#510739 - 03/19/04 07:22 PM
Lifespan of vinyl
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X-Facta
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There's often the subject getting raised of how long digital media may last for but I've often wondered what the life span of vinyl is..seems pretty stable / non biodegradable to me.
Plastic right?
Imagine if that would be one of the few things from this age which may last far into the future & have some chance of being replayed by persons in the future.
As for stuff like CDS or other digital media - no chance especially if one imagines the demise or disruption of the massive infrastructure which is required now to generate even basic things like metal, electricity or what have you,
Perhaps that's a bit gloomy - but just imagine say in 1000 yrs some future archaeoligists rummaging around - maybe there;d be a chance to play back some vinyl records using I don;t know, a gourd & twig or something..
Thoughts?
I am serious though about the notion of vinyl longevity
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#510740 - 03/19/04 08:13 PM
Re: Lifespan of vinyl
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Pio2001
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The oldest vinyls I have are from about 1976 (Klaus Schulze, Tim Blake, Kraftwerk). There are no noticeable problems with them.
I had a microgroove from 1955 (Léo Delibes - Lakmé, Mado Robin), in a very bad state. The sound was not good. I supposed that it was because at this time, high fidelity was not as good as nowadays, but I've often heard people brag about the quality that existed at that time. So there might be a problem with this record.
I later found a reissue of it. I don't know where I got the idea that it was from 1970. Anyway, the frequency response rolls off at about 12000 Hz. It is often the case with old recordings.
The problem is that I don't know if it was like this from the beginning, or if the vinyl have lost its treble because of aging.
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#510741 - 03/19/04 08:39 PM
Re: Lifespan of vinyl
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X-Facta
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the thing is I am curious if vinyl degrades of itself, like we see with CDrs for example, or remains stable more or less indefinitely.
I would suspect it must be quite stable.
Obviously external conditions like needle wear, scratches etc make a difference - I;m just thinking , assuming a vinyl LP in reasonable condition gets stored off in a vault / cavern somewhere.
Viability in 100 / 500 / 1000 yrs?
Curious.
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#510742 - 03/19/04 08:45 PM
Re: Lifespan of vinyl
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X-Facta
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BTW - I find it interesting that with the Voyager spacecraft, of all media to bear information about Earth, wasn't it a gold (metal master) lp disc that they chose to send off into the unknown?
I could imagine the instructions on how to play it would be a little simpler diagram than say the instructions on how to build a CD player.
Don't worry I;m not a UFO nut - just kind of curious about the idea of artifacts and information from this time surviving on far into the future after this current civilization is long gone.
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#510743 - 03/19/04 08:48 PM
Re: Lifespan of vinyl
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X-Facta
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BTW - I find it interesting that with the Voyager spacecraft, of all media to bear information about Earth, wasn't it a gold (metal) lp that they chose to send off into the unknown?
And I just checked - indeed that is the case:
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html
I could imagine the instructions on how to play it would be a little simpler diagram than say the instructions on how to build a CD player.
Don't worry I;m not a UFO nut - just kind of curious about the idea of artifacts from this time surviving on far into the future after this current civilization is long gone.
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#510744 - 03/19/04 08:48 PM
Re: Lifespan of vinyl
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X-Facta
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the thing is I am curious if vinyl degrades of itself, like we see with CDrs for example, or remains stable more or less indefinitely.
I would suspect it must be quite stable.
Obviously external conditions like needle wear, scratches etc make a difference - I;m just thinking , assuming a vinyl LP in reasonable condition gets stored off in a vault / cavern somewhere.
Viability in 100 / 500 / 1000 yrs?
Curious.
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#510745 - 03/19/04 08:58 PM
Re: Lifespan of vinyl
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X-Facta
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BTW - I just read further about the Golden phonograph disc on Voyager - it seems the expected life span for it is billions of years (!)..
So anyone on thi sforum who wants to archive critical data - it seems a gold metal master disc is the way to go.
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