What is the difference between buying a "branded" product off of the shelf in a fancy package and "trusting it to work as described" or being given something as a test sample and being asked to see how you like it? The difference is that one "assumes" that the marketed product is put out by a reputable company that has performed rigorous testing to come up with that product. As we all know, this is not always true. If it was, we wouldn't have product recalls, lawsuits resulting from false claims / health hazards / damage to property ( even if used as directed ), etc....
You take your chances with ANY product that you've never used before. While having recommendations from reliable sources ( friends, co-workers ) may ease the tension and / or guide one towards more reliable products, there are always instances where one will try a product that they aren't happy with in terms of performance and / or think that it is not suitable for what it was marketed / recommended for.
Paul simply asked for beta testers for a product that he himself thinks is worth giving a try. He's covering the shipping, the chemicals, the glass containers ( NOT cheaper plastic ), etc... and in return, simply asking for honest feedback. I don't remember HMS ( or anyone else for that matter* ) offering "free samples" to anyone, so that comparision is moot.
On top of that, anybody that would think of using an unproven ( by the public ) and unfamiliar ( to them ) product on one of their prized possessions is a fool. Common sense would dictate that one would want to use a disc of little to no retail or personal value for obvious reasons. This disc should be of a known condition i.e. noisy even though cleaning has been attempted on several occassions with several different formulas.
Here's the kicker though. There's no guarantee that anyone in the world could make for this either. That is, what if one of the previous cleaning agents used left a high level of residue on the disc? What if that residue caused a negative reaction to occur with the chemicals that Paul ( or anyone else ) provided? Would this be Paul's fault or liability to cover? While i don't think so personally, it really wouldn't be a big deal IF someone had the sense to use a test disc that wasn't worth anything to begin with.
Another factor here is that if something like a "vinyl molten mess" were to occur due the afore mentioned chemical reaction, who would be responsible for the potential damage done to a stylus? After all, the degradation of vinyl could result in a bonding of foreign material to the stylus itself and / or "wicking" of chemicals into the cantilever ( in extreme cases ). Once again, common sense would dictate that specific precautions with ANY unknown substance be taken into account. Given that not everyone thinks this far in advance, Paul should have issued some basic suggestions with this product.
My suggestion when trying out a product like this is to clean an old junk record as you normally would. If you don't have a record cleaning machine, let it air-dry in a clean area. Put it back in a clean sleeve and let it sit for a few days. If the disc appears to be normal i.e. no visible signs of chemical reaction ( clouding or discoloration of vinyl ), no "softening" or "stiffening" of the vinyl, etc.... give the disc a spin using the TT / cartridge combo that you care the least about. Before doing so, make sure that the stylus is spotlessly clean and properly aligned. If after several plays over an extended period of time the stylus is still spotless, you have reasonable assurance that the vinyl is still stable and that there is little to worry about in terms of potential cartridge damage.
Over this time, you should have been able to formulate an opinion of the effectiveness of this cleaning agent AND protected your expensive and personally valuable investments ( both vinyl and stylus / cartridge ). Should you feel the need for further testing in order to confirm your previous thoughts, you can now play this on your primary TT / cartridge combo for full evaluation.
Outside of all of that, i've spoken with Paul several times over the years. He's been nothing short of a gentleman. The fact that he's gone well out of his way to help fellow human beings in a less than advantageous situation, along with the help of many other Agoner's, speaks volumes of his nature and integrity.
Outside of his personal mannerisms, i know that he's been actively pursuing the goal of coming up with what he feels is the best method of record care that he can find. Several years ago, he forwarded pictures and info to me pertaining to his own vacuum based record cleaning machine. As such, i know that this is not some "shot in the dark, last minute entry" into what he thinks is a viable solution to the problems he's been working on solving.
Having said that, let's keep this in perspective. I'm not saying that i know for certain what Paul has, how well it works or if it will / won't damage your vinyl. All i'm saying is that this fellow Audiogoner thinks that he has something that works well for not only himself, but also for others that may have similar problems. He's willing to share his findings with others, foot the bill for letting them try it out at his expense and asks for nothing more than their honest opinions. I'm sure that he'd like as much specificity as he could get, but if all one told him was whether or not they think it solved their problems, did nothing one way or the other or created more problems, he would probably be happy.
Given that EVERYONE here on Agon is typically looking for "the next best thing" at the best price possible, and one of the "regulars" here has gone out of his way to GIVE AWAY something that he thinks could potentially be such a product to a small group of people, i find some of the attitudes here rather disheartening. Given the other "random" and potentially damaging formulations that others have promoted and / or attempted to use on this and other vinyl related forums, how can this be any worse? That is, so long as proper / common sense precautions are taken.
While it is true that one should always proceed with a certain sense of caution, but when we are talking about NO investment and the common sense use of materials that are of little to no value for the testing to be performed, what does one really have to lose? If one was truly concerned, they could treat a disc or small selection of discs, pay attention to them for an extended period of time ( several months of normal use ) and base their use / opinions of this product over that period of time. Paul didn't tell anybody that they had to buy this product, treat all of their discs at one time and then hope for the best. He offered it up to those that were willing to try it and hopefully, had enough common sense to use it in what most would consider an intelligent manner. Maybe that's asking too much. Sean
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PS... Compare this to buying a "home-brewed" power cord that could be mis-wired and have the potential to kill you or severely hurt you when tried out, i think that the above points are pretty much "moot".
*JPS Labs gave away free samples of the materials that they use in some of their cables. While the circumstances were completely different, i didn't want to overlook the only exception that i'm aware of to the comments that i made above.
