How long should vinyl last?

I have vinyl in my collection dating back to the 40's. Cleaning the album before playing and keeping it in a clean flat sleeve
has been my secret. I manually cleaned, then later began using a wet, vaccum record cleaning machine. All of my favorites have both been played many, many times they all still sound great. Take care of the records and they will always take care of your listening needs and wants.

RW: Have you used and measured all the "other" rigs out there to make such a bold statement re: the B&O tables/arms?

In my experience records only deteriorate as a result of dirt accumulation (which you can control) and accidental scratches during handling, which is your own fault.

The best assurance of long life is to use a fully automatic turntable/arm so as to minimize those accidents.

RH posts
"It is virtually impossible to scratch a record with a B&O turntable, can you say that about any other rig?"

I agree having owned one for 8 years; the problem is that even their top of the line cartridges ( I owned the MMC-1 mounted in a TX-2 turntable) are inferior to almost any quality cartridge and tonearm combination at the "audiophile" level. My MusicHall MMF-9 with the "stock" Goldring Eroica cartridge is infinitely better than anything B&O ever offered. So in fact is the MusicHall MMF-7, a "bargain" around $1000.
If you handle the turntable and vinyl gently the chance of scratching is remote. All of course IMO.

For some reason, my musings on the longevity of vinyl in this thread have disappeared. Not to be too cute, but what exactly is meant by the word "last"? It seems that vinyl has been recast into a medium without fault, better yet; its faults are now seen as virtue. I'm struggling mightily to get with the program, but still have but a handful of black discs that are quiet enough to satisfy. Vinyl does have a subtle character that is great at times. Too often though poor pressings take away a great part of the enjoyment. I still find that hard driving music comes across the best, and that anything with a lot of soft passages or silence fares the worst. From many decades of experience, I still think that I can safely say that vinyl records, unfortunately, get noisier with wear, and that I have never had a tt/arm/cart that did not contact the record’s surface and make it noisier with every play.