How a forgotten 1949 Format War shaped the future of records

Superbe video. In Argentina we used the small hole. Cheers

Let's not forget that RCA claims they invented stereo. They somehow forgot about that little English genius with the German name.

I also read that RCA subtract at 78 from 33. Not sure if that is true but it sounds like something RCA would have done back then.

I have a 1949 console that has a 45 and a 78 changer. The tone arm is much faster the one you have. I can stack 14 or 15. It is a beautiful console and sounds really good for 1949.

I think rock n roll saved the 45 more than the other way around.

It's very comforting to know that we haven't invented format wars in my lifetime, but this stupid stuff goes back far beyond my parents lifetime. :)

The fact that a format war happened before television became a household item is insane 😳

Long Playing Record gets past LP copyright

ive never heard of 16 rpm records was that an american only speed

The colour-coding is a nice touch and I've never heard "blues & rhythm" before? Is that what early r&b was actually known as?

The first use of 33 and 1/3 RPM audio was with the vitaphone 1926. Although I'm not sure who decided that was the speed it would use that the music recorded with that system sounds really great if the media is not compromised.

Multiple record formats are still supported, but on DVD standards, no one will support HD-DVD.

Fascinating video, Really enjoyed your fact filled, well researched and interesting trip down memory lane. You have a new subscriber.

nice one, Mancunian?

Can't locate info on why 45's never changed from the large hole, even though most record players were ( later ) designed for small hole records.

In Hip Hop people tend to use LP to refer to an album still. EP is also still used to refer to a shorter project like a mixtape. Whether or not the projects will ever be pressed.

good post , thanks for sharing , but when they started stereo ?

This was a great history lesson.

I'm confused now. Which format is the modern one still used now?

Many thanks for this highly informative & enjoyable documentary. I´ve been watching it repeatedly and will keep doing so! Greetings from Vienna

How did l.p. Differ from Single and ep?

Excelente video, en Argentina, desde dónde te escribo, los discos de 45 traen el mismo orificio pequeño que los LP. Aprovecho para enviarte un afectuoso saludo!

In the US you could by an adaptor that you put on an LP machine that fir on the thin spindle. That made it work like the RCA system.

In an alternate universe 45s did win out and Dark Side of the Moon had even more songs. Songs we will never hear in this universe.

Thanks for this! Im a big fan of your channel! This mini, epic doc now makes me want to buy a refurbished RCA victor 45 changer more than ever!

those insects were also responsible for lacquered furniture from China

78's were mad of shellac and at least 10 other proprietary ingredients. RCA used another 18 in the compound mixing for biscuits.

So the 12” 45rpm single is an oddity that should never have existed, then!

In Brazil, LP is the "common" name of vinyl records.

"Would you like to hear my collection of bug excretions?" was the chat-up line which won my grandad the hand of his wife. Now, if the Beatles had been recording on shellac...

I remember having a plastic disc (much thicker than a record) with a small hole so it fits on the record player. And it was exactly wide enough to fit in the large hole of a 45. Easier to use than those spidery adapters.

The 12 fact rant page is highly amusing 🤣. There a booklet is mentioned titled 'Facts about records' which hints there's even more. Diving into a Rabbit Hole now, with a 33 1/3 record playing in the background, which was released in 2022 🤣

The other obvious point regarding the size of the centre spindle holes....
Single players, and even multistack types were easy to load, change and play as with multiplexers the records were prestacked on the spindles.
With the advent of Juke boxes, where the mechanism drops and removes individual records on/off the spindle, this was very difficult to be precise with the small diameter spindle holes.
Hence, a larger diameter tapered spindle was used and the mechanism didn't need to be so precise to centre and load the records.

This is exactly the kind of thing that I always wondered about & kept me up at night as a young child...

Does anyone also remember record-cleaning spray? it was formulated to get rid of static electricity that attracted dust.

Did anyone here bemoan a favorite record whose edges got warped? One home method that saved many a disk was to place on the ironing board covered wit a towel and dry-iron on low until the warmp smoothed out.

I still have my forty-five adapter for old time's sake. Record players used to come with them, and many fit the length of the whole spindel. some were round, like the forty-five hole, and later ones were more of a flat-sided rectangle, wide enough to fit the hole. The one I have is a flat disk, so you could not use a record changer, but simply slip the disk down onto the spindle. You could also buy plastic packages of disks the size of the forty-five hole, and fit each record with one.

Growing up in the 50s and 60s, my sister and I had a lot of forty-fives. In a little over two years, I have managed to list all of them, find and download digital copies, and store.

As a kid, I preferred forty-fives. My logic? I never would buy one unless I liked the song, and didn't want to buy any music unless I had heard it first. So, if I bought a forty-five for the song on side A, but didn't like B, I was only out one song, whereas I would have to pay more for an album, and might only like so many cuts, dislike others, my like-percentages could go down, and to me, that was a waste of money.

Forty-fives were a dollar each at the record store, and only sixty-six cents at the PX.

is a little kid, I do remember having a boxed set of forty-fives from Disney. I also had a two-stack seventy-eight set of the story Cinderella with Jeanette McDonald, and a multi-record set of Pat and the Pixies.

I got that same red 45!

Guy who grew up in a rural area in the US. "LP" is what we used for fuel, liquid propane.

Just found one of the rca 45 record players in a box in the garage. Not sure when or how it got there. Guess should dig it out

Why did most countries opt for the "large hole" format for 45s. I'd propose it was mainly because they bought the pressing / cutting equipment from America and did not bother to modify the machines to produce small holes. Also the large hole is really no trouble at all for the user. Also the large hole is convenient for holding onto the records as you mentioned. And as a bonus the manufacturer saves 4 to 5% of the vinyl by having that 1.5 inch hole. :)

Nicely done. Very informative and enjoyable.