View source for Phonograph record

{{Short description|Disc-shaped analog sound storage medium}}
{{For-multi|the magazine|Phonograph Record (magazine){{!}}''Phonograph Record'' (magazine)|cylinder recordings formerly commonly called phonograph records|Phonograph cylinder}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
[[File:Vinilos distintos tamaños.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Three vinyl records of different formats, from left to right: a 12-inch [[LP record|LP]], a 10-inch LP, a 7-inch [[Single (music)|single]]]]

A '''phonograph record''' (also known as a '''gramophone record''', especially in British English) or a '''vinyl record''' (for later varieties only) is an [[analog signal|analog]] sound [[Recording medium|storage medium]] in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the outside edge and ends near the center of the disc. The stored sound information is made audible by playing the record on a [[phonograph]] (or "gramophone", "turntable", or "record player").

Records have been produced in different formats with playing times ranging from a few minutes to around 30 minutes per side. For about half a century, the discs were commonly made from [[shellac]] and these records typically ran at a rotational speed of 78 [[rpm]], giving it the nickname "'''78s'''" ("seventy-eights"). After the 1940s, "vinyl" records made from [[polyvinyl chloride]] (PVC) became standard replacing the old 78s and remain so to this day; they have since been produced in various sizes and speeds, most commonly 7-inch discs played at 45 rpm (typically for [[Single (music)|singles]], also called '''45s''' ("forty-fives")), and 12-inch discs played at 33⅓ rpm (known as an [[LP record|LP]], "long-playing records", typically for full-length [[album]]s) – the latter being the most prevalent format today.

==Overview==
{{listen
| filename     = 78tours.ogv
| title        = 78&nbsp;rpm video
| description  = Video of a 1936 spring-motor-driven 78&nbsp;rpm acoustic (non-electronic) gramophone playing a [[shellac]] record.
| format       = [[Ogv]]
}}

The phonograph record was the primary medium used for music reproduction throughout the 20th century. It had co-existed with the [[phonograph cylinder]] from the late 1880s and had effectively superseded it by around 1912. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as the [[compact cassette]] were mass-marketed. By the 1980s, [[digital audio|digital media]], in the form of the [[compact disc]], had gained a larger market share, and the record left the mainstream in 1991.<ref>[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/514312171.html?dids=514312171:514312171&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+09%2C+1991&author=&pub=The+Record&desc=It's+almost+final+for+vinyl%3A+Record+manufacturers+dwindle+in+the+U.+S.&pqatl=google It's almost final for vinyl: Record manufacturers dwindle in the U.S.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116093809/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/514312171.html?dids=514312171:514312171&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+09%2C+1991&author=&pub=The+Record&desc=It's+almost+final+for+vinyl%3A+Record+manufacturers+dwindle+in+the+U.+S.&pqatl=google |date=16 January 2013 }}. ''Kitchener – Waterloo Record'' – Kitchener, Ont., 9 January 1991.</ref> Since the 1990s, records continue to be manufactured and sold on a smaller scale, and during the 1990s and early 2000s were commonly used by [[disc jockey]]s (DJs), especially in dance music genres. They were also listened to by a growing number of [[audiophile]]s. The phonograph record has made a niche resurgence in the early 21st century,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/89616 |title=Millennials push 2015 record sales to 26-year high in US |work=NME.COM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226181613/http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/89616 |archive-date=26 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-11/27/vinyl-sales-uk |title=Vinyl sales pass 1m for first time this century |magazine=Wired UK |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420092353/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-11/27/vinyl-sales-uk |archive-date=20 April 2016}}</ref> growing increasingly popular throughout the 2010s and 2020s.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Caulfield |first=Keith |date=2023-01-11 |title=U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Rise for 17th Straight Year — But Growth Is Slowing |url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/vinyl-album-sales-rise-growth-slowing/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Ida 1924 recording cast.jpg|thumb|Conductor and cast members of the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]] with [[acoustic recording]] horn at [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]], c. 1924]]
[[Phonograph]] records are generally described by their [[diameter]] in inches (12-inch, 10-inch, 7-inch), the [[rotational speed]] in [[revolutions per minute]] (rpm) at which they are played ({{frac|8|1|3}}, {{frac|16|2|3}}, {{frac|33|1|3}}, 45, 78),<ref>The 2 slower speeds used by [[the Library of Congress]] to supply [[the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped]].</ref> and their time capacity, determined by their diameter and speed (LP [long play], 12-inch disc, {{frac|33|1|3}}&nbsp;rpm; EP [extended play], 12-inch disc or 7-inch disc, {{frac|33|1|3}} or 45&nbsp;rpm; Single, 7-inch or 10-inch disc, 45 or 78&nbsp;rpm); their reproductive quality, or level of [[fidelity]] (high-fidelity, orthophonic, full-range, etc.); and the number of audio channels ([[Monaural|mono]], [[stereo]], [[Quadraphonic sound|quad]], etc.).{{cn|date=July 2024}}

The phrase ''[[#Vinyl|broken record]]'' refers to a malfunction when the needle skips/jumps back to the previous groove and plays the same section over and over again indefinitely.<ref name=BrokenRec.IW>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Information Week]] |title=A Whole New Ball Game|page=176|quote=when broken or scratched ... repeating the same music or words over and over again |author=Bob Evans|date=8 November 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/record |title=Saturday: Sounds Like a Broken Record |quote=repetitive sounds .. this means the record SKIPS its groove|author=Deb Amlen |date=7 October 2011}}</ref>

=== Naming ===
The various names have included '''phonograph record''' (American English), '''gramophone record''' (British English), record, vinyl, [[LP record|LP]] (originally a trademark of [[Columbia Records]]), black disc,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dictionary.com {{!}} Meanings & Definitions of English Words |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/black-disc |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=Dictionary.com |language=en}}</ref> album, and more [[Slang|informally]] platter,<ref>{{Cite web |title=SAA Dictionary: platter |url=https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/platter.html |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=dictionary.archivists.org}}</ref> wax,<ref>{{Cite web |title=vinyl {{!}} Etymology of vinyl by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/vinyl |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en}}</ref> or liquorice pizza.<ref>{{Cite web |title=licorice pizza |url=https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/licorice+pizza |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=TheFreeDictionary.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Early development==
Manufacture of disc records began in the late 19th century, at first competing with earlier cylinder records.  Price, ease of use and storage made the disc record dominant by the 1910s. The standard format of disc records became known to later generations as "78s" after their playback speed in revolutions per minute, although that speed only became standardized in the late 1920s.  In the late 1940s new formats pressed in vinyl, the 45 rpm single and 33 rpm long playing "LP", were introduced, gradually overtaking the formerly standard "78s" over the next decade.  The late 1950s saw the introduction of stereophonic sound on commercial discs.

===Predecessors===
{{main|History of sound recording}}
The [[phonautograph]] was invented by 1857 by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.<ref name=TimeGraphics>{{cite web|url=https://time.graphics/event/41158|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=mar 25, 1857 - Phonautograph invented.|language=en-US|url-status=live|accessdate=13 July 2022|archivedate=29 June 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629175625/https://time.graphics/event/41158}}</ref> It could not, however, play back recorded sound,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/origins-of-sound-recording-edouard-leon-scott-de-martinville.htm|title=Origins of Sound Recording: The Inventors: Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville: The Phonautograph|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=17 July 2017|access-date=21 April 2023|archive-date=6 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306065116/https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/origins-of-sound-recording-edouard-leon-scott-de-martinville.htm}}</ref> as Scott intended for people to read back the tracings,<ref name=Time5.1.18>{{cite web|url=https://time.com/5084599/first-recorded-sound/|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=What Was the First Sound Ever Recorded by a Machine?|author=Fabry, Merrill|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=1 May 2018|access-date=13 February 2022|archivedate=7 June 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607172532/https://time.com/5084599/first-recorded-sound/}}</ref> which he called phonautograms.<ref name=FirstSounds>{{cite web|url=https://www.firstsounds.org/research/scott.php|title=Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville|publisher=First Sounds|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=2008|access-date=13 July 2022|archivedate=1 July 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701004645/http://www.firstsounds.org/research/scott.php}}</ref> Prior to this, [[tuning fork]]s had been used in this way to create direct tracings of the vibrations of sound-producing objects, as by English physicist [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]] in 1807.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FaAYfJYVNXQC|title=Nineeenth-century Scientific Instruments|language=en-US|url-status=live|publisher=University of California Press|page=137|date=1983|isbn=9780520051607 |archivedate=15 February 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215062429/https://books.google.com/books?id=FaAYfJYVNXQC&pg=PA137&dq=thomas+young+tuning+fork&hl=en&ei=bsY5Tcm7GYmh8QOnppXYCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBw}}</ref> 

In 1877, [[Thomas Edison]] invented the first [[phonograph]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/biography/life-of-thomas-alva-edison/|title=The Life of Thomas A. Edison|work=[[Library of Congress]]|url-status=live|language=en-US|access-date=21 April 2023|archive-date=20 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120001520/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edbio.html}}</ref> which etched sound recordings onto [[phonograph cylinders]]. Unlike the phonautograph, Edison's phonograph could both record and reproduce sound, via two separate needles, one for each function.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/|title=History of the Cylinder Phonograph|work=[[Library of Congress]]|url-status=live|language=en-US|access-date=21 April 2023|archive-date=31 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331150136/https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph/}}</ref>

===The first disc records===
[[File:Emile Berliner with phonograph.jpg|thumb|Emile Berliner with disc record gramophone]]

The first commercially sold disc records were created by [[Emile Berliner]] in the 1880s. Emile Berliner improved the quality of recordings while his manufacturing associate [[Eldridge R. Johnson]], who owned a machine shop in [[Camden, New Jersey]], eventually improved the mechanism of the gramophone with a spring motor and a speed regulating governor, resulting in a sound quality equal to Edison's cylinders. Abandoning Berliner's "Gramophone" trademark for legal reasons in the United States, Johnson's and Berliner's separate companies reorganized in 1901 to form the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] in Camden, New Jersey, whose products would come to dominate the market for several decades.<ref name="life">{{Cite magazine| title=First It Said 'Mary' | magazine=[[Life (magazine)|LIFE]] | first=Robert | last=Wallace | date=17 November 1952 | pages=87–102 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFIEAAAAMBAJ }}</ref>

Berliner's Montreal factory, which became the Canadian branch of [[RCA Victor]], still exists. There is a dedicated museum in Montreal for Berliner ([[Musée des ondes Emile Berliner]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Centennial of Broadcasting in Canada |website=Canadashistory.ca |url=https://www.canadashistory.ca/awards/governor-general-s-history-awards/award-recipients/2020/centennial-of-broadcasting-in-canada |access-date=1 July 2022}}</ref>

== 78 rpm disc developments ==
<!--Note: Multiple articles link directly to this section by name, including the redirect pages [78&nbsp;rpm], [78&nbsp;rpm] and [78 record]. Please be cautious in changing the section title. -->

===Early speeds===
[[File:Pathé Schallplatte.jpg|thumb|upright|Hungarian [[Pathé]] record, 90 to 100&nbsp;rpm]]
Early disc recordings were produced in a variety of speeds ranging from 60 to 130&nbsp;rpm, and a variety of sizes. As early as 1894, [[Emile Berliner]]'s [[United States Gramophone Company]] was selling single-sided 7-inch discs with an advertised standard speed of "about 70&nbsp;rpm".<ref>Ober, Norman (1973). "You Can Thank Emil Berliner for the Shape Your Record Collection Is In". ''Music Educators Journal'', Vol. 60, No. 4 (December 1973), pp. 38–40.</ref>

One standard audio recording handbook describes speed regulators, or [[governor (device)|governor]]s, as being part of a wave of improvement introduced rapidly after 1897. A picture of a hand-cranked 1898 Berliner Gramophone shows a governor and says that spring drives had replaced hand drives. It notes that:

<blockquote>The speed regulator was furnished with an indicator that showed the speed when the machine was running so that the records, on reproduction, could be revolved at exactly the same speed...The literature does not disclose why 78&nbsp;rpm was chosen for the phonograph industry, apparently this just happened to be the speed created by one of the early machines and, for no other reason continued to be used.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Recording and Reproduction of Sound|edition=revised and enlarged 2nd|first=Oliver |last = Read|publisher=Howard W. Sams|location=Indianapolis|year=1952|chapter = History of Acoustical Recording|pages= 12, 14, 15}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Schellackplatte 1908.jpg|thumb|upright|A multinational product: an operatic duet sung by [[Enrico Caruso]] and [[Antonio Scotti]], recorded in the US in 1906 by the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]], manufactured {{circa|1908}} in Hanover, Germany, for the [[Gramophone Company]], Victor's affiliate in England]]
In 1912, the Gramophone Company set 78&nbsp;rpm as their recording standard, based on the average of recordings they had been releasing at the time, and started selling players whose governors had a [[Real versus nominal value|nominal]] speed of 78&nbsp;rpm.<ref name=copeland /> By 1925, 78&nbsp;rpm was becoming standardized across the industry. However, the exact speed differed between places with [[alternating current]] electricity supply at 60 [[hertz]] (cycles per second, Hz) and those at 50&nbsp;Hz. Where the mains supply was 60&nbsp;Hz, the actual speed was 78.26&nbsp;rpm:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aes2.org/publications/par/num/ |title=Pro Audio Reference |at=78 rpm record |access-date=2024-08-08}}</ref> that of a 60&nbsp;Hz [[stroboscope]] illuminating 92-bar calibration markings. Where it was 50&nbsp;Hz, it was 77.92&nbsp;rpm: that of a 50&nbsp;Hz stroboscope illuminating 77-bar calibration markings.<ref name=copeland>{{cite book|last1=Copeland|first1=Peter|title=Manual of Analogue Audio Restoration Techniques|date=2008|publisher=British Library|location=London|pages=89–90|url=http://www.bl.uk/britishlibrary/~/media/subjects%20images/sound/analoguesoundrestoration.pdf|access-date=16 December 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222091532/http://www.bl.uk/britishlibrary/~/media/subjects%20images/sound/analoguesoundrestoration.pdf|archive-date=22 December 2015}}</ref>

[[File:EdisonDiscLabelBunk.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Edison Records Diamond Disc label, early 1920s. [[Edison Disc Record]]s always ran at 80&nbsp;rpm.]]
At least one attempt to lengthen playing time was made in the early 1920s. World Records produced records that played at a [[constant linear velocity]], controlled by [[Noel Pemberton Billing]]'s patented add-on speed governor.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World Records, Vocalion "W" Fetherflex and Penny Phono Recordings: A listing |author1=Frank Andrews |author2=Arthur Badrock |author3=Edward S. Walker |publisher=The Authors |location=Spalding, Lincolnshire |date=1992}}</ref>

===Acoustic recording===
Early recordings were made entirely acoustically, the sound was collected by a horn and piped to a [[Diaphragm (acoustics)|diaphragm]], which vibrated the cutting stylus. Sensitivity and frequency range were poor, and frequency response was irregular, giving acoustic recordings an instantly recognizable tonal quality. A singer almost had to put their face in the recording horn. A way of reducing resonance was to wrap the recording horn with tape.<ref>Scholes, plate 73.</ref>

Even drums, if planned and placed properly, could be effectively recorded and heard on even the earliest jazz and military band recordings. The loudest instruments such as the drums and trumpets were positioned the farthest away from the collecting horn. [[Lillian Hardin Armstrong]], a member of [[King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band]], which recorded at [[Gennett Records]] in 1923, remembered that at first Oliver and his young second trumpet, [[Louis Armstrong]], stood next to each other and Oliver's horn could not be heard. "They put Louis about fifteen feet over in the corner, looking all sad."<ref>Rick Kennedy, ''Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz'', Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994, pp. 63–64.</ref><ref>A photograph of the [[Gennett Records]] studio is available. {{cite web |url=http://www.nicklucas.com/Image/nick_lucas_playing%20_with_bailey's_lucky_seven_at_gennett_studios.jpg |title=nick lucas playing with bailey's lucky seven at gennett studios |website=Nick Lucas |access-date=9 April 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529082244/http://www.nicklucas.com/Image/nick_lucas_playing%20_with_bailey's_lucky_seven_at_gennett_studios.jpg |archive-date=29 May 2008 }}</ref>

===Electrical recording===
[[File:Gloria G.O. 13078b.jpg|thumb|left|upright|An electronically recorded disc from [[Carl Lindström Company|Carl Lindström]] AG, Germany, {{circa|1930}}]]

During the first half of the 1920s, engineers at [[Western Electric]], as well as independent inventors such as [[Orlando Marsh]], developed technology for capturing sound with a [[microphone]], amplifying it with [[vacuum tube]]s<ref name=40KYearsMusic>[[Jacques Chailley]] – ''40,000 Years of Music: Man in Search of Music – 1964 p. 144'', "On March 21st, 1925, Alfred Cortot made for the Victor Talking Machine Co., in Camden, New Jersey, the first classical recording to employ a new technique, thanks to which the gramophone was to play an important part in musical life: electric ..."</ref> (known as ''valves'' in the UK<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edisontechcenter.org/VacuumTubes.html|last1=Whelan|first1=M.|last2=Kornrumpf|first2=W.|title=Vacuum Tubes (Valves)|publisher=[[Edison Tech Center]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=2014|access-date=23 March 2023|archive-date=2 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202005355/https://edisontechcenter.org/VacuumTubes.html}}</ref>), and then using the amplified signal to drive an electromechanical recording head. Western Electric's innovations resulted in a broader and smoother frequency response, which produced a dramatically fuller, clearer and more natural-sounding recording. Soft or distant sounds that were previously impossible to record could now be captured. Volume was now limited only by the groove spacing on the record and the amplification of the playback device. Victor and Columbia licensed the new [[electrical]] system from Western Electric and recorded the first electrical discs during the spring of 1925. The first electrically recorded Victor [[RCA Red Seal|Red Seal]] record was [[Chopin]]'s "Impromptus" and [[Schubert]]'s "Litanei" performed by pianist [[Alfred Cortot]] at Victor's studios in [[Camden, New Jersey]].<ref name=40KYearsMusic/>

A 1926 [[Wanamaker's]] ad in ''[[The New York Times]]'' offers records "by the latest Victor process of electrical recording".<ref>Wanamaker (16 January 1926). Wanamaker's ad in ''The New York Times'', 16 January 1926, p. 16.</ref> It was recognized as a breakthrough; in 1930, a ''Times'' music critic stated:
<blockquote>...&nbsp;the time has come for serious musical criticism to take account of performances of great music reproduced by means of the records. To claim that the records have succeeded in exact and complete reproduction of all details of symphonic or operatic performances&nbsp;... would be extravagant&nbsp;... [but] the article of today is so far in advance of the old machines as hardly to admit classification under the same name. Electrical recording and reproduction have combined to retain vitality and color in recitals by proxy.<ref>Pakenham, Compton (1930), "Recorded Music: A Wide Range". ''The New York Times'', February 23, 1930, p. 118</ref></blockquote>

[[File:78 rpm.jpg|thumb|Examples of Congolese 78&nbsp;rpm records]]
[[File:Gramophone Record Decelith II.jpg|thumb|right|A 10-inch blank for making an individually cut one-off recording made from Decelith, a proprietary PVC-based material produced by a German Company ECW that was used to make commercial flexible blanks prior to World War II<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.x-rayaudio.com/x-rayaudioblog/2020/7/19/nazi-lathe-cut-discs|publisher=Bone Music|title=Nazi Era Flexi Discs|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=19 July 2020|access-date=6 February 2023|archive-date=6 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206171259/https://www.x-rayaudio.com/x-rayaudioblog/2020/7/19/nazi-lathe-cut-discs}}</ref>]]
The [[Orthophonic Victrola]] had an interior folded exponential horn, a sophisticated design informed by impedance-matching and [[Loudspeaker enclosure#Transmission line|transmission-line]] theory, and designed to provide a relatively flat frequency response. Victor's first public demonstration of the Orthophonic Victrola on 6 October 1925, at the [[Waldorf-Astoria (1893–1929)|Waldorf-Astoria Hotel]] was front-page news in ''The New York Times'', which reported:
<blockquote>The audience broke into applause&nbsp;... [[John Philip Sousa]] [said]: '[Gentlemen], that is a band. This is the first time I have ever heard music with any soul to it produced by a mechanical talking machine'&nbsp;... The new instrument is a feat of mathematics and physics. It is not the result of innumerable experiments, but was worked out on paper in advance of being built in the laboratory&nbsp;... The new machine has a range of from 100 to 5,000 [cycles per second], or five and a half octaves&nbsp;... The 'phonograph tone' is eliminated by the new recording and reproducing process.<ref>''The New York Times'' (1925-10-07). [https://www.nytimes.com/1925/10/07/archives/new-music-machine-thrills-all-hearers-at-first-test-here-researches.html "New Music Machine Thrills All Hearers At First Test Here".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510154138/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00D17FA3F5D13738DDDAE0894D8415B858EF1D3 |date=2013-05-10 }} Front page.</ref></blockquote>

Sales of records plummeted precipitously during the early years of the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s, and the entire record industry in America nearly foundered. In 1932, RCA Victor  introduced a basic, inexpensive turntable called the Duo Jr., which was designed to be connected to their radio receivers.  According to Edward Wallerstein (the general manager of the RCA Victor Division), this device was "instrumental in revitalizing the industry".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musicinthemail.com/audiohistoryLP.html |title=LPs historic |website=Musicinthemail.com |access-date=10 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426151404/http://www.musicinthemail.com/audiohistoryLP.html |archive-date=26 April 2016 }}</ref>

===78 rpm materials===
The production of shellac records continued throughout the 78&nbsp;rpm era, which lasted until 1948 in industrialized nations.<ref>Read, Oliver; Welch, Walter L., ''From Tin Foil to Stereo'', U.S., 1959</ref>

During the Second World War, the United States Armed Forces produced thousands of 12-inch vinyl 78&nbsp;rpm [[V-Disc]]s for use by the troops overseas.<ref>''V-Disc and Armed Forces Radio Catalogue'', Blue Goose Publishers, St Louis</ref> After the war, the use of vinyl became more practical as new record players with lightweight crystal pickups and precision-ground styli made of [[sapphire]] or an exotic [[osmium]] alloy proliferated. In late 1945, RCA Victor began offering "De Luxe" transparent red vinylite pressings of some [[RCA Red Seal Records|Red Seal]] classical 78s, at a ''de luxe'' price. Later, [[Decca Records]] introduced vinyl Deccalite 78s, while other record companies used various vinyl formulations trademarked as Metrolite, Merco Plastic, and Sav-o-flex, but these were mainly used to produce "unbreakable" children's records and special thin vinyl DJ pressings for shipment to radio stations.<ref>''The Amazing Phonograph'', Morgan Wright, 2002 Hoy Hoy Publishers, Saratoga Springs, NY p. 65</ref>

===78 rpm recording time===
The playing time of a phonograph record is directly proportional to the available groove length divided by the turntable speed. Total groove length in turn depends on how closely the grooves are spaced, in addition to the record diameter. At the beginning of the 20th century, the early discs played for two minutes, the same as cylinder records.<ref name=Millard>{{cite book|last = Millard|first = Andre|url =  https://archive.org/details/americaonrecordh0000mill |url-access = registration|page = [https://archive.org/details/americaonrecordh0000mill/page/353 353]|quote = record playing time.|title = America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|date= 1995|isbn = 0-521-47556-2|via =[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> The 12-inch disc, introduced by Victor in 1903, increased the playing time to three and a half minutes.<ref name=Welch>{{cite book|last1=Welch|first1= Walter L. |last2= Burt|first2= Leah|title =From Tinfoil to Stereo: The Acoustic Years of the Recording Industry, 1877–1929 |publisher= University Press of Florida|date= 1994|isbn = 0-8130-1317-8}}</ref> Because the standard 10-inch 78&nbsp;rpm record could hold about three minutes of sound per side, most popular recordings were limited to that duration.<ref name="WRD-20140711">{{cite magazine |last=Allain |first=Rhett |title=Why Are Songs on the Radio About the Same Length? |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/07/why-are-songs-on-the-radio-about-the-same-length/|date=11 July 2014 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=11 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140711190729/http://www.wired.com/2014/07/why-are-songs-on-the-radio-about-the-same-length/ |archive-date=11 July 2014 }}</ref> For example, when [[King Oliver]]'s Creole Jazz Band, including [[Louis Armstrong]] on his first recordings, recorded 13 sides at [[Gennett Records]] in Richmond, Indiana, in 1923, one side was 2:09 and four sides were 2:52–2:59.<ref>"Louis Armstrong and King Oliver", Heritage Jazz, cassette, 1993</ref>

In January 1938, [[Milt Gabler]] started recording for [[Commodore Records]], and to allow for longer continuous performances, he recorded some 12-inch discs. [[Eddie Condon]] explained: "Gabler realized that a jam session needs room for development." The first two 12-inch recordings did not take advantage of their capability: "Carnegie Drag" was 3m&nbsp;15s; "Carnegie Jump", 2m&nbsp;41s. But at the second session, on 30 April, the two 12-inch recordings were longer: "Embraceable You" was 4m&nbsp;05s; "Serenade to a Shylock", 4m&nbsp;32s.<ref>Eddie Condon, "We Called It Music", Da Capo Press, New York, 1992, p. 263–264. (Originally published 1947)</ref><ref>Back cover notes, "Jammin' at Commodore with Eddie Condon and His Windy City Seven...", Commodore Jazz Classics (CD), CCD 7007, 1988</ref> Another way to overcome the time limitation was to issue a selection extending to both sides of a single record. Vaudeville stars [[Gallagher and Shean]] recorded "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean", written by themselves or, allegedly, by Bryan Foy, as two sides of a 10-inch 78 in 1922 for [[Victor Records|Victor]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.120841|title=Hits of the 1920s, Vol. 2 (1921–1923)|website=Naxos.com|access-date=10 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160125145307/http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.120841|archive-date=25 January 2016}}</ref> Longer musical pieces were released as a set of records. In 1903 [[The Gramophone Company]] in England made the first complete recording of an opera, [[Verdi]]'s ''[[Ernani]]'', on 40 single-sided discs.<ref name="sandiego1">{{cite web |url=http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/notes.html#cylinder |title=Recording Technology History |website=[[University of San Diego]] |access-date=27 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070329065002/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/notes.html#cylinder |archive-date=29 March 2007 }}</ref> 

In 1940, Commodore released [[Eddie Condon]] and his Band's recording of "[[A Good Man Is Hard to Find (song)|A Good Man Is Hard to Find]]" in four parts, issued on both sides of two 12-inch 78s. The limited duration of recordings persisted from their advent until the introduction of the [[LP record]] in 1948. In popular music, the time limit of {{frac|3|1|2}} minutes on a 10-inch 78&nbsp;rpm record meant that singers seldom recorded long pieces. One exception is [[Frank Sinatra]]'s recording of [[Richard Rodgers|Rodgers]] and [[Oscar Hammerstein II|Hammerstein]]'s "[[Soliloquy (song)|Soliloquy]]", from ''[[Carousel (musical)|Carousel]]'', made on 28 May 1946. Because it ran 7m&nbsp;57s, longer than both sides of a standard 78&nbsp;rpm 10-inch record, it was released on [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]'s Masterwork label (the classical division) as two sides of a 12-inch record.<ref>{{cite web |title=On This Date... |website=Songs By Sinatra |url=http://www.songsbysinatra.com/dates/dates_main.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050403220049/http://www.songsbysinatra.com/dates/dates_main.html |archive-date=3 April 2005 |url-status=usurped |quote=Enter May 28 See bottom. }}</ref>

In the 78 era, classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on the longer 12-inch 78s, about 4–5 minutes per side. For example, on 10 June 1924, four months after the 12 February premier of ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'', [[George Gershwin]] recorded an abridged version of the seventeen-minute work with [[Paul Whiteman]] and His Orchestra. It was released on two sides of Victor 55225 and ran for 8m&nbsp;59s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redhotjazz.com/pwo.html|title=Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra|publisher=Redhotjazz.com|access-date=19 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105004806/http://www.redhotjazz.com/pwo.html|archive-date=5 January 2012}}</ref>

===Record albums===
"Record albums" were originally booklets containing collections of multiple disc records of related material, the name being related to [[photograph album]]s or [[Scrapbooking|scrap album]]s.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.swingcityradio.com/2020/01/history-of-record-albums.html | title=History of Record Albums }}</ref>  German record company [[Odeon Records|Odeon]] pioneered the album in 1909 when it released the ''[[Nutcracker Suite]]'' by [[Tchaikovsky]] on four double-sided discs in a specially designed package.<ref name="sandiego1"/>  It was not until the LP era that an entire album of material could be included on a single record.

===78 rpm releases in the microgroove era===
In 1968, when the hit movie ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]'' was inspiring revivals of [[Jazz Age]] music, [[Reprise Records|Reprise]] planned to release a series of 78-rpm singles from their artists on their label at the time, called the Reprise Speed Series. Only one disc actually saw release, [[Randy Newman]]'s "I Think It's Going to Rain Today", a track from his [[Randy Newman (album)|self-titled]] debut album (with "The Beehive State" on the flipside).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rAoEAAAAMBAJ&q=reprise+speed+series+78&pg=PA3 |title=Billboard |page=3 |website=Books.google.com |date=25 May 1968 |access-date=10 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509232443/https://books.google.com/books?id=rAoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=reprise+speed+series+78&source=bl&ots=-ZCyJJRcW0&sig=cTwDi9bCIo1e4IdEUrHlUSMf1WI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wje8ULfxE-Ke2AXnsIDACA&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=reprise%20speed%20series%2078&f=false |archive-date=9 May 2016 }}</ref> Reprise did not proceed further with the series due to a lack of sales for the single, and a lack of general interest in the concept.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQoEAAAAMBAJ&q=reprise+speed+series+78&pg=PA10 |title=Billboard |page=10 |website=Books.google.com |date=23 November 1968 |access-date=10 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604013140/https://books.google.com/books?id=vQoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=reprise+speed+series+78&source=bl&ots=6IxRYVYulN&sig=ZbAHOd_NZGev17vrEwzyUb4GuYs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wje8ULfxE-Ke2AXnsIDACA&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=reprise%20speed%20series%2078&f=false |archive-date=4 June 2016 }}</ref>

In 1978, guitarist and vocalist [[Leon Redbone]] released a promotional 78-rpm [[single (music)|single]] featuring two songs ("Alabama Jubilee" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone") from his ''[[Champagne Charlie (album)|Champagne Charlie]]'' album.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cool78s.com/Cool_200901.html |title=The Beatles at 78 RPM |website=Cool78s.com |access-date=10 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304161608/http://www.cool78s.com/Cool_200901.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref>

In the same vein of [[Tin Pan Alley]] revivals, [[R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders]] issued a number of 78-rpm singles on their Blue Goose record label. The most familiar of these releases is probably ''R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders' Party Record'' (1980, issued as a "Red Goose" record on a 12-inch single), with the double-entendre "[[My Girl's Pussy]]" on the "A" side and the X-rated "Christopher Columbus" on the "B" side.

In the 1990s [[Rhino Records]] issued a series of boxed sets of 78-rpm reissues of early rock and roll hits, intended for owners of vintage [[jukebox]]es. The records were made of vinyl, however, and some of the earlier vintage 78-rpm jukeboxes and record players (the ones that were pre-war) were designed with heavy tone arms to play the hard slate-impregnated shellac records of their time. These vinyl Rhino 78s were softer and would be destroyed by old juke boxes and old record players, but play well on newer 78-capable turntables with modern lightweight tone arms and jewel needles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eil.com/explore/guide/vinyl_invention.asp |title=The invention of vinyl records - where it began |access-date=3 April 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404130419/http://eil.com/explore/guide/vinyl_invention.asp |archive-date=4 April 2017 }}</ref>

As a special release for [[Record Store Day]] 2011, Capitol re-released [[The Beach Boys]] single "[[Good Vibrations]]" in the form of a 10-inch 78-rpm record (b/w "Heroes and Villains"). More recently, [[The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band]] has released their tribute to blues guitarist [[Charley Patton]] ''Peyton on Patton'' on both 12-inch LP and 10-inch 78s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bigdamnband.com/peyton-on-patton |title=Peyton On Patton &#124; Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band |website=Bigdamnband.com |date=5 May 2011 |access-date=10 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507125658/http://www.bigdamnband.com/peyton-on-patton |archive-date=7 May 2011 }}</ref>

== New sizes and materials after WWII ==
<!--"Vinyl record" redirects here.-->
{{see also|LP record}}
[[File:Cartridge macro shot.jpg|thumb|A 12-inch LP being played. The stylus is in contact with the surface.]]
[[File:12in-LP-Vinyl-Record-Macro-Grooves.jpg|thumb|Grooves on a modern 33&nbsp;rpm record]]
[[File:Columbia7inch 001.jpg|thumb|Uncommon Columbia 7-inch vinyl {{Fraction|33|1|3}}&nbsp;rpm ''microgroove'' ZLP from 1948]]

[[CBS Laboratories]] had long been at work for [[Columbia Records]] to develop a phonograph record that would hold at least 20 minutes per side.<ref>Goldmark, Peter. ''Maverick inventor; My Turbulent Years at CBS''. New York: Saturday Review Press, 1973.</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Ben Sisario |author-link=Ben Sisario |title=Howard H. Scott, a Developer of the LP, Dies at 92 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/arts/music/howard-h-scott-a-developer-of-the-lp-dies-at-92.html |quote=Howard H. Scott, who was part of the team at Columbia Records that introduced the long-playing '''vinyl record''' in 1948 before going on to produce albums with the New York Philharmonic, Glenn Gould, Isaac Stern and many other giants of classical music, died on Sept. 22 in Reading, Pa. He was 92. ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=6 October 2012 |access-date=8 October 2012 }}</ref>

Research began in 1939, was suspended during World War II, and then resumed in 1945.<ref name=Billboard6.26.48>{{cite web |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/40s/1948/Billboard%201948-06-26.pdf |title=Columbia Diskery, CBS Show Microgroove Platters to Press; Tell How It Began |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine) |Billboard]] |url-status=live |page=3 |date=26 June 1948|access-date=22 June 2022 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122051256/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/40s/1948/Billboard%201948-06-26.pdf }}.</ref> [[Columbia Records]] unveiled the LP at a press conference in the [[Waldorf-Astoria]] on 21 June 1948, in two formats: {{convert|10|in|cm|abbr=off}} in diameter, matching that of [[Gramophone record|78&nbsp;rpm]] singles, and {{convert|12|in|cm|abbr=off}} in diameter.<ref name=Billboard6.26.48/><ref name="LoC">[https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2019/04/inside-the-archival-box-the-first-long-playing-disc/ ''The First Long-Playing Disc''] Library of Congress (Congress.gov) (accessdate 21 June 2021)</ref><ref>Marmorstein, Gary. ''The Label: The Story of Columbia Records.'' New York: Thunder's Mouth Press; p. 165.</ref>

[[File:RCA 45 rpm phonograph and record Arthur Fiedler 1949.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Boston Pops]] conductor [[Arthur Fiedler]] demonstrating the new RCA Victor 45&nbsp;rpm player and record in February 1949]]

Unwilling to accept and license Columbia's system, in February 1949, RCA Victor released the first 45&nbsp;rpm single, 7&nbsp;inches in diameter with a large center hole. The 45&nbsp;rpm player included a changing mechanism that allowed multiple disks to be stacked, much as a conventional changer handled 78s. Also like 78s, the short playing time of a single 45&nbsp;rpm side meant that long works, such as symphonies and operas, had to be released on multiple 45s instead of a single LP, but RCA Victor claimed that the new high-speed changer rendered side breaks so brief as to be inconsequential. Early 45&nbsp;rpm records were made from either vinyl or [[polystyrene]].<ref>Peter A Soderbergh, "Olde Records Price Guide 1900–1947", Wallace–Homestead Book Company, Des Moines, Iowa, 1980, pp. 193–194.</ref> They had a playing time of eight minutes.<ref name="Williams">{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Trevor I. |title=A Short History of Twentieth-Century Technology, c.&nbsp;1900&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;1950 |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-000-137/page/n1 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1982 |isbn=0-19-858159-9 }}</ref>

At first the two systems were marketed in competition, in what was called "''The War of the Speeds''".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://atlasrecords.co.uk/blogs/all-about-vinyl/the-war-of-the-speeds | title=The War of the Speeds | date=16 August 2022 }}</ref>  

=== Speeds ===
====Shellac era====
[[File:45rpminsert.jpg|thumb|[[Columbia Records|Columbia]] and [[RCA Victor]]'s competition extended to equipment. Some turntables included [[45 rpm adapter|spindle size adapters]], but other turntables required snap-in inserts like this one to adapt Victor's larger 45&nbsp;rpm spindle size to the smaller spindle size available on nearly all turntables.<ref name="spindle">{{cite web |url=http://arcmusic.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/the-45-adaptor/ |title=The 45 Adaptor |website= ARChive of Contemporary Music, or "Would You Take My Mind Out for a Walk" |date=20 March 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310142228/https://arcmusic.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/the-45-adaptor/ |archive-date=10 March 2016 }}</ref> Shown is one popular design in use for many years.]]

The older 78 rpm format continued to be mass-produced alongside the newer formats using new materials in decreasing numbers until the summer of 1958 in the U.S., and in a few countries, such as the [[Philippines]] and [[India]] (both countries issued recordings by [[the Beatles]] on 78s), into the late 1960s. For example, [[Columbia Records]]' last reissue of [[Frank Sinatra]] songs on 78&nbsp;rpm records was an album called ''Young at Heart'', issued in November 1954.<ref name="ReferenceA">''(Book)'', "Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years: 1943–1952: The Complete Recordings", unnumbered at back.</ref>

====Microgroove and vinyl era====
[[File:1959 Seeburg 16 rpm record.jpg|thumb|left|1959 [[Seeburg Corporation|Seeburg]] 16&nbsp;rpm record (label only)]]

Columbia and RCA Victor each pursued their [[R&D]] secretly.<ref name="Popular Science 1949">{{Cite journal |last=Gorman |first=Robert |title=What's What in the Platter Battle |journal=Popular Science |volume=154 |issue=5 |pages=132–133 |date=May 1949 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZiQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA132 |issn=0161-7370 |publisher=Bonnier Corporation}}</ref> 

The commercial rivalry between RCA Victor and Columbia Records led to RCA Victor's introduction of what it had intended to be a competing vinyl format, the 7-inch (175&nbsp;mm) 45&nbsp;rpm disc, with a much larger center hole. For a two-year period from 1948 to 1950, record companies and consumers faced uncertainty over which of these formats would ultimately prevail in what was known as the "War of the Speeds" (see also [[Format war]]). In 1949 Capitol and Decca adopted the new LP format and RCA Victor gave in and issued its first LP in January 1950. The 45&nbsp;rpm size was gaining in popularity, too, and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. By 1954, 200 million 45s had been sold.<ref>Soderbergh, p. 194.</ref>

Eventually the 12-inch (300&nbsp;mm) {{Fraction|33|1|3}}&nbsp;rpm LP prevailed as the dominant format for musical albums, and 10-inch LPs were no longer issued. The last [[Columbia Records]] reissue of any [[Frank Sinatra]] songs on a 10-inch LP record was an album called ''Hall of Fame'', CL 2600, issued on 26 October 1956, containing six songs, one each by [[Tony Bennett]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], [[Johnnie Ray]], [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Doris Day]], and [[Frankie Laine]].<ref name="ReferenceA" />

[[File:45rpm.jpg|thumb|45 rpm vinyl record from 1965]]

The 45&nbsp;rpm discs also came in a variety known as [[extended play]] (EP), which achieved up to 10–15 minutes play at the expense of attenuating (and possibly compressing) the sound to reduce the width required by the groove. EP discs were cheaper to produce and were used in cases where unit sales were likely to be more limited or to reissue LP albums on the smaller format for those people who had only 45&nbsp;rpm players. LP albums could be purchased one EP at a time, with four items per EP, or in a boxed set with three EPs or twelve items. The large center hole on 45s allows easier handling by [[jukebox]] mechanisms. EPs were generally discontinued by the late 1950s in the U.S. as three- and four-speed record players replaced the individual 45 players. One indication of the decline of the 45&nbsp;rpm EP is that the last [[Columbia Records]] reissue of [[Frank Sinatra]] songs on 45&nbsp;rpm EP records, called ''Frank Sinatra'' (Columbia B-2641) was issued on 7 December 1959.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

The [[Seeburg Corporation]] introduced the [[Seeburg 1000|Seeburg Background Music System]] in 1959, using a {{Fraction|16|2|3}}&nbsp;rpm 9-inch record with 2-inch center hole. Each record held 40 minutes of music per side, recorded at 420 grooves per inch.<ref>{{Cite news |last = Biro |first = Nick |title = Seeburg Background Music Move Part of Diversification Program|newspaper=Billboard|location = New York|page=67|date=20 July 1959 }}</ref>

From the mid-1950s through the 1960s, in the U.S. the common home record player or "stereo" (after the introduction of stereo recording) would typically have had these features: a three- or four-speed player (78, 45, {{Fraction|33|1|3}}, and sometimes {{Fraction|16|2|3}}&nbsp;rpm); with changer, a tall spindle that would hold several records and automatically drop a new record on top of the previous one when it had finished playing, a combination cartridge with both 78 and microgroove styli and a way to flip between the two; and some kind of adapter for playing the 45s with their larger center hole. The adapter could be a small solid circle that fit onto the bottom of the spindle (meaning only one 45 could be played at a time) or a larger adapter that fit over the entire spindle, permitting a stack of 45s to be played.<ref name="spindle" />

RCA Victor 45s were also adapted to the smaller spindle of an LP player with a plastic snap-in insert known as a "[[45 rpm adapter]]".<ref name="spindle" /> These inserts were commissioned by RCA president [[David Sarnoff]] and were invented by Thomas Hutchison.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

[[Capacitance Electronic Disc]]s were [[videodisc]]s invented by RCA, based on mechanically tracked ultra-microgrooves (9541 grooves/inch) on a 12-inch conductive vinyl disc.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cedmagic.com/home/cedfaq.html#onethree |title=RCA SelectaVision VideoDisc FAQ |website=Cedmagic.com |access-date=7 May 2015 }}</ref>

===High fidelity===
{{Further|High fidelity}}

The term "high fidelity" was coined in the 1920s by some manufacturers of radio receivers and phonographs to differentiate their better-sounding products claimed as providing "perfect" sound reproduction.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZmjkJwxyWcC&pg=PA94 |page=94 |title=Sound recording: the life story of a technology|last=Morton|first=David L. Jr.|publisher=JHU Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-8018-8398-9|series=Greenwood technographies |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510065232/https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZmjkJwxyWcC&pg=PA94|archive-date=10 May 2016 }}</ref> The term began to be used by some audio engineers and consumers through the 1930s and 1940s. After 1949 a variety of improvements in recording and playback technologies, especially stereo recordings, which became widely available in 1958, gave a boost to the "hi-fi" classification of products, leading to sales of individual components for the home such as amplifiers, loudspeakers, phonographs, and tape players.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6MwHCqVcERYC&pg=PR15 |page=xv–xvi |title=Audio signal processing and coding |last1=Spanias |first1=Andreas |first2=Ted |last2=Painter |first3=Venkatraman |last3=Atti |publisher=Wiley-Interscience |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-471-79147-8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511021926/https://books.google.com/books?id=6MwHCqVcERYC&pg=PR15 |archive-date=11 May 2016 }}</ref> [[High Fidelity (magazine)|''High Fidelity'']] and [[Audio (magazine)|''Audio'']] were two magazines that hi-fi consumers and engineers could read for reviews of playback equipment and recordings.

===Stereophonic sound===
[[File:Plattenschrift en.svg|thumb|Decoding the left channel]]

A [[stereophonic]] phonograph provides two channels of audio, one left and one right. This is achieved by adding another vertical dimension of movement to the needle in addition to the horizontal one. As a result, the needle now moves not only left and right, but also up and down. But since those two dimensions do not have the same sensitivity to vibration, the difference needs to be evened out by having each channel take half its information from each direction by turning the channels 45 degrees from horizontal.<ref name=VRS>{{cite web|url=http://www.vinylrecorder.com/stereo.html|title=Stereo disc recording|access-date=4 October 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925145519/http://www.vinylrecorder.com/stereo.html|archive-date=25 September 2006}}</ref>

As a result of the 45-degree turn and some [[vector addition]], it can be demonstrated that out of the new horizontal and vertical directions, one would represent the sum of the two channels, and the other representing the difference. Record makers decide to pick the directions such that the traditional horizontal direction codes for the sum. As a result, an ordinary mono disk is decoded correctly as "no difference between channels", and an ordinary mono player would simply play the sum of a stereophonic record without too much loss of information.<ref name=VRS/>

In 1957 the first commercial [[stereo]] two-channel records were issued first by Audio Fidelity followed by a translucent blue vinyl on Bel Canto Records, the first of which was a multi-colored-vinyl sampler featuring A Stereo Tour of Los Angeles narrated by [[Jack Wagner (announcer)|Jack Wagner]] on one side, and a collection of tracks from various Bel Canto albums on the back.<ref>Reed, Peter Hugh (1958). ''American record guide'', p. 205.</ref>

===Noise reduction systems===
A similar scheme aiming at the high-end audiophile market, and achieving a noise reduction of about 20 to 25&nbsp;dB(A)<!-- for a maximum dynamic range of up to 100 dB -->, was the [[Telefunken]]/[[Nakamichi]] [[High-Com II]] [[Audio noise reduction|noise reduction]] system being adapted to vinyl in 1979. A decoder was commercially available<ref name="Nakamichi_High-Com_II" /> but only one demo record<ref name="Nakamichi_1979_NAK-100" /> is known to have been produced in this format.

The availability of encoded disks in any of these formats stopped in the mid-1980s.<ref name="Taylor_2017" />

Yet another noise reduction system for vinyl records was the [[UC compander system]] developed by {{lang|de|Zentrum Wissenschaft und Technik}} (ZWT) of {{ill|Rundfunk- und Fernmelde-Technik{{!}}''Kombinat Rundfunk und Fernsehen''|de|Rundfunk- und Fernmelde-Technik}} (RFT).<ref name="Hohmuth_1987" /> The system deliberately reduced disk noise by 10 to 12&nbsp;dB(A) only<ref name="Milde_1987"/> to remain virtually free of recognizable acoustical artifacts even when records were played back without an UC expander. In fact, the system was undocumented yet introduced into the market by several East-German record labels since 1983.<ref name="Milde_1987" /><ref name="Wonneberg_2000" /><ref name="Mueller_2018" /> Over 500 UC-encoded titles were produced<ref name="Wonneberg_2000" /> without an expander becoming available to the public. The only<ref name="Mueller_2018" /> UC expander was built into a turntable manufactured by {{lang|de|Phonotechnik Pirna/Zittau}}.<ref name="Seiffert_2013" />

==Formats==
===Types of records===
The usual diameters of the holes on an EP record are {{convert|0.286|in|mm|2}}.<ref name="aardvark">{{cite web |url=http://www.aardvarkmastering.com/riaa.htm |title=Bulletin E 3: Standards for Stereophonic Disc Records |date=16 October 1963 |website=Aardvark Mastering |publisher=[[RIAA]] |access-date=10 November 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115184317/http://www.aardvarkmastering.com/riaa.htm |archive-date=15 November 2014 }}</ref>

Sizes of records in the United States and the UK are generally measured in inches, e.g. 7-inch records, which are generally 45&nbsp;rpm records. LPs were 10-inch records at first, but soon the 12-inch size became by far the most common. Generally, 78s were 10-inch, but 12-inch and 7-inch and even smaller were made—the so-called "little wonders".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.littlewonderrecords.com/ |title=Little Wonder Records, Bubble Books, Emerson, Victor, Harper, Columbia, Waterson, Berlin and Snyder |website=Littlewonderrecords.com |access-date=10 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420020454/http://www.littlewonderrecords.com/ |archive-date=20 April 2016 }}</ref>

===Standard formats===
[[File:45 rpm disk "War" by Wailing Souls & Rankin Trevor 1978.jpg|thumb|right|A standard wide-hole 7-inch vinyl record from 1978 on its sleeve]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- style="background:#ccc;"
! Diameter 
! Finished Diameter{{efn-ua|Original hole diameters were 0.286″ ±0.001″ for {{frac|33|1|3}} and 78.26&nbsp;rpm records, and 1.504″ ±0.002″ for 45&nbsp;rpm records.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-NAB-Engineering/NAB-4th-Edition/Audio%20Recording--NAB-Engineering-4th-Edition.pdf|title=Supplement No. 2 to NAB (NARTB) Engineering Handbook; NARTB Recording and Reproducing Standards|date=1953}}</ref>}} !! Name !! Revolutions per minute !! Approximate duration (minutes) per side
|-
|{{convert|16|in|cm|abbr=on}}
|{{frac|15|15|16}}″ ±{{frac|3|32}}″
|[[Transcription disc]]
|{{frac|33|1|3}}
|15
|-
| rowspan="3" |{{convert|12|in|cm|abbr=on}}
| rowspan="3" |{{frac|11|7|8}}″ ±{{frac|1|32}}″||[[LP record|LP]] (Long Play) ||{{frac|33|1|3}} || 22
|-
| Maxi Single, [[12-inch single]] || 45 || 15
|-
| [[Single (music)|Single]] || 78 || 4–5
|-
| rowspan="3"| {{convert|10|in|cm|abbr=on}} 
| rowspan="3" |{{frac|9|7|8}}″ ±{{frac|1|32}}″||[[LP record|LP]] (Long Play) || {{frac|33|1|3}} || 12–15
|-
| [[EP]] (Extended Play) || 45 || 9–12
|-
| [[Single (music)|Single]] || 78 || 3
|-
| rowspan="3" | {{convert|7|in|cm|abbr=on}} 
| rowspan="3" |{{frac|6|7|8}}″ ±{{frac|1|32}}″||[[EP]] (Extended Play) || {{frac|33|1|3}}{{efn-ua|Columbia pressed many 7-inch {{frac|33|1|3}}&nbsp;rpm vinyl singles in 1949, but they were dropped in early 1950 due to the popularity of the RCA Victor 45.<ref>Columbia Record Catalog 1950</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2019}}}} || 7
|-
|EP (Extended Play)
|45
|8
|-
| [[Single (music)|Single]] || 45 || {{frac|5|1|3}}
|}
[[File:7inchsinglewithnotchedhole (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Example of 7″ EMI single with notched center hole]]

: '''Notes:'''
{{notelist-ua}}

===Less common formats===
{{Main|Unusual types of gramophone records}}
[[Flexi disc]]s were thin flexible records that were distributed with magazines and as promotional gifts from the 1960s to the 1980s.

In March 1949, as RCA Victor released the 45, Columbia released several hundred 7-inch, {{frac|33|1|3}}&nbsp;rpm, small-spindle-hole singles. This format was soon dropped as it became clear that the RCA Victor 45 was the single of choice and the Columbia 12-inch LP would be the album of choice.<ref>Columbia record catalog Aug 1949</ref> 
The first release of the 45 came in seven colors: black 47-xxxx popular series, yellow 47-xxxx juvenile series, green (teal) 48-xxxx country series, deep red 49-xxxx classical series, bright red (cerise) 50-xxxx blues/spiritual series, light blue 51-xxxx international series, dark blue 52-xxxx light classics. Most colors were soon dropped in favor of black because of production problems. However, yellow and deep red were continued until about 1952.<ref>The Fabulous Victrola 45 Phil Vourtsis</ref>
The first 45&nbsp;rpm record created for sale was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA Victor 47-0147 pressed in yellow translucent vinyl at the Sherman Avenue plant, Indianapolis on 7 December 1948, by R. O. Price, plant manager.<ref>Indiana State Museum document no. 71.2010.098.0001</ref>

In the 1950s and 1960s [[Ribs (recordings)|Ribs]] were created within Soviet Union countries as a result of cultural censorship. These black market records were of banned music, printed onto x-ray films scavenged from hospital bins.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Paphides |first=Pete |date=2015-01-29 |title=Bone music: the Soviet bootleg records pressed on x-rays |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/29/bone-music-soviet-bootleg-records-pressed-on-xrays |access-date=2024-09-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> 

In the 1970s, the government of [[Bhutan]] produced now-collectible postage stamps on playable vinyl mini-discs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thevinylfactory.com/features/the-curious-tale-of-bhutans-playable-record-postage-stamps |title=The curious tale of Bhutan's playable record postage stamps |publisher=The Vinyl Factory |date=30 December 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202235519/http://thevinylfactory.com/features/the-curious-tale-of-bhutans-playable-record-postage-stamps/ |archive-date=2 February 2017 }}</ref>

=== Recent developments ===
In 2018, an Austrian startup, Rebeat Innovation GmBH, received {{US$}}4.8&nbsp;million in funding to develop high definition vinyl records that purport to contain longer play times, louder volumes and higher fidelity than conventional vinyl LPs.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hogan |first=Marc |date=April 11, 2018 |title='High Definition Vinyl' Is Happening, Possibly as Early as Next Year |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/high-definition-vinyl-is-happening-possibly-as-early-as-next-year/ |access-date=December 17, 2018 |website=Pitchfork}}</ref> Rebeat Innovation, headed by CEO Günter Loibl, has called the format 'HD Vinyl'.<ref>{{cite web |last=Rose |first=Brent |date=April 20, 2018 |title=What Is HD Vinyl and Is It Legit? |url=https://gizmodo.com/what-is-hd-vinyl-and-is-it-legit-1825378987 |access-date=May 1, 2019 |website=Gizmodo}}</ref> The HD process works by converting audio to a digital 3D topography map that is then inscribed onto the vinyl stamper via lasers, resulting in less loss of information. Many critics have expressed skepticism regarding the cost and quality of HD records.<ref>{{cite web |last=Seppala |first=Timothy J. |date=April 26, 2018 |title=HD vinyl is a promise, not a product |url=https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/26/hd-vinyl-rebeat-innovations/ |access-date=December 17, 2018 |website=Endgadget}}</ref>

In May 2019, at the Making Vinyl conference in Berlin, Loibl unveiled the software "Perfect Groove" for creating 3D topographic audio data files.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 4, 2019 |title=HD Vinyl Takes Next Step with Debut of 3D Topography Software Perfect Groove |url=https://makingvinyl.com/hd-vinyl-takes-next-step-with-debut-of-3d-topography-software-perfect-groove/ |access-date=May 14, 2019 |website=Making Vinyl}}</ref> The software provides a map for laser-engraving for HD Vinyl stampers.  The audio engineering software was created with mastering engineers [[Scott Hull (mastering engineer)|Scott Hull]] and [[Darcy Proper]], a four-time Grammy winner. The demonstration offered the first simulations of what HD Vinyl records are likely to sound like, ahead of actual HD vinyl physical record production. Loibl discussed the software "Perfect Groove" at a presentation titled "Vinyl 4.0 The next generation of making records" before offering demonstrations to attendees.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 2, 2019 |title=Making Vinyl Europe – Program – Meistersaal, Berlin |url=https://makingvinyl.com/program-berlin-2019/" |access-date=May 14, 2019 |website=Making Vinyl}}</ref>

==Structure==
[[File:Comparison disk storage.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Comparison of several forms of disk storage showing tracks (tracks not to scale); green denotes start and red denotes end.<br /><nowiki>*</nowiki> Some CD-R(W) and DVD-R(W)/DVD+R(W) recorders operate in ZCLV, CAA or CAV modes.]]
Increasingly from the early 20th century, and almost exclusively since the 1920s, both sides of the record have been used to carry the grooves. Occasional records have been issued since then with a recording on only one side. In the 1980s Columbia records briefly issued a series of less expensive one-sided 45&nbsp;rpm singles.<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Bayly | first = Ernie | title = Double-sided records | journal = The Talking Machine Review International | issue = 38 | pages = 596–597 | date = February 1976 | publisher = Ernie Bayly, Bournemouth}}</ref>

Since its inception in 1948, vinyl record standards for the United States follow the guidelines of the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA).<ref name="aardvark"/>

===Vinyl quality===
The composition of vinyl used to press records (a blend of [[polyvinyl chloride]] and [[polyvinyl acetate]]) has varied considerably over the years. Virgin vinyl is preferred, but during the [[1970s energy crisis]], as a cost-cutting move, much of the industry began reducing the thickness and quality of vinyl used in mass-market manufacturing. Sound quality suffered, with increased ticks, pops, and other surface noises.<ref name="NS80">{{cite magazine |author=Adrian Hope |date=January 24, 1980 |title=Pressing Problems for a Record Future |magazine=New Scientist |page=229 ff}}</ref> [[RCA Records]] marketed their lightweight LP as [[Dynaflex (RCA)|Dynaflex]], which, at the time, was considered inferior by many record collectors.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.recordcollectorsguild.org/index.php?module=pnEncyclopedia&func=display_term&id=32&vid=0 | title = Record Collectors Guild on Dynaflex | publisher = The Record Collectors Guild | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928122252/http://www.recordcollectorsguild.org/index.php?module=pnEncyclopedia&func=display_term&id=32&vid=0 | archive-date = 28 September 2007 }}</ref>

It became commonplace to use recycled vinyl. New or "virgin" heavy/heavyweight (180–220&nbsp;g) vinyl is commonly used for modern audiophile vinyl releases in all [[genre]]s. Many collectors prefer to have heavyweight vinyl albums, which have been reported to have better sound than normal vinyl because of their higher tolerance against deformation caused by normal play.<ref>Fritz, Jose. [http://tenwatts.blogspot.com/2009/01/180-grams.html "180 grams "] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727033814/http://tenwatts.blogspot.com/2009/01/180-grams.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |date=27 July 2011 }}, ''Arcane Radio Trivia'', 23 January 2009. Accessed 26 January 2009. "The basic measurement behind those grams is thickness. It's been said to be less noisy, which really has more to do with the grade of vinyl."</ref>

Following the [[vinyl revival]] of the 21st century, select manufacturers adopted [[bioplastic]]-based records due to concerns over the environmental impact of widespread PVC use.<ref name="Mcdill 2022">{{cite news |last1=Mcdill |first1=Stuart |title=Bioplastic records could help decarbonise music business, says developer |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/bioplastic-records-could-help-decarbonise-music-business-says-developer-2022-09-21/ |access-date=12 April 2024 |work=Reuters |publisher=Thomson Reuters Corporation |date=21 September 2022 |ref=Mcdill 2022}}</ref><ref name="Dredge 2023">{{cite news |last1=Dredge |first1=Stuart |title=Sonopress and WMG launch sustainable 'EcoRecord' vinyl |url=https://musically.com/2023/09/28/sonopress-and-wmg-launch-sustainable-ecorecord-vinyl/ |access-date=12 April 2024 |work=Music Ally |date=28 September 2023 |ref=Dredge 2023}}</ref>

==Limitations==
{{More citations needed|section|date=November 2019}}

=== Shellac ===
One problem with shellac was that the size of the disks tended to be larger because it was limited to 80–100 groove walls per inch before the risk of groove collapse became too high, whereas vinyl could have up to 260 groove walls per inch.<ref name="BBCMusic-Vinyl">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/features/vinyl/1940/ |title=BBC - Music - Vinyl |access-date=22 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315094602/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/features/vinyl/1940/ |archive-date=15 March 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Officialchart-Album">{{cite web|url=http://theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_introduction.php |title=The Official UK Charts Company : ALBUM CHART HISTORY: An Introduction |access-date=22 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017154924/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_introduction.php |archive-date=17 October 2008 }}</ref>

===Vinyl===
{{redirect|Broken record|other uses|Broken Record (disambiguation)}}
Although vinyl records are strong and do not break easily, they scratch due to vinyl's soft material properties, sometimes resulting in ruining the record. Vinyl readily acquires a static charge, attracting [[dust]] that is difficult to remove completely. Dust and scratches cause audio clicks and pops. In extreme cases, they can cause the needle to [[Skip (audio playback)|skip]] over a series of grooves, or worse yet, cause the needle to skip backward, creating a "locked groove" that repeats over and over. This is the origin of the phrase "'''like a broken record'''" or "like a scratched record", which is often used to describe a person or thing that continually repeats itself.<ref>Shay Sayre, Cynthia King, ''Entertainment and Society: Influences, Impacts, and Innovations'' (2010), p. 558: "The phrase 'sounding like a broken record' has been used to describe a person who says the same thing over and over again; the reference is to old records that would skip and repeat owing to scratch marks on the vinyl."</ref>

[[File:Vinyl very dusty.jpg|thumb|A dusty/scratched vinyl record being played. The dust settles into the grooves.]]
A further limitation of the gramophone record is that fidelity steadily declines as playback progresses; there is more vinyl per second available for fine reproduction of high frequencies at the large-diameter beginning of the groove than exist at the smaller diameters close to the end of the side. At the start of a groove on an LP there are 510&nbsp;mm of vinyl per second traveling past the stylus while the ending of the groove gives 200–210&nbsp;mm of vinyl per second—less than half the linear resolution.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yosh/jis_s8502.htm |title=Comparative tables for 30 cm LP Standards |publisher=A.biglobe.ne.jp |access-date=26 September 2012|url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805222239/http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yosh/jis_s8502.htm |archive-date=5 August 2012}}</ref>

There is controversy about the relative quality of CD sound and LP sound when the latter is heard under the best conditions (see [[Comparison of analog and digital recording]]). One technical advantage with vinyl compared to the optical CD is that if correctly handled and stored, the vinyl record can be playable for decades and possibly centuries,<ref>{{cite web|title=Do vinyl LPs wear out? The Audiophiliac takes on that myth|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/do-vinyl-lps-wear-out-well-bust-that-myth/|last=Guttenberg|first=Steve|website=CNET|language=en|access-date=1 May 2020}}</ref> which is longer than some versions of the optical CD.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/sec4/|title=4. How Long Can You Store CDs and DVDs and Use Them Again?|website=Clir.org|access-date=29 June 2019}}</ref> For vinyl records to be playable for years to come, they need to be handled with care and stored properly. Guidelines for proper vinyl storage include not stacking records on top of each other, avoiding heat or direct sunlight and placing them in a temperature-controlled area that help prevent vinyl records from warping and scratching. Collectors store their records in a variety of boxes, cubes, shelves and racks.<ref>{{cite web|title=How To Organize Vinyl Records: Tips, Tricks & Suggestions|url=https://premier-recordsinc.com/how-to-organize-vinyl/|website=premier-recordsinc.com|access-date=1 May 2020}}</ref>

===Sound fidelity===
At the time of the introduction of the [[compact disc]] (CD) in 1982, the stereo LP pressed in vinyl continued to suffer from a variety of limitations:

The stereo image was not made up of fully discrete left and right channels; each channel's signal coming out of the cartridge contained a small amount of the signal from the other channel, with more crosstalk at higher frequencies. High-quality disc cutting equipment was capable of making a master disc with 30–40&nbsp;dB of stereo separation at 1,000&nbsp;Hz, but the playback cartridges had lesser performance of about 20 to 30&nbsp;dB of separation at 1000&nbsp;Hz, with separation decreasing as frequency increased, such that at 12&nbsp;kHz the separation was about 10–15&nbsp;dB.<ref>{{cite book |title=Handbook for Sound Engineers: The New Audio Cyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookforsound00ball_195 |url-access=limited |last=Alexandrovich |first=George |editor=Glen Ballou |chapter=Disc Recording and Playback |pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookforsound00ball_195/page/n888 873]–882, 897 |publisher=Howard W. Sams & Company |year=1987 |isbn=0-672-21983-2}}</ref> A common modern view is that stereo isolation must be higher than this to achieve a proper stereo soundstage. However, in the 1950s the [[BBC]] determined in a series of tests that only 20–25&nbsp;dB is required for the impression of full stereo separation.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvKPEFu2PVkC&pg=PA254 |page=254 |last=Self |first=Douglas |title=Small Signal Audio Design |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2002 |isbn=0240521773 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624184131/https://books.google.com/books?id=PvKPEFu2PVkC&pg=PA254 |archive-date=24 June 2016 }}</ref>

Thin, closely spaced spiral grooves that allow for increased playing time on a {{frac|33|1|3}}&nbsp;rpm microgroove LP lead to a tinny pre-echo warning of upcoming loud sounds. The cutting stylus unavoidably transfers some of the subsequent groove wall's impulse signal into the previous groove wall. It is discernible by some listeners throughout certain recordings, but a quiet passage followed by a loud sound allows anyone to hear a faint pre-echo of the loud sound occurring 1.8 seconds ahead of time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=102&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&view=print |title=Audacity Team Forum: Pre-echo when recording vinyl record |publisher=Audacityteam.org |access-date=26 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609184049/http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=102&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&view=print |archive-date=9 June 2009 }}</ref>

===LP versus CD===
{{Further|Comparison of analog and digital recording}}
[[Audiophile]]s have differed over the relative merits of the LP versus the [[CD]] since the digital disc was introduced.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnxexlHRY2E&lc=z12kxpdq3rqiwlurx04ccb2ymyuqxn4ibkw0k.1497024504664953| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/HnxexlHRY2E| archive-date=29 October 2021|title=inFact: Vinyl vs Digital|last=Dunning|first=Brian |date=19 December 2015|access-date=29 June 2019|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Digital sampling can theoretically completely reproduce a sound wave within a given range of frequencies if the sampling rate is high enough.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Morgan |first=Katrina |date=11 October 2017 |title=Which Sounds Better, Analog or Digital Music? |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/which-sounds-better-analog-or-digital-music/ |magazine=Scientific American |language=en |access-date=14 September 2022}}</ref> Vinyl's drawbacks, however, include surface noise, less resolution due to a lower dynamic range, and greater sensitivity to handling.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=DBX-encoded discs—records without noise|last=Feldman|first=Len|date=December 1979|magazine=Popular Science|volume=215|issue=6|page=93|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PAEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA8-PA4|via=Google Books}}</ref> Modern [[anti-aliasing filter]]s and oversampling systems used in digital recordings have eliminated perceived problems observed with early CD players.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Howard  |first=Keith |date=5 February 2006 |title=Ringing False: Digital Audio's Ubiquitous Filter |url=https://www.stereophile.com/features/106ringing/index.html |magazine=Stereophile |language=en |access-date=14 September 2022}}</ref>

There is a theory that vinyl records can audibly represent higher frequencies than compact discs, though most of this is noise and not relevant to human hearing. According to [[Red Book (audio CD standard)|Red Book specifications]], the compact disc has a frequency response of 20&nbsp;Hz up to 22,050&nbsp;Hz, and most CD players measure flat within a fraction of a decibel from at least 0&nbsp;Hz to 20&nbsp;kHz at full output. Due to the distance required between grooves, it is not possible for an LP to reproduce as low frequencies as a CD.  Additionally, turntable rumble and acoustic feedback obscures the low-end limit of vinyl but the upper end can be, with some cartridges, reasonably flat within a few decibels to 30&nbsp;kHz, with gentle roll-off. Carrier signals of Quad LPs popular in the 1970s were at 30&nbsp;kHz to be out of the range of human hearing. The average human auditory system is sensitive to frequencies from 20&nbsp;Hz to a maximum of around 20,000&nbsp;Hz.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Physics. 4th ed|last=Cutnell|first=John D.|author2=Johnson, Kenneth W.|isbn=0-471-19112-4|publisher=Wiley|year=1997|page=[https://archive.org/details/physi1998cutn/page/466 466]|url=https://archive.org/details/physi1998cutn/page/466}}</ref> The upper and lower frequency limits of human hearing vary per person. High frequency sensitivity decreases as a person ages, a process called [[presbycusis]].<ref name=presbycusis>{{cite web|title=Sonic Science: The High-Frequency Hearing Test|website=[[Scientific American]]|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-high-frequency-hearing/|access-date=20 October 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024050555/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-high-frequency-hearing/|archive-date=24 October 2017}}</ref>

==Preservation==
[[File:45rpm.jpg|thumbnail|right|45&nbsp;rpm records, like this [[single (music)|single]] from 1956, usually had a chosen A-side, for radio promotion as a possible hit, with a flip side or [[B-side]] by the same artist—though some had two A-sides.]]
As the playing of gramophone records causes gradual degradation of the recording, they are best preserved by transferring them onto other media and playing the records as rarely as possible. They need to be stored on edge, and do best under environmental conditions that most humans would find comfortable.<ref>"Disc Recording and Playback". In Glen Ballou (editor), ''Handbook for Sound Engineers: The New Audio Cyclopedia'': Howard W. Sams & Company. p. 1037 §27.9.4. {{ISBN|0-672-21983-2}}</ref> The longevity and optimal performance of vinyl records can be improved through certain accessories and cleaning supplies. Slipmats provide a soft and cushioned surface between the record and the turntable platter, minimizing friction and preventing potential scratches or damage to the vinyl surface.<ref>{{Cite web|last=ECL|date=2024-04-07|title=The Resurgence of Vinyl Records: Why They're Making a Comeback and How to Start Your Collection|url=https://eclectico.com.au/blogs/news/the-resurgence-of-vinyl-records-why-theyre-making-a-comeback-and-how-to-start-your-collection|access-date=2024-04-27|website=Eclectico|language=en-US}}</ref>

Where old disc recordings are considered to be of artistic or historic interest, from before the era of tape or where no tape master exists, archivists play back the disc on suitable equipment and record the result, typically onto a digital format, which can be copied and manipulated to remove analog flaws without any further damage to the source recording. For example, [[Nimbus Records]] uses a specially built horn record player to transfer 78s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wyastone.co.uk/nrl/pv_transfer.html |title=The Transfer Session |access-date=18 September 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051120060122/http://www.wyastone.co.uk/nrl/pv_transfer.html |archive-date=20 November 2005 }}</ref> Anyone can do this using a standard record player with a suitable pickup, a phono-preamp (pre-amplifier) and a typical personal computer. However, for accurate transfer, professional archivists carefully choose the correct stylus shape and diameter, tracking weight, equalisation curve and other playback parameters and use high-quality analogue-to-digital converters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iasa-web.org/tc04/audio-preservation |title=''Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects'' (IASA TC04) |publisher=Iasa-web.org |date=21 September 2012 |access-date=26 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508171039/http://www.iasa-web.org/tc04/audio-preservation |archive-date=8 May 2015 }}</ref>

As an alternative to playback with a stylus, a recording can be read optically, processed with software that calculates the velocity that the stylus would be moving in the mapped grooves and converted to a [[digital recording]] format. This does no further damage to the disc and generally produces a better sound than normal playback. This technique also has the potential to allow for reconstruction of broken or otherwise damaged discs.<ref>{{Cite journal | author1=Fadeyev, V. | author2=C. Haber | title=Reconstruction of mechanically recorded sound by image processing | journal=[[Audio Engineering Society]] | volume=51 | issue=December | year=2003 | page=1172 | url=http://www-cdf.lbl.gov/~av/JAES-paper-LBNL.pdf | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050525185435/http://www-cdf.lbl.gov/~av/JAES-paper-LBNL.pdf | archive-date=25 May 2005 }}</ref>

==Popularity and current status==
{{See also|Album era|Vinyl revival}}
[[File:Spooky.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[DJ]] mixing vinyl records with a [[DJ mixer]] at the [[Sundance Film Festival]] in 2003]]

Groove recordings, first designed in the final quarter of the 19th century, held a predominant position for nearly a century—withstanding competition from [[reel-to-reel tape]], the [[8-track cartridge]], and the [[compact cassette]]. The widespread popularity of Sony's [[Walkman]] was a factor that contributed to the vinyl's lessening usage in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.musicmusingsandsuch.com/musicmusingsandsuch/2019/5/26/feature-forty-years-of-the-sony-walkman-1st-july-1979-an-historic-and-iconic-day-for-music|title=FEATURE: Forty Years of the Sony Walkman: 1st July, 1979: An Historic and Iconic Day for Music|website=Music Musings & Such|access-date=7 May 2015}}</ref> 

In 1988, the [[compact disc]] surpassed the gramophone record in unit sales. Vinyl records experienced a sudden decline in popularity between 1988 and 1991,<ref>Sources vary on the actual dates.</ref> when the major label distributors restricted their return policies, which retailers had been relying on to maintain and swap out stocks of relatively unpopular titles. First the distributors began charging retailers more for new products if they returned unsold vinyl, and then they stopped providing any credit at all for returns. Retailers, fearing they would be stuck with anything they ordered, only ordered proven, popular titles that they knew would sell, and devoted more shelf space to CDs and cassettes. Record companies also removed many vinyl titles from production and distribution, further undermining the availability of the format and leading to the closure of pressing plants. This rapid decline in the availability of records accelerated the format's decline in popularity, and is seen by some as a deliberate ploy to make consumers switch to CDs, which unlike today, were more profitable for the record companies.<ref>{{Cite magazine |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |title=A Vinyl Farewell |date=4 October 1991 |issue=86 |last=Browne |first=David }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The World of DJs and the Turntable Culture|last=Souvignier|first=Todd|isbn=978-0-634-05833-2|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |date=2004 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldofdjs00todd/page/41 41–42]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/worldofdjs00todd/page/41}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://urbigenous.net/library/negativland_shiny.html|title=Shiny, Aluminum, Plastic, and Digital|author=[[Negativland]] |via = urbigenous.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Romancing the Record: The Vinyl De-Evolution and Subcultural Evolution |journal=Journal of Popular Culture |volume=26 |issue=1 |page=110,112 |last=Plasketes |first=George |date=1992 |doi=10.1111/j.0022-3840.1992.00109.x }}</ref>

The more modern CD format held numerous advantages over the record such as its portability, [[digital audio]] and its elimination of background hiss and surface noise, instant switching and searching of tracks, longer playing time, lack of continuous degradation (most [[analog format]]s wear out as they get played),<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rockwell |first=John |date=1985-03-10 |title=INVASION OF THE COMPACT DISKS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/10/arts/invasion-of-the-compact-disks.html |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> programmability (e.g. [[Shuffle play|shuffle]], repeat),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-29 |title=DEMYSTIFYING COMPACT DISC PLAYERS |url=https://www.deseret.com/1989/10/10/18827518/demystifying-compact-disc-players/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=Deseret News |language=en}}</ref> and ability to be played on and copied to a [[personal computer]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2001-09-04 |title=Stealth war against CD piracy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1524662.stm |access-date=2024-05-04 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In spite of their flaws, records continued to have enthusiastic supporters, partly due to a preference of its "warmer" sound and its larger sleeve artwork.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=1998-07-19 |title=BBC News {{!}} ENTERTAINMENT {{!}} The non-compact disc turns 50 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/135027.stm |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Records continued to be format of choice by [[disc jockeys]] in dance clubs during the 1990s and 2000s due to its better mixing capabilities.<ref name=":0" />

=== Revival era ===
A niche [[Vinyl revival|resurgence of vinyl records]] began in the late 2000s, mainly among rock fans.<ref>Swedish public service television teletext, 12.December.2016, page 150 {{cite web |title=SVT Text - Sida 150 |url=http://www.svt.se/svttext/tv/pages/150.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220144405/http://www.svt.se/svttext/tv/pages/150.html |archive-date=20 December 2016 |access-date=12 December 2016}} in Swedish (original text) – ''"Allt fler köper vinylskivor. Trenden med att köpa vinylskivor fortsätter. Sedan 2006 har försäljningen globalt ökat från drygt 3,1 miljoner sålda exemplar jämfört med 31,5 miljoner sålda exemplar 2015. Trots att allt fler vinylskivor säljs är det dock bara en väldigt liten del av skivförsäljningen. I Sverige såldes det förra året 384.000 vinylskivor jämfört med 3.342.000 cd-skivor. De artister som säljer mest är oftast äldre artister och skivor. Mest såld i år är David Bowies sista skiva Black-star. Andra populära artister är Beatles, Led Zeppelin och Adele."'' – or in English – "More and more buy vinyl records. The trend to buy vinyl records continues. Since 2006 has the global sales increased from approximately 3.1 million sold records to 31.5 million in 2015. Despite this, is it still a small part of the total record sale. In Sweden was 384.000 vinyl records sold last year (=2015) compared to 3.342.000 CD records. The artists who sell most ar usually older artists and records.(comment - bad Swedish in original text is reflected and translated) Most sold in this year (=2016) was David Bowie's last record, ''Black-star''. Other popular artists are Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Adele" (a screenshot of the teletext page exist and can be uploaded, if allowed at Commons and if requested).</ref> The Entertainment Retailers Association in the United Kingdom found in 2011 that consumers were willing to pay on average £16.30 (€19.37, US$25.81) for a single vinyl record, as opposed to £7.82 (€9.30, US$12.38) for a CD and £6.80 (€8.09, US$10.76) for a [[Music download|digital download]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Vinyl sales up 55% |url=http://www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/vinyl-sales-up-55/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322105005/http://thecmuwebsite.com/article/vinyl-sales-up-55/ |archive-date=22 March 2016 |access-date=10 April 2016 |publisher=Thecmuwebsite.com}}</ref> The resurgence accelerated throughout the 2010s,<ref>{{cite news |date=15 April 2016 |title=Record Store Day: This is what happens inside a vinyl factory - BBC Newsbeat |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36044609/record-store-day-this-is-what-happens-inside-a-vinyl-factory |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163716/http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36044609/record-store-day-this-is-what-happens-inside-a-vinyl-factory |archive-date=18 April 2016 |access-date=8 January 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref> and in 2015 reached $416 million revenue in the US, their highest level since 1988.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vinyl Record Sales At A 28 Year High |url=http://fortune.com/2016/04/16/vinyl-sales-record-store-day/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220120543/http://fortune.com/2016/04/16/vinyl-sales-record-store-day/ |archive-date=20 December 2016 |access-date=8 January 2017 |website=Fortune.com}}</ref> As of 2017, it comprised 14% of all physical album sales.<ref>{{cite web |title=2017 U.S. Music Year-End Report |url=https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2018/2017-music-us-year-end-report |access-date=29 June 2019 |publisher=Nielsen}}</ref> According to the [[RIAA]]'s midyear report in 2020, phonograph record revenues surpassed those of CDs for the first time since the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=10 September 2020 |title=Vinyl Outsells CDs For the First Time in Decades |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/vinyl-outsells-cds-for-the-first-time-in-decades/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200922170131/https://pitchfork.com/news/vinyl-outsells-cds-for-the-first-time-in-decades/amp/ |archive-date=22 September 2020 |access-date=22 September 2020 |work=}}</ref>

In 2021, [[Taylor Swift]] sold 102,000 copies of her ninth studio album ''[[Evermore]]'' on vinyl in one week. The sales of the record beat the largest sales in one week on vinyl since Nielsen started tracking vinyl sales in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Hugh |title=Taylor Swift's 'Evermore' Is The First Album To Sell 100,000 Vinyl Copies In One Week In U.S. History |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2021/06/07/taylor-swifts-evermore-is-the-first-album-to-sell-100000-vinyl-copies-in-one-week-in-us-history/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> The sales record was previously held by [[Jack White]], who sold 40,000 copies of his second solo release, ''[[Lazaretto (album)|Lazaretto]]'', on vinyl in its first week of release in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cooper |first=Leonie |date=2014-06-18 |title=Jack White breaks US vinyl sales record with 'Lazaretto' |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/jack-white-102-1247140 |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Approximately 180 million LP records are produced annually at global pressing plants, as of 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leimkuehler |first=Matthew |title=How much did vinyl music sales grow in 2021? (Hint: a lot) |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/01/12/vinyl-music-sales-grow-2021/9168973002/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=The Tennessean |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Present production===
[[File:Making records at the trade show at SXSW 2014--2-2 (15815410775).jpg|thumb|Vinyl record making demonstration at [[South by Southwest|SXSW]] 2014]]
{{As of|2017}}, 48 record pressing facilities exist worldwide. The increased popularity of the record has led to the investment in new and modern record-pressing machines.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/2017/02/warm-tone-record-press-hand-drawn-records/ Meet the Record-Pressing Robot Fueling Record's Comeback]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808000151/https://www.wired.com/2017/02/warm-tone-record-press-hand-drawn-records/ |date=8 August 2017 }}.</ref> Only two producers of [[acetate disc|lacquer master disc]]s remain: Apollo Masters in California, and MDC in Japan.<ref>[https://www.djbroadcast.net/article/98883/dont-call-it-vinyl-cutting Don't Call It Vinyl Cutting]. DJBROADCAST. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223042902/https://www.djbroadcast.net/article/98883/dont-call-it-vinyl-cutting |date=23 February 2017 }}.</ref> On 6 February 2020, a fire destroyed the Apollo Masters plant. According to the Apollo Masters website, their future is still uncertain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.apollomasters.com/|title=Apollo Masters lacquer record discs|website=Apollomasters.com|access-date=7 May 2015}}</ref> [[Hand Drawn Pressing]] opened in 2016 as the world's first fully automated record pressing plant.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/shawnsetaro/2016/11/30/hand-drawn-pressing/#57ce6dc0474e|title=Hand Drawn Pressing Brings New Technology To Vinyl Records|last=Setaro|first=Shawn|date=November 30, 2016|work=Forbes|access-date=2017-09-05}}</ref>

== Less common recording formats ==
===VinylVideo===
VinylVideo is a format to store a low resolution [[black and white]] video on a vinyl record alongside encoded audio.<ref name="Czukay_2018"/><ref name="Riddle_2018"/><ref name="Taylor_2018"/>

===Capacitance Electronic Disc===
Another example is the [[Capacitance Electronic Disc]], a color video format, slightly better than [[VHS]].<ref name="CEDMagic.com">{{cite web|title = RCA SelectaVision VideoDisc FAQ - What are the technical specifications of the RCA VideoDisc system? | publisher = CEDMagic.com | url = http://cedmagic.com/home/cedfaq.html#onethree | access-date = 7 March 2007}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Record production}}

* [[Album cover]]
* [[Apollo Masters Corporation fire]]
* [[Capacitance Electronic Disc]]
* [[Conservation and restoration of vinyl discs]]
* [[Electrical transcription]]
* [[LP record]]
* ''[[The New Face of Vinyl: Youth's Digital Devolution]]'' (photo documentary)
* [[Phonograph cylinder]]
* [[Pocket Disc]]
* [[Record Store Day]]
* [[Sound recording and reproduction]]
* [[Unusual types of gramophone records]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Nakamichi_1979_NAK-100">{{cite book |date=1979 |publisher=[[Nakamichi]] |title=The Stillness of Dawn - High-Com II Demonstration Record |id=NAK-100 |type=A limited edition not-for-sale High&thinsp;Com II encoded audiophile [[vinyl record]] and corresponding leaflet. This [[LP record|LP]] contains 400&nbsp;Hz, 0&nbsp;dB, 200&nbsp;nWb/m calibration tones as well. |quote=Track list: Side A: [[Philharmonia Hungarica]] ([[Zoltan Rozsnyai]]): 1. [[Bizet]] ([[Carmen]] prelude) [2:30] 2. [[Berlioz]] ([[Rákóczi March]] from [[Damnation of Faust]]) [4:40] 3. [[Rimsky-Korsakov]] (Procession of the Nobles from [[Mlada (Rimsky-Korsakov)|Mlada]]) [4:55] 3. [[Brahms]] ([[Hungarian Dance No. 5]]) [4:30] 4. 400&nbsp;Hz calibration tone. [1:00], Side B: [[S.M.A. Sextet]] ([[Sherman Martin Austin]]): 1. [[Impressions (John Coltrane album)|Impressions]] ([[John Coltrane]]) [5:00] 2. Mimosa ([[Dennis Irwin]]) [5:52] 3. Little B's Poem ([[Bobby Hutcherson]]) [3:12] 4. 400&nbsp;Hz calibration tone [1:00]. […] Quotes from the sleeve: […] Thousands of man-hours were spent listening, adjusting, optimizing&mdash;until harpsichords sound like harpsichords without mutilated [[transient (acoustics)|transient]]s, until bass viols sound like bass viols without [[harmonic distortion]], until triangles sound lean and crisp without [[breathing (noise reduction)|breathiness]]. The result is [[High-Com II]], the world's finest ''two-band'' noise-reduction system. […] High-Com II is the first ''audiophile'' noise-reduction system that achieves ''professional'' quality. […] Listen especially for the dramatic reduction in [[surface noise]] on this High-Com II encoded record. There is no residual [[tape hiss|hiss]]; the ticks, pops, and [[crackling (noise)|crackle]]s that mar conventional discs are absent. So is [[turntable rumble]]. The loud passages emerge with unprecedented clarity since they need not be recorded at so high and distortion-producing a level. […] Between programs, there is utter silence. […] We also suggest you listen closely for sounds of "breathing" and [[noise pumping]]. This common fault of noise-reduction systems has been eliminated in High-Com II. Listen also to High-Com II's remarkable ability to accurately preserve musical transients. They are neither muted nor exaggerated nor edgy as with other companders. This accuracy of reproduction&mdash;on all types of music, at all frequencies, and at all levels&mdash;is what distinguishes High-Com II from other noise-reduction systems. […] Unlike simple companders, High-Com II is optimized differently for signals of different strength and different frequencies. Low-level signals are processed for maximum noise reduction, high-level ones for minimum distortion. This sophisticated technique assumes maximum [[dynamic range]] with minimum "breathing" and other audible side effects. […] Sound of extraordinary dynamic range&mdash;a background free from surface noise, pops, [[clicking noise|click]]s, rumble, and [[groove echo]]&mdash;the mightiest crescendo, free from distortion. Sound without breathing, pumping, or other ill side effects.}}</ref>
<ref name="Nakamichi_High-Com_II">{{cite book |title=Nakamichi High-Com II Noise Reduction System - Owner's Manual - Bedienungsanleitung - Mode d'Emploi |language=en, de, fr |date=1980 |id=0D03897A, O-800820B |url=http://manualmachine.com/nakamichi/high-com-ii/1156333-user-manual/ |access-date=10 November 2017 |url-access=limited |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110221440/http://manualmachine.com/nakamichi/high-com-ii/1156333-user-manual/page:2/ |archive-date=10 November 2017  }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20210505181108/https://www.vintageshifi.com/repertoire-pdf/pdf/telecharge.php?pdf=Nakamichi-High-Com-II-Owner-Manual.pdf] (NB. This compander exists in two identically named but slightly different versions; only one of them has a dedicated "Disk" setting, the other one instead has an additional setting to combine [[subsonic filter|subsonic]] with [[MPX filter|MPX]] filtering. In this model, [[High-Com&nbsp;II]] encoded vinyl disks have to be played back through the "Rec" setting of a connected tape deck.)</ref>
<ref name="Hohmuth_1987">{{cite magazine |title=Verbesserte Schallplattenwiedergabe durch UC-Kompressor |language=de |author-first=Gerhard |author-last=Hohmuth |magazine=radio fernsehen elektronik (rfe) |publisher={{ill|Verlag Technik{{!}}VEB Verlag Technik|de|VEB Verlag Technik}} |publication-place=Berlin |issn=0033-7900<!-- TBD or 1436-1574 --> |volume=36 |date=1987 |issue=5 |pages=311–313}} (3 pages) (NB. Includes a description of the UC compander system.)</ref>
<ref name="Milde_1987">{{cite magazine |title=Das UC-Kompandersystem |language=de |author-first=Helmut |author-last=Milde |magazine=radio fernsehen elektronik (rfe) |publisher={{ill|Verlag Technik{{!}}VEB Verlag Technik|de|VEB Verlag Technik}} |publication-place=Berlin, Germany |location=Dresden, Germany |issn=0033-7900<!-- TBD or 1436-1574 --> |volume=36 |date=1987 |issue=9 |pages=592–595 |url=https://www.radiomuseum.org/forumdata/upload/das_uc_kompander_system.pdf |access-date=5 May 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505192852/https://www.radiomuseum.org/forumdata/upload/das_uc_kompander_system.pdf |archive-date=5 May 2021}} (4 pages) (NB. Includes a detailed description of the UC system characteristics and a reference schematic developed by Milde, similar to the circuitry used in the Ziphona HMK-PA2223. According to the author he later also developed an improved version utilizing more modern ICs.<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20210506164418/https://www.analog-forum.de/wbboard/index.php?thread%2F11586-klangtuning-am-rft-tangential-dreher%2F=&pageNo=2 -->)</ref>
<ref name="Seiffert_2013">{{cite web |title=Ziphona HMK-PA2223 |editor-first1=Michael |editor-last1=Seiffert |editor-first2=Martin |editor-last2=Renz |date= |orig-date=2013-02-24, 22 February 2013 |work=Hifi-Museum |url=https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/phono_pirn_ziphona_hmk_pa2223.html |access-date=6 May 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506151436/https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/phono_pirn_ziphona_hmk_pa2223.html |archive-date=6 May 2021}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20210506151437/https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/phonotechnik_pirna/ziphona_hmk_pa2223_1392509.jpg][https://web.archive.org/web/20210506152834/https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/phonotechnik_pirna/ziphona_hmk_pa2223_1392510.jpg][https://web.archive.org/web/20210506152258/https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/phonotechnik_pirna/ziphona_hmk_pa2223_1392945.jpg][https://web.archive.org/web/20210506153056/https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/phonotechnik_pirna/ziphona_hmk_pa2223_1392947.jpg][https://web.archive.org/web/20210506152301/https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/phonotechnik_pirna/ziphona_hmk_pa2223_1392511.jpg] (NB. Has pictures of a {{lang|de|VEB Phonotechnik Pirna/Zittau}} Ziphona HMK-PA2223, a [[Linear tracking#Linear tracking|tangential arm]] [[direct drive turntable]] with built-in UC expander, with the frontpanel showing a "UC" logo (for "Universal Compander").)</ref>
<ref name="Mueller_2018">{{cite web |title=UC-Expander |language=de |author-first=Claus |author-last=Müller |editor-first=Käthe |editor-last=Meinhardt |date=2018 |orig-date= |url=http://docplayer.org/78205903-Allgemeines-bild-1-gravur-zwischen-den-auslaufrillen-mit-dem-u.html |access-date=5 May 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505195909/http://docplayer.org/78205903-Allgemeines-bild-1-gravur-zwischen-den-auslaufrillen-mit-dem-u.html |archive-date=5 May 2021 |quote-page=4 |quote=[…] In den 1980er Jahren wurden in der [[German Democratic Republic|DDR]] vom [[VEB Deutsche Schallplatten]] unter dem Label {{ill|Eterna (record label){{!}}ETERNA|de|Eterna (Plattenlabel)}} viele sehr gute Aufnahmen klassischer Musik veröffentlicht. Diese Platten wurden, nicht wie sonst üblich, in Lackfolie sondern direkt in eine Metallscheibe geschnitten ([[Direct Metal Mastering|DMM]] - Direkt Metal Mastering). Das ersparte zwei Zwischenkopien im Produktionsablauf, was nicht nur schneller ging, sondern auch zu einer erheblich besseren Qualität führte. Zur weiteren Steigerung der Klangqualität wurde das UC-Kompandersystem (UC - Universal Compatible) eingesetzt. Damit wurden beim Schneiden der Platte die leisen Töne etwas lauter und die lauten entsprechend leiser überspielt. Wendet man bei der Wiedergabe das umgekehrte Verfahren an, werden mit den leisen Tönen auch die Störungen abgeschwächt und die lauten Stellen verzerren nicht und nutzen sich weniger ab. All das geschah so vorsichtig, dass man die Platte auch ohne Expander bei der Wiedergabe noch genussvoll anhören konnte. Zum Glück, denn es hätte sowieso nur einen Plattenspieler gegeben, der über eine entsprechende Schaltung verfügte und der war sehr teuer. Vermutlich aus diesem Grund hat man auf eine weithin sichtbare Kennzeichnung der mit diesem Verfahren aufgenommenen Platten verzichtet. Nur in der Gravur zwischen den Auslaufrillen kann man am angehängten U den Einsatz des Kompressors erkennen […] Das vorliegende Programm erfüllt die Aufgabe eines UC-Expanders, mit dem Sie eine im [[wav]]-format digitalisierte Schallplattenaufnahme bearbeiten können, um nun endlich den Klang genießen zu können, den Sie damals erworben haben. Bis dahin gibt es aber noch eine Schwierigkeit. Zur richtigen Einstellung des Programmes benötigen Sie eine Schallplatte, auf der ein Bezugspegelton aufgezeichnet ist, wie das bei den, dem Plattenspieler beiliegenen, Testplatten der Fall war. […]}} (NB. Describes a software implementation of an UC expander as a program "<code>UCExpander.exe</code>" for [[Microsoft Windows]]. Also shows a picture of the "U" engraving in the silent inner groove indicating UC encoded vinyl disks.)</ref>
<ref name="Wonneberg_2000">{{cite book |title=Vinyl Lexikon - Wahrheit und Legende der Schallplatte - Fachbegriffe, Sammlerlatein und Praxistips |language=de |author-first=Frank |author-last=Wonneberg |author-link=:de:Frank Wonneberg |date=2000 |publisher=Lexikon Imprint Verlag |edition=1 |isbn=3-89602226-1 |quote=UC […] Vom [[VEB Deutsche Schallplatten]] und dem ZWT Rundfunk und Fernsehen der [[German Democratic Republic|DDR]] entwickelter, breitbandiger Kompander zur Codierung von Schallplatten. Das UC-Kompandersystem (universal compatible) nutzt die Möglichkeit durch den Einsatz sogenannter Logarithmierer, den Verstärkungsvorgang fließend zu gestalten und ein abruptes Umschalten bei niedrigen Signalpegeln zu vermeiden. Durch einen sich kontinuierlich wandelnden Kompressionsgrad von 5:3 (0&nbsp;dB) bis 1:1 (&minus;20&nbsp;dB) erzielt man eine effektive Störunterdrückung von 10&nbsp;dB. Die Expansion erfolgt spiegelverkehrt. Auch ohne den Einsatz eines entsprechenden UC-Expanders bleiben durch das"fließende"Verfahren die Ein- und Ausklingvorgänge in ihrer Homogenität und auch die Raumabbildung der Tonaufzeichnung weitestgehend erhalten. Die gewinnbringende Nutzung des UC-Kompanderverfahrens stellt den Anwender vor ein kaum lösbares Problem, da die ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen und die zentrale Planung der Geräteentwicklung in der DDR die Herstellung eines Serienproduktes untergruben. Letztlich existieren nur einige Labormuster in den Händen der an dem Verfahren beteiligten Entwickler. Ein Versuch nach 1990, mit dem Verfahren erneut Fuß zu fassen, scheiterte an der international bereits von der Industrie vollzogenen, umfassenden Digitalisierung der Heimwiedergabe. Vom VEB Deutsche Schallplatten wurden in den Jahren 1983 bis 1990 weit mehr als 500 verschiedene UC-codierte Schallplatten der Marken {{ill|Eterna (record label){{!}}Eterna|de|Eterna (Plattenlabel)}} und [[Amiga (record label)|Amiga]] veröffentlicht. Alle entsprechend aufgezeichneten Schallplatten tragen im Spiegel der Auslaufrille zusätzlich zur Matrizengravur ein U. Auf eine äußere, gut sichtbare Kennzeichnung wurde, im Sinne der hervorragenden Kompatibilität des Verfahrens bei einer konventionellen Wiedergabe und in Ermangelung verfügbarer UC-Expander für den Heimgebrauch, verzichtet.}}</ref>
<ref name="Taylor_2017">{{cite web |author-first=Matthew "Mat" |author-last=Taylor |author-link=Matthew Taylor (blogger) |work=[[Techmoan]] |title=CX Discs: Better, Worse & the Same as a normal record |date=19 October 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5XCvsNUkmI&t=499s | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/E5XCvsNUkmI| archive-date=29 October 2021|access-date=5 May 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
<ref name="Czukay_2018">{{cite web |title=Cinema |author-first=Holger |author-last=Czukay |author-link=Holger Czukay |date=23 March 2018 |orig-date=2017 |publisher=[[Grönland Records]] |id=LPGRON180 |edition=Limited |url=https://www.groenland.com/product/holger-czukay-cinema/ |access-date=7 May 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507193334/https://www.groenland.com/product/holger-czukay-cinema/ |archive-date=7 May 2021}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20210227104636/https://www.discogs.com/Holger-Czukay-Cinema/release/11764989] (NB. Retrospective box set containing 5 LPs (compilation), 1 [[DVD-V]], 1 [[VinylVideo]] 7"-single ("Fragrance", "Holger on his first video recording", "Holger and Jaki"), a digital audio download code and a booklet. The CD version of the set (CDGRON180) does ''not'' contain the VinylVideo record.)</ref>
<ref name="Riddle_2018">{{cite web |title=Vinyl Video |work=Randy Collects |author-first=Randy A. |author-last=Riddle |date=29 July 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw_0kIDcYT0 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/iw_0kIDcYT0| archive-date=29 October 2021|access-date=7 May 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
<ref name="Taylor_2018">{{cite web |title=VinylVideo - Playing video from a 45rpm record |author-first=Matthew "Mat" |author-last=Taylor |author-link=Matthew Taylor (blogger) |work=[[Techmoan]] |date=17 September 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtNGVb94TFE | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/UtNGVb94TFE| archive-date=29 October 2021|access-date=7 May 2021}}{{cbignore}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okdh7I06jFM][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJIMY07iplM]</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal|author1=Fadeyev, V. |author2=C. Haber | title=Reconstruction of mechanically recorded sound by image processing | journal=[[Audio Engineering Society]] | volume=51 | issue=December | year=2003 | page=1172 | url=http://www-cdf.lbl.gov/~av/JAES-paper-LBNL.pdf}}
* Lawrence, Harold; "Mercury Living Presence". Compact disc liner notes. Bartók, Antal Dorati, Mercury 432 017–2. 1991.
* International standard IEC 60098: ''Analogue audio disk records and reproducing equipment''. Third edition, [[International Electrotechnical Commission]], 1987.
* ''College Physics'', Sears, Zemansky, Young, 1974, LOC #73-21135, chapter: "Acoustic Phenomena"
* Powell, James R., Jr. ''The Audiophile's Technical Guide to 78&nbsp;rpm, Transcription, and Microgroove Recordings''. 1992; Gramophone Adventures, Portage, MI. {{ISBN|0-9634921-2-8}}
* Powell, James R., Jr. ''Broadcast Transcription Discs''. 2001; Gramophone Adventures, Portage, MI. {{ISBN|0-9634921-4-4}}
* Powell, James R., Jr. and Randall G. Stehle. ''Playback Equalizer Settings for 78&nbsp;rpm Recordings''. Third Edition. 1993, 2001, 2007; Gramophone Adventures, Portage, MI. {{ISBN|0-9634921-3-6}}
* Scholes, Percy A. ''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ninth edition, Oxford University Press, 1955.
* ''From Tin Foil to Stereo: Evolution of the Phonograph'' by Oliver Read and Walter L. Welch
* ''The Fabulous Phonograph'' by Roland Gelatt, published by Cassell & Company, 1954 rev. 1977 {{ISBN|0-304-29904-9}}
*  ''Where Have All the Good Times Gone?: The Rise and Fall of the Record Industry'' Louis Barfe.
* ''Pressing the LP Record'' by Ellingham, Niel, published at 1 Bruach Lane, PH16 5DG, Scotland.
* ''Sound Recordings'' by [[Peter Copeland]] published 1991 by the British Library {{ISBN|0-7123-0225-5}}.
* ''Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record'' by Richard Osborne. Ashgate, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4094-4027-7}}.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100312213800/http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/notes.html "A Record Changer and Record of Complementary Design"] by B. H. Carson, A. D. Burt, and H. I. Reiskind, ''RCA Review'', June 1949
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100312213800/http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/notes.html "Recording Technology History: notes revised July 6, 2005, by Steven Schoenherr"], [[University of San Diego]] (archived 2010)
* Williams, Gavin. ''[https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo215080224.html#:~:text=The%20first%20book%20to%20consider,half%20of%20the%20twentieth%20century. Format Friction: Perspectives on the Shellac Disc]'', University of Chicago Press, 2024
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Gramophone records}}
* How do vinyl record works at [https://vinyl-place.com/how-do-vinyl-records-work/ vinyl-place website]
* Playback equalization for 78&nbsp;rpm shellacs and early LPs (EQ curves, index of record labels): [http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/78rpm_playback_curves Audacity Wiki]
* [https://archive.org/details/CommandP1942 The manufacturing and production of shellac records]. Educational video, 1942.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150618041144/http://www.rfwilmut.clara.net/repro78/repro.html Reproduction of 78&nbsp;rpm records] including equalization data for different makes of 78s and LPs.
* [http://www.lathetrolls.com The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls], a site devoted to all aspects of the making of Gramophone records.
* How to digitize gramophone records: [http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/recording_78_rpm_records.html Audacity Tutorial]
* Actual list of vinyl pressing plants: [https://vinyl-pressing-plants.com/manufacturing/vinyl-pressing-plant/ vinyl-pressing-plants.com]
* Dedicated museum for sound history: [https://moeb.ca Musée des ondes Emile Berliner, Montreal, Canada]
*[http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/37364559/TROTMAN-DOCUMENT-2018.pdf?sequence=1 Smart Vinyl: The First Computerized]
*[http://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/54839/9788884538116.pdf?sequence=1 Semi-automatic metadata extraction from shellac and vinyl disc]
*[http://www.ece.ucf.edu/seniordesign/fa2017sp2018/g15/documentation/Final_Report.pdf Vinyl Player 2.0]

{{Audio format}}
{{Music technology}}
{{Grooved track audio}}
{{Music industry}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gramophone Record}}
[[Category:1894 in music]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Audio storage]]
[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1894]]
[[Category:Hip-hop production]]
[[Category:History of sound recording]]
[[Category:Recorded music]]
[[Category:Turntablism]]