We put the new pocket-size vinyl format to the test—with mixed results

We recently looked at Tiny vinyl, a new miniature vinyl single format developed through a collaboration between a toy industry veteran and the world’s largest vinyl record manufacturer. The 4-inch singles are pressed in a process nearly identical to standard 12-inch LPs or 7-inch singles, except everything is smaller. They have a standard-size spindle hole and play at 33⅓ RPM, and they hold up to four minutes of music per side.

Several smaller bands, like The Band Loula and Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and some industry veterans like Blake Shelton and Melissa Etheridge, have already experimented with the format. But Tiny Vinyl partnered with US retail giant Target for its big coming-out party this fall, with 44 exclusive titles launching throughout the end of this year.

Tiny Vinyl supplied a few promotional copies of releases from former America’s Got Talent finalist Grace VanderWaal, The Band Loula, country pop stars Florida Georgia Line, and jazz legends the Vince Guaraldi Trio so I could get a first-hand look at how the records actually play. I tested these titles as well as several others I picked up at retail, playing them on an Audio Technica LP-120 direct drive manual turntable connected to a Yamaha S-301 integrated amplifier and playing through a pair of vintage Klipsch kg4 speakers.

I also played them out on a Crosley portable suitcase-style turntable, and for fun, I tried to play them on the miniature RSD3 turntable made for 3-inch singles to try to see what’s possible with a variety of hardware.

Automatic turntables need not apply

First and foremost, I’ll note that the 4-inch diameter is essentially the same size as the label on a standard 12-inch LP. So any sort of automatic turntable won’t really work for 4-inch vinyl; most aren’t equipped to set the stylus at anything other than 12 inches or 7 inches, and even if they could, the automatic return would kick in before reaching the grooves where the music starts. Some automatic turntables allow switching to a manual mode, but they otherwise cannot play Tiny Vinyl records.