Harmona Longplastic

The Austrian Harmona label issued its "Longplastic" series from 1951 to at least late 1955. The name was a misnomer because the records were not made of any kind of plastic, but breakable shellac. They were called "Longplastic" because they were EPs with two songs on each side that needed to be played at 33 1/3 rpm like the then new LPs, and they could be played with sapphire needles. The records used normal grooves, however, not microgrooves, and so they could also be played with the traditional 3 mm steel needles. Despite being promoted as "Die Platte der Zukunft" (The Record of the Future), the "Longplastic" series could not compete against the better-quality vinyl EPs released by other labels at the time. The combination of slower speed (33 1/3 rpm) with traditional shellac material led to more background noise. Moreover, all releases were dubbings of older Harmona releases, which reduced the sound quality even more.