Selling music was hardly a priority for Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison when both inventors introduced competing devices to play back recorded sounds during the 1870s. Bell's Graphophone and Edison's phonograph were first marketed as office dictation machines. However, neither device made much money until some enterprising distributors added them to their repertoire of public amusements. Before long, coin-operated phonographs became common features of arcades.
Notable limitations dogged the Graphophone and phonograph. Records made for one device could not be played back on another, and wore out quickly, since they employed wax cylinders to play back any sounds. In 1894-95, Emile Berliner created the first viable record player, or "Gramophone," as he called it. Instead of cylinders, Berliner's system used a zinc-coated flat disc that could be reproduced in large numbers, making mass production a realistic possibility.
Varying from 65 to 100 rpm, the earliest speeds represented compromises between groove and needle size, wear on records and needles, and amount of music that fit on a side--since faster records equaled shorter playing times. The 78 rpm speed did not become standardized until 1925, when the demands of synchronizing sound with film required a more precise benchmark. This was determined by calculating the speed of an electric motor.
Produced from shellac resin, 78s became synonymous with disposability because they shattered if the user dropped them. On a more serious note, the three-minute pop format that holds sway in today's radio formats started with 78s. Performers like Louis Armstrong had to squeeze improvisations into three- and four-minute sides, the maximum playing time that 78s allowed. As a result, classical compositions had to be spread over several different records.
Introduced in 1948, the long-playing (LP) record--which allowed up to 25 minutes of music per side--sounded the death knell for the 78. The market quickly shifted to 33 1/3 rpm albums and 45 rpm singles, which became the currency of '50s rock 'n' roll--when 78 sales fell of dramatically. The last 78 release remains unclear, although some collectors credit Chuck Berry's 1960 single, "Too Pooped To Pop." However, there are documented cases of 78s being released in Finland through 1961.