Gramophones: The Future

"With the coming of radio, writing has begun to lose its pre-eminence: one man can now speak to multitudes spread over a whole country.  Even in the matter of permanence, speech may become the equal of writing.  Perhaps, instead of legal documents, we shall have gramophone records, with voice signatures by the parties to contract.  Perhaps, as in Wells's When the Sleeper Awakes, books will no longer be printed but merely arranged for the gramophone.  In that case the need for writing may almost cease to exist." -  An Outline of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell (1927).