Phonograph record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), a vinyl record (for later varieties only), or simply a record or vinyl is an analog sound 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.
For the magazine, see Phonograph Record (magazine). For cylinder recordings formerly commonly called phonograph records, see Phonograph cylinder.Until the 1940s, for about half a century, the discs were commonly made from shellac, with earlier records having a fine abrasive filler mixed in. The "vinyl" records of the late 20th century, made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), then became commonplace.
Formats[edit]
Types of records[edit]
The usual diameters of the holes on an EP record are 0.286 inches (7.26 mm).[81]
Sizes of records in the United States and the UK are generally measured in inches, e.g. 7-inch records, which are generally 45 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".[82]
Less common recording formats[edit]
VinylVideo[edit]
VinylVideo is a format to store a low resolution black and white video on a vinyl record alongside encoded audio.[182][183][184]
Capacitance Electronic Disc[edit]
Another example is the Capacitance Electronic Disc, a color video format, slightly better than VHS.[185]