2. analog
  3. 164879-148308

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 CD is about to turn 40 next year and so far there have been very few reports of CDs failing.
?? I've had a few of them fail for no good reason. I think everyone has- heck, I've bought a couple brand new and found them to be unplayable.  If something happens to the TOC the disk becomes unplayable. At any rate, you can add my report to those few that you know of.



mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
1+ Ralph, I have had plenty of bad CDs. Plenty of bad records also. Back in the 70's there was a lot of trouble with HCL gas coming from the break down of PVC during the molding process creating little bubbles in the plastic.  I must have returned 25-30 records back then. All American. Never had this problem with a European label although I have gotten a few noisy Phillips and DGG discs over the years. 
@antinn , thanks for the links!
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,610 posts
 
?? I've had a few of them fail for no good reason.

1+ Ralph, I have had plenty of bad CDs.

I'm thinking that the return rate of CDs is probably lower than that of LPs.

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.

It's not clear from the line above exactly what the study concluded about CD lifespan, but if they meant that CDs had a lifespan of 25 years, they were way low.  If CDs from 1996 and before were failing in large numbers we would be hearing a LOT more about it.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
I'll certainly never look inside every jewel box(?) to check, but whenever I pull a CD from the shelf to play, the disc is fully laminated. It plays, too...even the more scuffed up ones. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,979 posts
 
I'm thinking that the return rate of CDs is probably lower than that of LPs.
Yes- as far as new media is concerned, CDs do just fine.
It's not clear from the line above exactly what the study concluded about CD lifespan, but if they meant that CDs had a lifespan of 25 years, they were way low. If CDs from 1996 and before were failing in large numbers we would be hearing a LOT more about it.
This is entirely reasonable. Of course we are hearing about it but its not been a big deal. I don't recall how they did the aging study but a minor error in that process could throw things by a good number of years. Time will tell; in the meantime the CD seems to be going extinct in favor of more compact storage.
More to discover