The early sales and rentals of phonographs and graphophones were pretty dismal, despite a great deal of enthusiasm for the technology. Amid much patent bickering, licensing, and corporate maneuvering, a network of regional companies authorized to make and/or service sound recorders emerged in the United States. By 1900 these companies were already struggling. At about this time they discovered the entertainment uses of the phonograph. In the early 20th century, the entertainment phonograph industry would explode. But the phonograph as a business machine remained, its fortunes determined largely by just two firms. The first was the descendant of the company that Bell and Tainter formed in the District of Columbia to market the graphophone. Eventually, this became the Columbia Graphophone Co. Edison’s Improved Phonograph became the basis of the business recorder made by Thomas A. Edison Inc. By about 1907, Columbia was calling its product the Dictaphone. Edison eventually renamed his product Ediphone. Dictaphones and Ediphones were nearly indistinguishable, and could use each other’s cylinders. The market was of course much smaller than that for the entertainment phonograph, but because of the high initial cost of the business recorder and the constant need for supplies and repairs, the business was profitable.