“Record,” as others have said, refers to anything that plays music and is made out of vinyl or shellac.
I would tend to use “album” when speaking of an artist’s work if I wasn’t concerned about what format it took (e.g., “Zuma is my favorite Neil Young album”).
If I said “I have over 5,000 albums,” I would be speaking of 33 1/3 rpm records only. If I were discussing my entire collection, I would add “and probably 2,000 CDs.”
If discussing the specific format, I would say “I have Zuma on LP and CD.”
If speaking of the physical product, I would say “I have thousands of 45s.” But in discussing releases, I would say “‘Cinnamon Girl’ was the hit single from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.”
A specific term among record collectors would crop up in a statement such as “Until it appeared on the Decade album, ‘Sugar Mountain’ was available only as a non-LP single (or non-LP B-side).”
Interesting. I would have picked up on your other uses, but if you didn’t add “and probably 2000 CDs,” I would not have assumed that “albums” is talking specifically about records. I would have been momentarily confused, then figured it out. To me, “album” does not refer to the medium, but I was born in '75, so maybe that has to do with it.
I was thinking more about this. For me, in a vacuum, if the only things that exist are vinyl, then I refer to them as albums. Meaning if the context is clear that only vinyl is being discussed, I use the term album.
I use the term record only in the context of specifically identifying “vinyl, as opposed to tape, CD or digital.”
I can see how this might seem contradictory, but again, it’s context. If I’m talking about the artist’s work irrespective of whether I own it or not I would say “album.”
If I were talking about physical objects I own, I guess force of habit would compel me to say “album” when referring to my 33 1/3 records. I have a hard time referring to a physical CD I own as an album, unless I’m discussing its content only, divorced from my ownership.
Also, I’ve only owned a handful of records (actually, I’ve only bought two: one LP, and the other a single, so I can’t even call the second one an “album.” Neither has ever been played, as I don’t have a record player. I guess I assumed one day I would buy one, but I never got around to it.) All my albums were on cassette, then CD, when I was growing up.
I never heard them referred to as albums, albums were what the records were packaged in. The sleeve was the paper inside the album around the record. Come to think of it, I never heard “vinyl” by itself either, it was usually a “vinyl LP.”
I use all those words, depending on context, though I probably haven’t used “record” in a long time.
Strictly speaking, “record” applies to all formats, whether albums or singles.
An “Album” is a selection of cuts, regardless of media. It excludes singles and is rarely used for EPs. (Note that I’ve seen “EP” used for digital releases that were total 30 minutes or less.) An album could contain one or two LPs or records or CDs.
I’d say “vinyl” to refer to those few albums I still have on … vinyl. I don’t buy vinyl, and I haven’t had my turntable set up since I moved … er, since two moves. Which reminds me I need to convert the stuff I still have on vinyl to digital. (Mostly, what I still have is either a half speed master or something that is unlikely ever to appear in digital format, like Madcat Ruth’s “Gone Solo” album, which would be worth $150 if I hadn’t opened it, but what’s the point of buying an album I wouldn’t want to listen to?)
I rarely use the term LP any more, and didn’t use it much back when, unless someone asked “Do you have that on 45 or LP?”
In any case, all these words are useful as they have distinct meanings. None are synonyms of the others.
For me it’s not so much the length, but the number of tracks that determines whether something is an EP. Generally something around five songs is an EP. I’d say a minimum of three and a max of six, although there may be some exceptions for bands that have exceptionally short (<1 minute) songs. Thirty minutes might be a full album for some bands, an EP for others, and quite possibly a single for even others.