78toeren

78toeren refers to phonograph records designed for playback at 78 revolutions per minute. In Dutch usage the term covers shellac discs produced for consumer listening from the early 20th century until the 1950s. Most common formats were 10-inch and 12-inch discs; a 12-inch side typically offered about three to five minutes of audio. The grooves carried sound in a predominantly lateral modulation, and the discs were played on a gramophone or phonograph fitted with a suitable needle and amplifier.

78s emerged from late 19th-century disc technology developed by early record manufacturers such as Berliner. They became the dominant home-music format in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in the United States and Europe, before the introduction of vinyl records. Production and catalogues covered a wide range of music and spoken word, including jazz, classical, popular songs, and radio transcriptions.

From the late 1940s and early 1950s, vinyl records—first 12-inch LPs (33 1/3 rpm) and 7-inch singles (45 rpm)—began to replace 78s, owing to longer playing times and improved durability. Despite their obsolescence, 78toeren remain a focus of collectors and archivists, and many historical recordings survive only on shellac discs. Preservation requires careful handling due to shellac's fragility and the deterioration of older pressings.