An album is a collection of related audio tracks, released together commercially in an audio format to the public.

The term "record album" originated from the fact that 78 RPM gramophone or phonograph disc records were kept together in a book resembling a photo album. Later, "album" came to refer to a single long-playing 33⅓ RPM 12-inch record of songs or music, since one disc contained as much music as an old-style album of records. The standard industry format for popular music was an album of 12 songs, originally the number related to payment of composer royalties. For the Rise Against album, see Revolutions Per Minute (album). ... It has been suggested that Direct-drive_turntable be merged into this article or section. ... A gramophone record, (also phonograph record - often simply record) is an analog sound recording medium: a flat disc rotating at a constant angular velocity, with inscribed spiral grooves in which a stylus or needle rides. ... A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice (possibly accompanied by other musical instruments), which features words (lyrics). ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Music Look up Music on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikisource, as part of the 1911 Encyclopedia Wikiproject, has original text related to this article: Music Wikicities has a wiki about Music: Music MusicNovatory: the science of music encyclopedia Science of Music...

Now that the vinyl record is archaic, the term "album" is applied to any collection sound recording, including CD, Minidisc, and cassette. Even a set of tracks released at the same time for distribution on an online music download site is sometimes referred to as an album. 33⅓ LP vinyl record album The vinyl record is a type of gramophone record, most popular from the 1950s to the 1990s, that was most commonly used for mass-produced recordings of music. ... Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit České Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s... The Sony MZ1 MiniDisc player, the first to hit the market in 1992. ... A standard audio cassette Cassette may refer to: A small cartridge of some form. ...

Due to the large capacity of new media, the matter of how long an album should be is open to debate. One author suggested at least eight tracks, but there are albums of fewer tracks. According to the rules of the British Charts, a recording counts as an album if either it has at least four tracks or lasts more than 20 minutes. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as EPs, an abbreviation of extended play. The term "mini-album" may also be used. A chart is a graphic representation of some data. ... An extended play or EP, is the name given to vinyl records or CDs which are too long to qualify as singles but too short to qualify as albums. ...

Returning to the older meaning of the term, there are now albums of compact discs: collections of CDs in a single package. If such a collection is packaged in a box, it is known as a box set. A box set (or boxed set) refers to one or more recordings which are contained in a box made generally out of cardboard. ...

See also

• Concept album
• Double album
• List of albums
• Single