1. Background Sound storage medium popular between 1900 and 1960
Generally single-song records.
Called “78” due to its rotation speed on a phonograph record player
Generally 10 inches in length
Originally made of Shellac but switched to Vinyl post World War II.
Documentary on records:
(pt. 1)
(pt.2)
- History of 78s

2. Manufacturing 78s The 78s were costly to manufacture
Most time was spent on making the template
Mixture of shellac and other chemicals
Mixture was pressed on the template disc to make the vinyl.
Cleaned, tested, distributed.
Template notes:

3. The 78 vs the Phonograph Cylinder
1877: Phonograph cylinder was invented by Thomas Edison
1889: Phonograph cylinder publicly marketed
1889: Initial gramophone model invented by Emile Berliner
1901: 10” record debuts
1910: What is now known as the 78 had successfully beaten out the phonograph cylinder as the mainstream form of music technology

4. The Success of the 78: Price-Point Advantage
Phonograph Cylinder
Initially made of a soft wax that would wear out after several dozen plays
Sound quality was better
Two-minute maximum play
Phonograph Disk Record
Made of vinyl or shellac that could potentially last for centuries
Sound quality vastly improved by to rival cylinder
Three- to four-minute maximum play
Ultimately, the phonograph disk record (what became known as the 78) won out on cost:
Cheaper to manufacture
Cheaper to store and ship (stackability)

5. Introduction of the 33/45 What aspects made it better than the 78?
However, the long-play disc wasn't particularly suitable to popular music, as the public wanted its records as singles with good sound quality even at high volumes. RCA Victor came up with a 7-inch vinyl disc with microgrooves, rotating at 45 rpm, a speed chosen specifically to make the most of the music, unlike 78s or 33 1/3s
45s became popular in jukeboxes, which had previously used 78s, because 45s took up less space and you could fit more songs in the box. Suddenly jukes went from offering 24 or 40 songs on 78s to having 100 to 200 songs on 45s. 45s are also made of vinyl rather than shellac, and can hold up to about 5 minutes of music on each side.
Easier to ship/distribute? Cheaper to make? Better quality or specs?
Chayden

6. The Fall of the 78 Record Disrupting Factors
At the time, however, a 12 inch 78 rpm record lasted for only about 4 minutes, so the Vitagraph company simply slowed down the 78 until it lasted 10 minutes and recorded all their masters on that, starting each disc in the middle, as it was easier to drop a needle there than the outer edge. This new speed was 33 1/3 rpm, adopted for other records in the late 1940s when Columbia introduced its first vinyl, long-play discs with microgrooves, giving a play time of about 30 minutes on each side.
The 45 rpm speed was the only one to be decided by a precise optimization procedure (by RCA Victor in 1948). Calculus was used to show that the optimum use of a disc record of constant rotational speed occurs when the innermost recorded diameter is half the outermost recorded diameter. That's why a 7-inch single has a label 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Given the CBS vinyl groove dimensions and certain assumptions about the bandwidth and tolerable distortion, a speed of 45 rpm comes out of the formula.
45s became popular in jukeboxes, which had previously used 78s, because 45s took up less space and you could fit more songs in the box. Suddenly jukes went from offering 24 or 40 songs on 78s to having 100 to 200 songs on 45s. 45s are also made of vinyl rather than shellac, and can hold up to about 5 minutes of music on each side.
JAKE