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The Lifespan of an LP?

How many times can one play a new vinyl lp before the sound noticeably degrades? For the purpose of the exercise, assume one takes decent care of the record and has a properly set up and maintained, good quality deck and stylus. My system has been taking quantum leaps in quality over the last three years and I find myself buying more mint and near-mint vintage  records on Discogs and audiophile remastered records from MoFi etc. Thanks!
heilbron
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,979 posts
 
The Library of Congress did a study of archival audio storage in the 1980s. In this study they concluded that laminated media like tape and CDs had lifespans that were measured in years and a couple of decades, depending on storage. Non-laminated media, like LPs and the stampers that made them (if stored properly) will last decades and well into a century. I have LPs from the early 1950s that play fine- and are now 70 years old!
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,610 posts
 
The Library of Congress did a study of archival audio storage in the 1980s. In this study they concluded that laminated media like tape and CDs had lifespans that were measured in years and a couple of decades, depending on storage.

Ralph, The CD is about to turn 40 next year and so far there have been very few reports of CDs failing.  I know that I have CDs from the 80s that still look and play just fine.  So I think we can scrap that LOC study.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
I have a CD that was.....recalled (yes, you read it correctly). Years later, it still plays just fine.
punkrock67's avatar
punkrock67
32 posts
 
You will wear out your stylus before you will wear down the vinyl. I have some records that are over 40-55 years old and still sound great..
inna
7,538 posts
 
I also use LAST tape head preservative before playing each cassette. Takes only a few seconds to apply. Great stuff. Again, slightly better sound and most important - virtually no wear of the reproduction head. Of course, I also clean the head every 10 hours of play or so.
8 molecule deep, LAST vinyl preservative. Trust Walter Davis of LAST, he knows the way.
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