Where did tracking error go?

When I left the vinyl world, linear tracking was what I was using.
Not that I'm going back there, but from what I'm gathering - linear tracking still is offered? I haven't seen any such turntables advertised or in person.

Tracking error in pivoted arms as opposed to linear arms didn't go anywhere of course, it's just that, as with direct-drive vs. belt-drive, there are reasons why one method has generally prevailed in the home audio market, and those reasons have to do with factors other than what most resembles an inverse process for how LPs are cut, because there are advantages and difficulties to each method.

al

round record with a pivoting arm is a good approximation with a nice arm if one doesn't have the commitment level and total lack of compromise of your stratospheric Walker setup

Audiotomb...My system is quite low altitude, but the linear tracking arm benefits are real. I think that elimination of skating force is the most important benefit...much more than the azimuth angle issue.

The benefits of low anti-skate compensation were explained to me some time ago and my experiences agree with you, Eldartford. I have been able to reduce AS force considerably, it's now down to around 1/2 gram, on my TriPlanar to great benefit. There are many LP's in my collection that I can play with no AS compensation at all and no sign of mis-tracking. I am assuming here that this indicates that there is not much skating force being applied, or that the TriPlanar is able to deal with what little there is very well.

I know I'm not dealing from experience when I say this, but I'd rather be happy with my current pivoting arm that get into dealing with the compressor and other such things that come with a linear tracker. Someday, maybe.