Why were early records only recorded on one side?

[Dave D]

Was it a manufacturing issue? It seems obvious to use both sides, but then CDs are only recorded on one side too. Can anyone shed any light on this topic?
Dave D

[victorIIvictor]

I imagine that early discs were single-sided because they were aping the only other recordings/playback medium in existence: the cylinder. The marketable advantage of a disc over a cylinder was ease of storage and relative unbreakability. Adding another selection would just have been gilding the lily in the early years of disks entering the marketplace.

I'd be interested to hear what others have to say.

Best wishes, Mark

[Garret]

Well, if you look at some of those early Berliners, you can see it was hard enough to properly press a recording on just one side..

[marcapra]

Also, in the early days, discs were competing with cylinders and a two sided disc would add to the price. I think Columbia and Victor went to double sided discs in 1908. Victor's Red Seal classical records kept the one faced discs up until 1923! At that point, Victor started to re-couple the Red Seal records as double-faced records. Then, starting in 1925, Victor started re-pressing the older Red Seal records with eccentric grooves so they would shut off automatically on the new Victrola Orthophonic machines.

[Skihawx]

I think the Victor's went to two sided records in 1910 with the 16000 series. The classical stayed single sided to better control the royalties. And they could still get away with it. Victor Red Seal records went double sided in 1923. I always thought before 1910 it was a technical reason.

[marcapra]

Victor's double faced 16000 series records first came out in 1908, not 1910, according to The Almost Complete 78 RPM Record Dating Guide (II) by Steven Barr. Curiously, both Victor and Columbia came out with double-face records the same month, September, 1908 (Barr).

[Skihawx]

You are correct. Getting old and mixing up dates!! I should have known better.

[victorIIvictor]

Skihawx wrote, "I always thought before 1910 it was a technical reason."

It may have been, as Garret's suggested about the earliest Berliner's, but Victor was able to market a double-sided children's record as early as 1900 (Victor A 490/491 "A Record for the Children"). Victor probably thought this innovation was not patentable, but it **was** patented by Ademor Petit in early 1901, partially assigned to FM Prescott, and you had Zon-o-phone double-sided records issued in Brazil (1902), double-sided Odeon records issued in Germany (1903), and double-sided American Record Co. records issued in the USA (1904). Columbia tested the waters in 1904, and was swiftly sued, but eventually converted most of their issues to double-sided in 1908, forcing Victor's hand. [Source: Sherman's Collectors Guide to Victor Records pages 74 & 173].

As to Victor continuing to issue single-sided Red Seals through 1923, note that, for their respective celebrity series, Columbia, Brunswick, Vocalion, Pathé, and likely others did the same thing well into the 1920s.

best wishes, Mark

[Skihawx]

I am surprised that one could patent the double sided concept in 1901 if an example was in the public domain in 1900. Unless there was earlier work documented that preceded the Victor release or maybe the patent was issued in 1901 and the application preceded the Victor release.

[Victor A]

Victor's (and the world's) first double-sided record was 7-inch A 490/491, "A Record for The Children". I possess Victor 16052, which was recorded in mid-1907, and released in November 1908. According to the DAHR, this was the first month Victor sold double-sided discs.