In the 19th century, when the traditional (grammar-translation) methodology prevailed, language learning specialists were already proposing that priority should be given to familiarising learners with the spoken language of daily interactions. In the first part of this article, while briefly reviewing the emergence and development of speech recording technologies, we will show how they received wide approval among advocates of such an approach. But, did this “perfect match” between technology and pedagogy ever take place in language learning classrooms? Not really, as the historical overview of the uses of audio materials (with a special focus on French as a foreign language) presented in the second part of the article indicates.