LP Day

For the past nine years, every time Columbia recorded a major work, it made two master records, salted one secretly away for LP (Long Playing) day. Last week, LP day arrived.

In a Waldorf-Astoria suite, music critics gaped eagerly at Columbia's new LP Microgroove record--which might soon make present record changers obsolete. By tripling the number of grooves on a record (from approximately 100 to 300 to the inch) and by cutting turntable speed more than half (from 78 to 33 1/3-r.p.m.), Columbia had produced a record that would play 45 minutes, include an entire symphony or concerto on one record. Columbia had a first batch of 101 Vinylite records ready (at $4.85 for a 12-inch classical and $2.85 for a 10-inch popular record with six to eight pieces on it).

The catch: present phonographs would need a new attachment to play records at the new speed as well as the old. Philco and Columbia were both ready to provide it--for $29.95. In case the idea doesn't catch on, Columbia will still turn out standard records.

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