Out of the Groove

Columbia Records Inc., which scored a profitable beat on the rest of the industry with its long-playing records (TIME, June 8), extended its lead this week. It brought out a seven-inch, unbreakable "Microgroove" record that will play as long as a conventional twelve-incher. The new record can be played on the same attachment (33 1/3 revolutions a minute) as Columbia's long-playing Microgroove record. Another advantage is that it will sell for considerably less than old-style records: 63-c- (v. 79-c-) for popular recordings, and 95-c- (v. $1.25) for classics.

In an attempt to catch up with Columbia, RCA Victor next day demonstrated its new, small, unbreakable record (TIME, Dec. 27). It has a large center hole, and is geared for 45 revolutions a minute (compared to the standard 78). Thus it could not be played on conventional phonographs or on Columbia's attachments. It required a new record player, made by RCA. The advantages of the new record (higher fidelity, faster changing) seemed to be outweighed by the disadvantages. Victor would not even promise that "Victorgroove" would be cheaper. All it promised was that "the new system will be at least competitive" with the old.

In this out-of-the-groove battle, Mercury Record Corp. joined up with Columbia by announcing that it would produce 33 1/3-r.p.m. records. Nevertheless, chances were that the slow-moving phonograph market would slow down even more. Many customers preferred to see more before they bought machines.

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