At the time the LP was introduced, nearly all phonograph records for home use were made of an abrasive shellac compound which resulted in noisy playback; they had much larger grooves, and played at approximately 78 See more

The LP was soon confronted by the "45", a 7-inch (180 mm) diameter fine-grooved vinyl record playing at 45 rpm, introduced by RCA Victor in 1949. To compete with the LP, boxed album sets of 45s were issued, along with EP (extended play) 45s, which … See more

Turntables called automatic record changers could play records stacked vertically on a spindle. This arrangement encouraged the production of multiple-record sets in See more

The average LP has about 1,500 feet (460 m; 0.28 mi) of groove on each side. The average tangential needle speed relative to the disc surface is approximately 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h; … See more

Soundtrack discs
The prototype of the LP was the soundtrack disc used by the Vitaphone motion picture sound system, developed by Western Electric and introduced in 1926. For soundtrack purposes, the less-than-five minutes of … See more

With the advent of sound film or "talkies", the need for greater storage space made 33+1⁄3 rpm records more appealing. Soundtracks – played on records synchronized to movie projectors in theatres – could not fit onto the mere five minutes per side … See more

Vinyl records are vulnerable to dust, heat warping, scuffs, and scratches. Dust in the groove is usually heard as noise and may be ground into the … See more