Cleaning gramophone records

All gramophone records should be cleaned before you play them. Even those shiny, scratch free records that you find, that look like they have never left their sleeves will have oil from finger prints, dust and dirt down in the grooves. Cleaning gramophone records improves the overall sound and reduces wear on needles / stylus.
The simplest and cheapest way is to wash your records in warm soapy water.
Standing over the sink wet the surface of your record with warm water, while trying to avoid getting the label too wet. Be particularly careful with paste-over and less common labels – some may experience colour loss etc.
Then place the record on a flat service on a towel or an old turntable - make sure it’s not plugged in! Then dip a soft toothbrush or a paint pad edger (you might need to cut it down a bit) in a solution of warm soapy water (soap or dishwashing liquid).
Clean the record by dragging the toothbrush or pad across the record in the direction of the grooves. Turn the record over and do the other side. Rinse of the record. You may need to repeat the process depending on how dirty the record was.
It is very important to dry the record completely before putting it back in its sleeve or playing.
Use a soft towel or a micro fibre cloth to dry the record, being careful not to apply too much pressure - I have broken a record doing this. Once hand dried place the record in a rack to dry completely.
When completely dry, play the newly cleaned record with a new needle (if using a gramophone) and you should experience an audible improvement in sound quality.

Another process is to use the Spin Clean Record Cleaner. This device is targeted a cleaning vinyl records (12, 10 and 7 inch); however I have had great results with shellac gramophone records too. I would avoid using it for slightly warped or older thicker records however.
The Spin Clean is a bit expensive in my opinion (Approx. $140 AU) however it sure beats standing over a sink – I often wash my records while sitting in front of the TV!
The record is placed in a reservoir (between two cleaning pads) of distilled water to which is added a few drops of its own secret solution. You turn the record a few rotations in both directions to clean.
To date I have not noticed any issues with using this solution on shellac gramophone records.
According to their website:
Unlike other record cleaning solutions, Spin-Clean's Record Washer Fluid NEVER contains alcohol or any harmful agents. Therefore, cleaning your shellac 78s through a Spin-Clean system is perfectly safe.

Update 05/02/17

I have since used the new solution called Groovinator and think this is just as good as the Spin-Clean one.
This is the process I followed:
• Filled the Spin-clean with demineralised water.
• Mixed 100 ml of Groovinator with 3.2 litres of demineralised water. Ratio 1:32
• Soaked the pads from the Spin-Clean in the mixed solution and reinserted into the Spin-Clean
• Washed 25 records as per the Spin-Clean process
• Dried records by hand and then set to dry completely.

Note: I have no financial interest in the Spin-Clean or Groovinator products. I am simply stating my point of view having used them to clean my records. Alternative products may perform as well.