“A stylus is a fancy needle, will it work without one?”
Actually, not.
But I guess you are too young to know the difference.
Actually I am not, and used to change cactus needles on an antique Victrola when I was a kid. And I currently own an Edison player with about 30 Edison platters. The point is it will not work without a needle. Does this then mean it is not a phonograph anymore?
Now using logic why would Martinville create a recording device without some intentions and lost method to play it back? Really, why even record it in the first place if you are not planning on somehow playing it back from the recording you have created?
It’s illogical, just because the page showing the playback device might be lost doesn’t mean he was too stupid to want to playback the recordings he planned on recording. Who with any intelligence would logically do this without first already knowing how to play it back?
Bell didn’t invent the Telephone either, the first was Antonio Meucci.