Question

Think about the length of the record groove for every minute of music. Debate whether the record quality depends on the speed the record turns. Given the same size record, does a 33.33 rpm record have higher/lower/the same audio quality as a 45 rpm record?

Does a song on the outside of a 12 inch diameter record have the same/higher/lower audio quality as a song that plays closer to the center of the record?

Answer 1

According to audiophiles, the 45 RPM format sounds better because more musical data is fit into a smaller space than with 33.33 RPM records. But, this usually reduces the side duration to about 15 minits

A 12" 45rpm dance single, the format was chosen because you could better sound quality( especially bass).

Vinyl records sound better if they are cut at higher speeds. The higher the rpm, the faster the vinyl passes under the playback stylus. This means that for each second of playback more sound information goes from the stylus to your speakers at 45rpm than 33rpm. Through this process, records cut at 45rpm can sound more detailed and run a lower risk of distortion, noise, and other sonic artifacts that can occur during vinyl pressing than records cut at 33rpm.

Since the beginning of the phonograph, most records had played for about two or three minutes. Sometimes record companies issued longer recordings on large, 12-inch discs.

In order to make the disc smaller than the 10-inch, 78-rpm discs used since the 1890s, they reduced the speed to 45-rpm and used a much finer groove. This meant that they could pack in more grooves in a smaller space. They used a new plastic material, called vinylite, which resulted in the playing stylus picking up less noise and hiss. World War II interrupted this work, but the new 45-rpm disc and its player were introduced with great fanfare in late 1947.

About the same time, introduced its 12-inch, 33 1/3-rpm, long playing record. It was also made of vinyl plastic, and had very fine grooves, but it was a different size and speed than the 45-rpm and could not be played on the same phonograph without modifications. The LP was not intended to hold short songs like the 45-rpm, but was for classical music, which often ran for 20 minutes or more without a break.

2. The songs at the outer edge are having more quality than  near to the centre of disc . The linear velocity of stylus in the groove is much greater as the diameter of the disc increases. This has more on effect on higher frequencies, which require tinier modulations in the groove wall and are more difficult to press accurately in the venyl.

Also the groove near the end of record are much thinner and the tracking speed is slower.(end track distortion)