India was one of the first countries to make commercial 78 rpm shellac records, & affordable players to play them. When the vinyl LP & EP (45 rpm) arrived in the 1950's, they were also made here with suitable equipment. But the first classical records were issued only on EP's, fighting shy of LP's which were however issued for film music.
The first LP of Indian Classical Music was recorded in the west by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan with a spoken introduction by Yehudi Menuhin. Then on Pandit Ravi Shankar's visit to the west, his LP's were also recorded & produced there, then re-issued in India. Then Indian Classical Music LPs of other artistes started being recorded & produced in India.
Affordable players with spares & service were on hand.
But with the advent of CD's, record making & record players manufacture prematurely stopped in India,
even though in the west, they continued being made along with CDs.
Now with the come-back of Vinyl LPs in a big way globally, India is caught on the wrong foot, having wound up factories making records & players.
Now consumers who want to enjoy LPs like their counterparts in the west, have to import players & LPs from the west at prohibitive prices with non-existent spares & service. This is the effect of Indian manufacturers jumping the gun in closing down existing facilities.
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