Unusual types of gramophone records
Overview
The overwhelming majority of records manufactured have been of certain sizes (7, 10, or 12 inches), playback speeds (33⅓, 45, or 78 RPM), and appearance (round black discs). However, since the commercial adoption of the gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

, a wide variety of records have also been produced that do not fall into these categories, and they have served a variety of purposes.
  • European shellac records — In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé
    Pathé Records
    Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...

    , Odeon
    Odeon Records
    Odeon Records was a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. It was named after a famous theatre in Paris, whose classical dome appears on the Odeon record label....

    , and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 21 cm, 25 cm, 27 cm, 29 cm, 35 cm, and 50 cm (roughly 8½", 10", 11¾", 12", 14", and 20").
  • 16" and 20" discs — Broadcasting
    Broadcasting
    Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

     studio
    Studio
    A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...

    s made use of 16" and 20" 78rpm acetate "transcriptions"; these were used for time-delay programs and for prerecorded broadcasts.
 
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