76 years ago this week back in June, 1948...Columbia Records introduced the 33 1/3 RPM vinyl LP in New York City! The new 33 1/3 records were introduced in two forms....A ten inch record that was physically similar to the already existing 78 RPM records of the time and the new cutting edge 12 inch vinyl LP which has been the standard now for the past 76 years! The new 12 inch 33 1/3 vinyl LPs would handle 20 minutes of music on each side of the record allowing listeners to hear an unprecedented forty minutes or so of music on these new albums. By contrast....The previous 78 RPM ten inch records only allowed up to five minutes of music on each side of the record. As a result...The 33 1/3 RPM vinyl album became the standard for the next forty years of so of recorded music until being overtaken by Compact Discs in the late 1980's and early 1990's. However...The 12 inch vinyl album began to see a resurgence in popularity back around 2010 and has once again become the dominant physical form of pre-recorded music.