Acoustic music is, in its strictest sense, music that is performed solely using instruments that create sound through mechanical means, rather than using electrical or electronic circuitry, and that is likewise listened to without electronic reproduction or amplification. All music was acoustic music until radio, phonographs and amplification were developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Classical music originated as acoustic music and even today live performances in concert halls and some other venues mostly are acoustic.
Popular music is largely performed using electronic instruments and electronic amplification, except for some smaller venues. A notable exception is unplugged music, which is arrangements for acoustic instruments of popular music that had originally been composed for electronic instruments.
There are some major benefits to the use of electronics in the creation, performance and reproduction of music. They include the ability to create sounds that are difficult or impossible to produce with acoustic instruments, the ability to perform at venues without good acoustics (such as outdoors) and to much larger audiences, and the ability to make music listening truly portable and instantly available (such as on disks and the internet). However, some people, prefer the sound of acoustic music to amplified or recorded music. This is especially true for many devotees of classical music.