolonisation Methodology, discussed four examples ofContinue reading “Decolonising Sonic Heritage Spaces”
In Person Visits Now Booking
SOUTHSEA, PORTSMOUTH, UK — The Museum of Portable Sound is pleased to announce that it is officially back open for in person visits. Based in Southsea, UK, it is easiest to book in person visits there. However, since the museum is portable, we are able to bring it along wherever our Director and Chief CuratorContinue reading “In Person Visits Now Booking”
Our 2,000th Visitor!
MUSEUM OF PORTABLE SOUND LABORATORIES, SOUTHSEA – This morning we welcomed a group of three online visitors to our museum who took a guided tour. As a result: • Today we welcomed our first visitors of 2023; • Today we welcomed our first visitors based in the Philippines; • Today we welcomed the 2,000th personContinue reading “Our 2,000th Visitor!”
MOPS Director Talks Death of the iPod on Sky News
LIVERPOOL/SOUTHSEA – MOPS Director John Kannenberg appeared on the 10 o’clock Sky News last night as part of a three minute segment marking the death of the iPod.
Science Museum in London Donates Object to Museum of Portable Sound
BLYTHE HOUSE ARCHIVE, LONDON – A vintage 1982 Philips portable tape recorder once held in the Science Museum’s archives has been officially transferred to the collections of the Museum of Portable Sound.
Announcing Our Summer 2022 Blockbuster Exhibition!
18 1/2 Minutes: The Erasure of Watergate Tape 342 Hear the infamous gap in the tape that sealed the fate of US President Richard Nixon exactly 50 years ago
Apple Announces ‘Most Sustainable iPhone Ever’, iPhone TC
CUPERTINO, Calif., 1 April, 2022–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple® today announced the ‘most sustainable iPhone® ever’, the iPhone TC.
Architectural Spotlight: Designing the Museum of Portable Sound
The sounds we exhibit in our Permanent Collection Galleries are stored on a single iPhone 4S. It is this single iPhone that all our visitors – online and in-person – listen to when accessing our collections of digital audio files, which are not available to stream online nor in a mobile app they can listenContinue reading “Architectural Spotlight: Designing the Museum of Portable Sound”
Why ‘Portable Sound’?
“I thought ‘Museum of Portable Sound’ sounded equal parts legitimate and confusing, which in my mind was a huge advantage.” Why are we called the Museum of ‘Portable Sound’? And what even IS ‘Portable Sound’? Read a new interview with our Director & Chief Curator discussing the various meanings of what ‘portable sound’ means toContinue reading “Why ‘Portable Sound’?”
Get to Know Our Collections!
We’ve just completed a substantial update to our website: an all-new section about our Collections! There are now individual pages dedicated to each of our four primary collections: our Permanent Collection of Sounds our Physical Objects Collection our Research Library and our Video Gallery Read about how each collection got its start, look at behind-the-scenesContinue reading “Get to Know Our Collections!”
Seismograf.org Interview with Our Director
Denmark-based music and sound studies magazine Seismograf has published an extensive interview with Dr John Kannenberg, our Director and Chief Curator, conducted last summer by writer Julie Hugsted. The interview covers the history of our museum, highlights from the Permanent Collection, and many of the influences and strategies that have helped shape what our museumContinue reading “Seismograf.org Interview with Our Director”
Coming November 2022: #MiniDisc30
One of our museum’s favourite portable sound formats, the MiniDisc, turns thirty years old this November – and we will spend that month celebrating it! Watch this space, as well as our social media accounts, for updates as we get closer to MiniDisc30 this November – we’ll make sure to tag everything with #MiniDisc30.
Is the MOPS Conference Available to Watch Online?
TO ALL WHO’VE ASKED ABOUT WATCHING OUR CONFERENCE ONLINE: Yes, we did record the MOPS Conference! But unless you bought a ticket, you won’t be able to watch it online for a little while yet. We’re grateful that so many people want to watch our first-ever sound studies conference now that it’s over. And you’llContinue reading “Is the MOPS Conference Available to Watch Online?”
Tickets Now Available for the Museum of Portable Sound Conference
Our first ever conference, Sound Beyond Music, is taking place exclusively online over two consecutive Fridays in November, the 12th and the 19th! The Conference Schedule is now available, and we’ve got two great days ready for you to experience. Over the two weeks of the conference, presentation videos will be posted for participants toContinue reading “Tickets Now Available for the Museum of Portable Sound Conference”
The Haunted Museum of Portable Sound is back!
The Haunted Museum of Portable Sound is being re-opened for the Halloween season this year! The mysterious PHANTOM CURATOR is unlocking his online crypt of cacophony to explore spooky sounds specially selected for either adult experiences or family outings via Zoom! Adults will get a deep dive into the world of EVP – Electronic VoiceContinue reading “The Haunted Museum of Portable Sound is back!”
The Museum of Portable Sound 