PlayTape is a 1 ⁄ 8 inch (3.2 mm) audiotape format and mono or stereo playback system introduced in 1966 by Frank Stanton . It is a two-track system, and was launched to compete with existing 4-track cartridge technology. The cartridges play anywhere from eight to 24 minutes, and are continuous. Because of its portability, PlayTape was an almost instant success, and over 3,000 artists had published in this format by 1968. White cases usually meant about eight songs were on the tape.
83-407: When PlayTape was launched, vinyl records reigned supreme, and Earl Muntz 's Stereo-Pak , based on the broadcast " Fidelipac " cartridge system, was also a popular sound delivery system. His car players were offered with stereo sound. Although in production, Bill Lear 's 8-track tape and Philips ' cassette tape systems had not yet achieved their market potential. Moreover, neither Lear or Muntz
166-448: A Times music critic stated: ... 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 ... would be extravagant ... [but] the article of today is so far in advance of the old machines as hardly to admit classification under
249-401: 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. The playing time of a phonograph record is directly proportional to
332-738: A diamond stylus. Beginning in 1915, new Edison cylinder issues consisted of re-recordings from Edison discs; they therefore had lower audio quality than the disc originals. Although his cylinders continued to be sold in steadily dwindling and eventually minuscule quantities, Edison continued to support the owners of cylinder phonographs by making new titles available in that format until the company ceased manufacturing all records and phonographs in November 1929. Cylinder phonograph technology continued to be used for Dictaphone and Ediphone recordings for office use for decades. In 1947, Dictaphone replaced wax cylinders with their Dictabelt technology, which cut
415-508: A 10-inch 78 in 1922 for Victor . Longer musical pieces were released as a set of records. In 1903 His Master's Voice in England made the first complete recording of an opera, Verdi 's Ernani , on 40 single-sided discs. In 1940, Commodore released Eddie Condon and his Band's recording of " 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
498-440: A 12-inch conductive vinyl disc. Phonograph cylinder Phonograph cylinders (also referred to as Edison cylinders after its creator Thomas Edison ) are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound . Commonly known simply as "records" in their heyday (c. 1896–1916), a name which has been passed on to their disc-shaped successor , these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engraved on
581-587: 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". The production of shellac records continued throughout the 78 rpm era, which lasted until 1948 in industrialized nations. During the Second World War,
664-415: 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
747-589: 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 singles , also called 45s ("forty-fives")), and 12-inch discs played at 33⅓ rpm (known as an LP , "long-playing records", typically for full-length albums ) –
830-549: A competing vinyl format, the 7-inch (175 mm) 45 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 rpm size
913-434: A gearshift and a 'model K' reproducer with two different styli, which allowed it to play both two-minute and four-minute cylinders. Cylinder records continued to compete with the growing disc record market into the 1910s, when discs won the commercial battle. In 1912, Columbia Records , which had been selling both discs and cylinders, dropped the cylinder format, while Edison introduced his Diamond Disc format, played with
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#1733105485059996-421: A governor and says that spring drives had replaced hand drives. It notes that: 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 rpm was chosen for the phonograph industry, apparently this just happened to be the speed created by one of
1079-694: A harder (and more fragile) form of wax to withstand the smaller stylus used to play them. The longer playing time was achieved by reducing the groove size and placing them half as far apart. In 1912, the Edison company eventually acquired Lambert's patents to the celluloid technology, and almost immediately started production under a variation of their existing Amberol brand as Edison Blue Amberol Records . Edison designed several phonograph types, both with internal and external horns for playing these improved cylinder records. The internal horn models were called Amberolas . Edison marketed its "Fireside" model phonograph with
1162-451: A market opportunity in the U.S. for automotive audio players in 1968. Frank Stanton , president of PlayTape, announced that Motorola would manufacture an automotive player in OEM and after-market models for Volkswagen. The "Sapphire I" OEM model was designed for in-dash installation, and included an AM radio . The "Sapphire II" after-market version omitted the radio, and was designed to hang from
1245-452: A mechanical groove into a plastic belt instead of into a wax cylinder. This was later replaced by magnetic tape recording. However, cylinders for older style dictating machines continued to be available for some years, and it was not unusual to encounter cylinder dictating machines into the 1950s. In the late 20th and early 21st century, new recordings have been made on cylinders for the novelty effect of using obsolete technology. Probably
1328-748: A niche resurgence in the early 21st century, growing increasingly popular throughout the 2010s and 2020s. 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 ( 8 + 1 ⁄ 3 , 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 , 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 , 45, 78), and their time capacity, determined by their diameter and speed (LP [long play], 12-inch disc, 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm; EP [extended play], 12-inch disc or 7-inch disc, 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 or 45 rpm; Single, 7-inch or 10-inch disc, 45 or 78 rpm); their reproductive quality, or level of fidelity (high-fidelity, orthophonic, full-range, etc.); and
1411-641: A phonograph record that would hold at least 20 minutes per side. Research began in 1939, was suspended during World War II, and then resumed in 1945. Columbia Records unveiled the LP at a press conference in the Waldorf-Astoria on 21 June 1948, in two formats: 10 inches (25 centimetres) in diameter, matching that of 78 rpm singles, and 12 inches (30 centimetres) in diameter. Unwilling to accept and license Columbia's system, in February 1949, RCA Victor released
1494-407: A relatively soft wax formulation and would wear out after they were played a few dozen times. The buyer could then use a mechanism which left their surfaces shaved smooth so new recordings could be made on them. Cylinder machines of the late 1880s and the 1890s were usually sold with recording attachments. The ability to record as well as play back sound was an advantage of cylinder phonographs over
1577-584: 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. 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 ". These inserts were commissioned by RCA president David Sarnoff and were invented by Thomas Hutchison. Capacitance Electronic Discs were videodiscs invented by RCA, based on mechanically tracked ultra-microgrooves (9541 grooves/inch) on
1660-427: 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. CBS Laboratories had long been at work for Columbia Records to develop
1743-597: A thicker all-wax cylinder, the surface of which could be repeatedly shaved down for reuse. Both the Graphophone and Edison's " Perfected Phonograph " were commercialized in 1888. Eventually, a patent-sharing agreement was signed, and the wax-coated cardboard tubes were abandoned in favor of Edison's all-wax cylinders as an interchangeable standard format. Beginning in 1889, prerecorded wax cylinders were marketed. These have professionally made recordings of songs, instrumental music or humorous monologues in their grooves. At first,
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#17331054850591826-455: A three- or four-speed player (78, 45, 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 , and sometimes 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 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
1909-485: 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 rpm EP is that the last Columbia Records reissue of Frank Sinatra songs on 45 rpm EP records, called Frank Sinatra (Columbia B-2641)
1992-441: A track from his self-titled debut album (with "The Beehive State" on the flipside). 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. In 1978, guitarist and vocalist Leon Redbone released a promotional 78-rpm single featuring two songs ("Alabama Jubilee" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone") from his Champagne Charlie album. In
2075-431: 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 rpm players. LP albums could be purchased one EP at
2158-401: 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 rpm". One standard audio recording handbook describes speed regulators, or governors , as being part of a wave of improvement introduced rapidly after 1897. A picture of a hand-cranked 1898 Berliner Gramophone shows
2241-714: The Archéophone player, designed by Henri Chamoux and the "Endpoint Cylinder and Dictabelt Machine" by Nicholas Bergh. The Archéophone is used by the Edison National Historic Site, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio), the Department of Special Collections at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library , and many other libraries and archives, including the Endpoint by The New York Public Library for
2324-636: The Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey, whose products would come to dominate the market for several decades. 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 ). Early disc recordings were produced in a variety of speeds ranging from 60 to 130 rpm, and
2407-541: The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was front-page news in The New York Times , which reported: The audience broke into applause ... 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' ... The new instrument is a feat of mathematics and physics. It is not the result of innumerable experiments, but
2490-620: The phonograph using a thin sheet of tin foil wrapped around a hand-cranked, grooved metal cylinder. Tin foil was not a practical recording medium for either commercial or artistic purposes, and the crude hand-cranked phonograph was only marketed as a novelty, to little or no profit. Edison moved on to developing a practical incandescent electric light , and the next improvements to sound recording technology were made by others. Following seven years of research and experimentation at their Volta Laboratory , Charles Sumner Tainter , Alexander Graham Bell , and Chichester Bell introduced wax as
2573-608: 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 jukeboxes . 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. As
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2656-591: 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
2739-504: The British musical group The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing released the track "Sewer", from their debut album, Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 on a wax cylinder in a limited edition of 40, of which only 30 were put on sale. The box set came with instructions on how to make a cylinder player for less than £20. The BBC covered the release on Television on BBC Click , on BBC Online , and on Radio 5 Live . In June 2017
2822-491: The Cthulhu Breakfast Club podcast released a special limited wax cylinder edition of a show. In April 2019, the podcast Hello Internet released ten limited edition wax cylinder recordings. In May 2023, Needlejuice Records released wax cylinder singles for Lemon Demon songs "Touch-Tone Telephone" and "The Oldest Man On MySpace", from albums Spirit Phone and Dinosaurchestra , respectively. Because of
2905-604: The Indestructible Record Company in 1906 and Columbia Phonograph Company in 1908. The Edison Bell company in Europe had separately licensed the technology and were able to market Edison's titles in both wax (popular series) and celluloid (indestructible series). In late 1908, Edison had introduced wax cylinders that played for nominally four minutes (instead of the usual two) under the Amberol brand. They were made from
2988-497: The Performing Arts . In an attempt to preserve the historic content of the recordings, cylinders can be read with a confocal microscope and converted to a digital audio format. The resulting sound clip in most cases sounds better than stylus playback from the original cylinder. Having an electronic version of the original recordings enables archivists to open access to the recordings to a wider audience. This technique also has
3071-527: The PlayTape cartridge format for the Mail Call , a device which contained the PlayTape drive. Its design resembled a telephone and used blank tape PlayTape cartridges, offered with capacities of 3, 6 and 10 minutes of recording time, to be sent as voice letters with inexpensive shipping cost. The ends of the tape loop were fixed by an adhesive tape with a conductive top to prevent overwriting the same recording. HiPac
3154-509: The United States Armed Forces produced thousands of 12-inch vinyl 78 rpm V-Discs for use by the troops overseas. 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 Red Seal classical 78s, at
3237-773: 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. The 12-inch disc, introduced by Victor in 1903, increased the playing time to three and a half minutes. Because the standard 10-inch 78 rpm record could hold about three minutes of sound per side, most popular recordings were limited to that duration. 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
3320-420: The competition from cheaper disc record phonographs, which began to be mass-marketed at the end of the 1890s, as the disc system machines could be used only to play back prerecorded sound. In the earliest stages of phonograph manufacturing, various incompatible, competing types of cylinder recordings were made. A standard system was decided upon by Edison Records , Columbia Phonograph , and other companies in
3403-459: The corner, looking all sad." 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 tubes (known as valves in the UK ), and then using the amplified signal to drive an electromechanical recording head. Western Electric's innovations resulted in
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3486-407: The cylinders after purchase. Their general appearance allowed bandleader John Philip Sousa to deride their contents as "canned music", an epithet he borrowed from Mark Twain . On March 20, 1900, Thomas B. Lambert was granted a US patent (645,920) that described a process for mass-producing cylinders made from celluloid , an early hard plastic. ( Henri Jules Lioret [ fr ] of France
3569-462: The dashboard. The price for either unit was said to be about US $ 40, (today US $ 350). Stanton also claimed that VW dealers would carry about 250 PlayTape titles for sale, and that some Volkswagen dealers would also sell the full line of PlayTape home and portable players. "We feel that Volkswagen salesmen will be able to interest the purchaser of a Sapphire I player in a complementary model for his home," Stanton said. In 1967, Smith Corona (SCM) used
3652-520: 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
3735-592: The early machines and, for no other reason continued to be used. In 1912, the Gramophone Company set 78 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 nominal speed of 78 rpm. By 1925, 78 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 Hz. Where
3818-429: The first 45 rpm single, 7 inches in diameter with a large center hole. The 45 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 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
3901-477: The first electrical discs during the spring of 1925. The first electrically recorded Victor Red Seal record was Chopin 's "Impromptus" and Schubert 's "Litanei" performed by pianist Alfred Cortot at Victor's studios in Camden, New Jersey . A 1926 Wanamaker's ad in The New York Times offers records "by the latest Victor process of electrical recording". It was recognized as a breakthrough; in 1930,
3984-432: 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
4067-403: The form of the compact disc , had gained a larger market share, and the record left the mainstream in 1991. 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 jockeys (DJs), especially in dance music genres. They were also listened to by a growing number of audiophiles . The phonograph record has made
4150-445: The formerly standard "78s" over the next decade. The late 1950s saw the introduction of stereophonic sound on commercial discs. The phonautograph was invented by 1857 by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. It could not, however, play back recorded sound, as Scott intended for people to read back the tracings, which he called phonautograms. Prior to this, tuning forks had been used in this way to create direct tracings of
4233-455: The introduction of home and portable players by the 4-track, 8-track, and cassette manufacturers led to the demise of PlayTape. Only a handful of small compact players, and a few very rare car players, were sold on the open market. In the United States , Volkswagen was the only manufacturer to offer a PlayTape player as optional equipment. They are collectors' items today. Volkswagen saw
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#17331054850594316-463: The introduction of the LP record in 1948. In popular music, the time limit of 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 minutes on a 10-inch 78 rpm record meant that singers seldom recorded long pieces. One exception is Frank Sinatra 's recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein 's " Soliloquy ", from Carousel , made on 28 May 1946. Because it ran 7m 57s, longer than both sides of a standard 78 rpm 10-inch record, it
4399-607: The last a song about the site of the recording. These recordings were officially released online as MP3 files in 2001. Small numbers of cylinders have been manufactured in the 21st century out of modern long-lasting materials. Two companies engaged in such enterprise are the Vulcan Cylinder Record Company of Sheffield , England, and the Wizard Cylinder Records Company in Baldwin, New York . In 2010
4482-421: The late 1880s. The standard cylinders are about 4 inches (10 cm) long, 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (5.7 cm) in diameter, and play about two minutes of recorded material. Originally, all cylinders sold needed to be recorded live on the softer brown wax, which wore out after as few as 20 plays. Later cylinders were reproduced either mechanically or by linking phonographs together with rubber tubes. Over
4565-480: 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
4648-421: The latter being the most prevalent format today. 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 media , in
4731-550: The mains supply was 60 Hz, the actual speed was 78.26 rpm: that of a 60 Hz stroboscope illuminating 92-bar calibration markings. Where it was 50 Hz, it was 77.92 rpm: that of a 50 Hz stroboscope illuminating 77-bar calibration markings. 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. Early recordings were made entirely acoustically,
4814-624: The most famous of these are by They Might Be Giants , who in 1996 recorded "I Can Hear You" and three other songs, performed without electricity, on an 1898 Edison wax recording studio phonograph at the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey . This song was released on Factory Showroom in 1996 and re-released on the 2002 compilation Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants . The other songs recorded were "James K. Polk", "Maybe I Know", and "The Edison Museum",
4897-415: The nature of the recording medium, playback of many cylinders can cause degradation of the recording. The replay of cylinders diminishes their fidelity and degrades their recorded signals. Additionally, when exposed to humidity, mold can penetrate a cylinder's surface and cause the recording to have surface noise. Currently, the only professional machines manufactured for the playback of cylinder recordings are
4980-436: The new high-speed changer rendered side breaks so brief as to be inconsequential. Early 45 rpm records were made from either vinyl or polystyrene . They had a playing time of eight minutes. At first the two systems were marketed in competition, in what was called " The War of the Speeds ". The older 78 rpm format continued to be mass-produced alongside the newer formats using new materials in decreasing numbers until
5063-536: The number of audio channels ( mono , stereo , quad , etc.). The phrase 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. The various names have included phonograph record (American English), gramophone record (British English), record, vinyl, LP (originally a trademark of Columbia Records ), black disc, album, and more informally platter, wax, or liquorice pizza. Manufacture of disc records began in
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#17331054850595146-402: The only customers for them were proprietors of nickelodeons —the first jukeboxes —installed in arcades and taverns, but within a few years, private owners of phonographs were increasingly buying them for home use. Unlike later, shorter-playing high-speed cylinders, early cylinder recordings were usually cut at a speed of about 120 rpm and can play for as long as three minutes. They were made of
5229-446: The outside surface which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph . The first cylinders were wrapped with tin foil but the improved version made of wax was created a decade later, after which they were commercialized. In the 1910s, the competing disc record system triumphed in the marketplace to become the dominant commercial audio medium. In December 1877, Thomas Edison and his team invented
5312-464: The production of several hundred cylinders to be made from the mold. The process was labeled "Gold Moulded" because of the gold vapor that was given off by gold electrodes used in the process. The earliest soft wax cylinders were sold wrapped in thick cotton batting . Later, molded hard-wax cylinders were sold in boxes with a cotton lining. Celluloid cylinders were sold in unlined boxes. These protective boxes were normally kept and used to house
5395-528: The recording medium, and engraving, rather than indenting, as the recording method. In 1887, their " Graphophone " system was being put to the test of practical use by official reporters of the US Congress , with commercial units later being produced by the Dictaphone Corporation . After this system was demonstrated to Edison's representatives, Edison quickly resumed work on the phonograph. He settled on
5478-484: The same name. Electrical recording and reproduction have combined to retain vitality and color in recitals by proxy. The Orthophonic Victrola had an interior folded exponential horn, a sophisticated design informed by impedance-matching and 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
5561-523: 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
5644-406: The second session, on 30 April, the two 12-inch recordings were longer: "Embraceable You" was 4m 05s; "Serenade to a Shylock", 4m 32s. 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
5727-471: The sound was collected by a horn and piped to a 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. Even drums, if planned and placed properly, could be effectively recorded and heard on even
5810-630: 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 rpm records was an album called Young at Heart , issued in November 1954. Columbia and RCA Victor each pursued their R&D secretly. The commercial rivalry between RCA Victor and Columbia Records led to RCA Victor's introduction of what it had intended to be
5893-426: The vibrations of sound-producing objects, as by English physicist Thomas Young in 1807. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the first phonograph , 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. The first commercially sold disc records were created by Emile Berliner in
5976-419: The years, the type of wax used in cylinders was improved and hardened, so that cylinders could be played with good quality over 100 times. In 1902, Edison Records launched a line of improved, hard wax cylinders marketed as "Edison Gold Moulded Records". The major development of this line of cylinders is that Edison had developed a process that allowed a mold to be made from a master cylinder, which then permitted
6059-435: Was 2:09 and four sides were 2:52–2:59. 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 15s; "Carnegie Jump", 2m 41s. But at
6142-519: Was a successor of the PlayTape cartridge, with some changes introduced in Japan in 1971 and disappearing soon afterwards. The HiPac had a small comeback in the mid-1970s, in children's toys for education. Vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record , especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in
6225-624: Was gaining in popularity, too, and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. By 1954, 200 million 45s had been sold. Eventually the 12-inch (300 mm) 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 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 . The 45 rpm discs also came in
6308-531: Was issued on 7 December 1959. The Seeburg Corporation introduced the Seeburg Background Music System in 1959, using a 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 rpm 9-inch record with 2-inch center hole. Each record held 40 minutes of music per side, recorded at 420 grooves per inch. 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:
6391-534: Was not until the LP era that an entire album of material could be included on a single record. In 1968, when the hit movie Thoroughly Modern Millie was inspiring revivals of Jazz Age music, 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",
6474-436: Was offering a portable player, though Muntz eventually did sell one, while portable cassette players were available from the outset. While PlayTape found some success in reaching the youth audience, it was not as successful in targeting the business market. Stanton marketed his device as a dictation machine, but he was unable to persuade businesses to adopt his creation. Problems with player quality limited sales and, ultimately,
6557-460: Was producing celluloid cylinders as early as 1893, but they were individually recorded rather than molded.) That same year, the Lambert Company of Chicago began selling cylinder records made of the material. They would not break if dropped and could be played thousands of times without wearing out. The color was changed to black in 1903, but brown and blue cylinders were also produced. The coloring
6640-463: Was purportedly because the dyes reduced surface noise . Unlike wax, the hard, inflexible material could not be shaved and recorded over, but it had the advantage of being nearly permanent. A 1905 Edison Phonograph may be seen and heard playing a celluloid cylinder at the Musical Museum , Brentford, England and the quality of the sound is surprisingly good. This superior technology was licensed by
6723-502: Was released on Columbia 's Masterwork label (the classical division) as two sides of a 12-inch record. 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
6806-482: Was released on two sides of Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s. "Record albums" were originally booklets containing collections of multiple disc records of related material, the name being related to photograph albums or scrap albums. German record company Odeon pioneered the album in 1909 when it released the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky on four double-sided discs in a specially designed package. It
6889-570: Was worked out on paper in advance of being built in the laboratory ... The new machine has a range of from 100 to 5,000 [cycles per second], or five and a half octaves ... The 'phonograph tone' is eliminated by the new recording and reproducing process. 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
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