long-play microgroove record album

First introduced by the Columbia Record Company at a specially convened press conference in New York City three days’ prior, the 33⅓ revolutions per minute (rpm) vinyl record became commercially available to music studios on this day in 1948. The format and standard still not having passed in obsolescence after all these years, the record had been under development since 1939 and put on hold during the war and though many studios and manufacturers harmonised with this arrangement for pressing for speed and length, others—notably RCA Victor with its parallel 45s introduced a year afterwards, refused to accept Columbia’s licensing and system, not to detriment of competition and innovation, since compatibility issues could be worked out through manual customisation—adjusting the playback speed and getting adapters to adjust for spindle size and stylus requirements.