The EP discs typically emulated the playing time of the former 78 rpm discs, while the LP discs provided up to one-half hour of time per side.Īfter the introduction of high-quality but expensive stereo reel-to-reel tapes in 1955 and the increasing public fascination with stereo sound, intense work was undertaken to devise a scheme for recording stereo sound on 12″ (30 cm) / 33⅓ rpm LP. 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”.Įventually, the 12″ (30 cm) / 33⅓ rpm LP prevailed as the predominant format for musical albums, and the 7″ (17.5 cm) / 45 rpm EP or “single” established a significant niche for shorter duration discs typically containing one song on each side. 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″ (17.5 cm) / 45 rpm Extended Play (EP). In 1948, the 12″ (30 cm) Long Play (LP) 33⅓ rpm microgroove record was introduced by the Columbia Record at a dramatic New York press conference. Peter Goldmark and his staff undertook exhaustive efforts to address problems of recording and playing back narrow grooves and developing an inexpensive, reliable consumer playback system. During and after World War II when shellac supplies were extremely limited, some 78 rpm records were pressed in vinyl instead of shellac (wax), particularly the six-minute 12″ (30 cm) 78 rpm records produced by V-Disc for distribution to US troops in World War II.īeginning in 1939, Columbia Records continued development of this technology. However, vinyl’s lower playback noise level than shellac was not forgotten.
In Roland Gelatt’s book The Fabulous Phonograph, the author notes that RCA Victor’s early introduction of a long-play disc was a commercial failure for several reasons including the lack of affordable, reliable consumer playback equipment and consumer wariness during the Great Depression. These revolutionary discs were designed for playback at 33⅓ rpm and pressed on a 12″ diameter flexible plastic disc. In 1930, RCA Victor launched the first commercially-available vinyl long-playing record, marketed as “Program Transcription” discs.