LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Phonograph: Records
built 478 days ago
Phonograph records have three basic problems:1. It is physically impossible to press them with ridges that end up allowing low frequencies to come out at the same reproduction level as mid and high frequencies.
Source:
After World War II, RCA Records announced that it had developed the first "unbreakable" phonograph record. Until that time, records had been made of clay and were very fragile. The new RCA record was made of vinyl, which was far more durable. To demonstrate the invulnerability of the new record, a publicity executive conjured up a stunt to drop both kinds of records from the top of the RCA building in downtown New York. The date was set and the press and public showed up in droves to see the platter splatter. At the designated time, the president of RCA dropped the old clay record by its edge and it zipped straight down to the street and disintegrated on contact.
Source:
If you purchased a 1956 Chrysler , Desoto, Dodge or Plymouth, you had the option of having an in-car phonograph. Unfortunately, the phonograph was made by Columbia and would only accept records with the 16⅔-rpm format. If you ordered the option for your new 1956 Chrysler, Desoto, Dodge or Plymouth you ... received the first six of 42 special platters available exclusively from Columbia Records. That limited availability – which also meant you could only listen to artists under contract with Columbia – was part of the problem with the option, which died at the end of the model year. Even 41 years ago, an early form of “digitial rights management” killed a technology. http://www.uaw-daimlerchryslerntc.org/images/news/phono.htm
Source:
Modern pop has been subject to its share of phonograph effects, too. Musicians from early blues singers to Duke Ellington wrote to fit the playing time of the 78. Then, in the late 1940s, Columbia Records developed the long-playing 33 1/3-rpm record, or LP, which held about 23 minutes per side. To compete, RCA Victor introduced the 45-rpm record. Even though the 45 didn’t hold much more music than a 78, it quickly became the standard for pop singles when jukeboxes and radio stations started using it. In fact, the typical length of today’s pop songs — usually about three minutes — is a phonograph effect of the original 45-rpm record.
Source:
In the fall of 1976, a number of antique phonograph collectors in the mid-Michigan area happened to gather at the Eaton County Fairgrounds in Charlotte, Michigan to bid on some phonographs and records on the auction block for a local collector. As a result of that informal get-together, and a coffee break after the auction where David Abfalter and the author argued the merits of a phonograph collectors society, seven dyed-in-the-wool collectors from the Lansing area gathered at Dr. Fred Garlock's home on the evening of October 15, 1976 to get the ball rolling. The other four founders were Russell Nuoffer, Carlton Diefenthaler, Al Parrish and Dale Monroe-Cook. Temporary officers were appointed to head-up the neophyte organization.
Composers from Elgar to Stravinsky wrote works specifically with records’ time limitations in mind, and were sometimes even commissioned to do so by phonograph companies. In general, some composers saw records as an advantage, since they helped the music be heard by more people. Others saw a down side, as records sometimes immortalized inferior concert performances that composers would rather forget. And some seemed to simply regret the technology: Aaron Copland wrote that the “unpredictable element, so essential in keeping music truly alive…dies with the second playing of a record.”
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Records