History of Vinyl Music Records
Music Records@ Vinyl-Record.co.uk
Early disc music records were made of various materials including hard rubber. From 1897 onwards, earlier materials were largely replaced by a rather brittle formula of 25% shellac (a material obtained from the excretion of a southeast Asian beetle), a filler of a cotton compound similar to manila paper, powdered slate, and a small amount of a wax lubricant. The mass production of shellac records began in 1898 in Hanover, Germany. Shellac music records were the most common until the 1950s. Unbreakable music records, usually of celluloid (an early form of plastic) on a pasteboard base, were made from 1904 onwards, but they suffered from an exceptionally high level of surface noise.
In the 1890s the early recording formats of discs were usually seven inches (nominally 17.5 cm) in diameter. By 1910 the 10-inch (25.4cm) music record was by far the most popular standard, holding about three minutes of music or entertainment on a side. From 1903 onwards, 12-inch records (30.5cm) were also commercially sold, mostly of classical music or operatic selections, with four to five minutes of music per side.
Such music records were usually sold separately, in plain paper or cardboard sleeves that may have been printed to show the producer or the retailer's name and, starting in the 1930s, in collections held in paper sleeves in a cardboard or leather book, similar to a photograph album, and called record albums. Empty music record albums were also sold that customers could use to store their records in.
While a 78 rpm record is brittle and relatively easily broken, both the microgroove LP 33? rpm record and the 45 rpm single records are made from vinyl plastic that is flexible and unbreakable in normal use. However, the vinyl records are easier to scratch or gouge. 78s come in a variety of sizes, the most common being 10 inches (25 cm), and 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter, (sometimes 6–8 inches in the UK), and these were originally sold in either paper or card covers, generally with a circular cutout allowing the record label to be seen. 45 rpm singles and EPs (Extended Play) are of a 7-inch (17.5 cm) diameter, the earlier copies being sold in paper covers.
In 1930, RCA Victor launched the first commercially available vinyl long-playing music record, marketed as "Program Transcription" discs. These revolutionary discs were designed for playback at 33? rpm and pressed on a 30 cm diameter flexible plastic disc. Vinyl had the advantage of lower surface noise level than shellac and was more durable.