Hey! It's our 33rd show, so let's kick it up one-third of a notch, eh? After all we're here to play you RECORDS. The LP (Long Play), or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a format for phonograph (gramophone) records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, it has remained the standard format for vinyl albums.