In the mid-19th century, Edouard-Leon Scott designed the phonautograph, a machine that used a vibrating pen to create peaks and valleys symbolizing sound. Twenty years later, Thomas Edison refined this invention to not only visually represent sound, but to actually record it onto tinfoil. The phonograph was born but it took another decade for disc-shaped records to be born. Emile Berliner accomplished this feat in 1888, but the discs were used only as toys. In 1912, Berliner Gramophone introduced the Edison Blue Amberol Record, which offered four minutes of playing time.
Early prototypes of tinfoil and wax discs gave way to vinyl, which was more durable. In the early '30s, record companies saw the potential of packaging musical tracks thematically by genre or performer. Companies began issuing albums with multiple songs, the genre's first LPs. The medium took off, and LPs became the most popular form for making and selling recordings for nearly a century.
Early experimentation with LPs resulted in a variety of formats and speeds. The earliest LPs were typically recorded at anywhere from 74 to 82 rotations per minute (rpm). By the time 78 rpm became the standard, Columbia started marketing LPs that played at 33 1/3 rpm. These new vinyl formats had narrower grooves that required a needle with a narrower stylus to play the recording.
The prevalent feature of an LP is the material from which it is made, which is why some people use the words LP and vinyl interchangeably. Over the history of LPs, however, the quality of this vinyl changed dramatically. Record companies experimented with using a lighter, more flexible vinyl in the 1970s, with inferior results. While many commercial recordings are pressed on a combination of 70 percent virgin vinyl and 30 percent recycled vinyl, less commercial and more artisanal recordings, geared toward audiophiles, is pressed on 100 percent virgin vinyl, also called heavy or heavyweight vinyl.
In the 1980s, digital media, namely CDs, began to overtake vinyl recordings in popularity. Many people predicted the death of the LP, but what they did not account for was audiophiles and DJs. These vinyl experts knew that vinyl offered a quality of sound and ability to be mixed that could not be exactly replicated with digital media. Fanatics for LPs also name cover art and collectible, out-of-print recordings as reasons why vinyl will never die.