PROBLEMS & CARE
Single-Record (45 rpm)Vinyl records do not break easily, but
the soft material is easily scratched. Vinyl readily acquires
a static charge, attracting dust that is difficult to remove
completely. Dust and scratches cause audio clicks and pops.
In extreme cases, they can cause the needle to skip over a series
of grooves, or worse yet, cause the needle to skip backwards,
creating a "locked groove" that repeats the same 1.8
seconds of track (at 33.3 rpm) over and over again. Locked grooves
were not uncommon and were even heard occasionally in broadcasts.
Vinyl
records can be warped by heat, improper storage, or manufacturing
defects such as excessively tight plastic shrinkwrap on the
album cover. A small degree of warp was common, and allowing
for it was part of the art of turntable and tonearm design.
"Wow" (once-per-revolution pitch variation) could
result from warp, or from a spindle hole that was not precisely
centered.
As
a practical matter, records provide excellent sound quality
when treated with care. They were the music source of choice
for radio stations for decades, and the switch to digital music
libraries by radio stations has not produced a noticeable improvement
in sound quality. Casual ears cannot detect a difference in
quality between a CD and a clean new LP played in a casual environment
with background noise. There is controversy about the relative
quality of CD sound and LP sound when the latter is heard under
the very best conditions. The limitations of recording and mastering
techniques had a greater impact on sound quality than the limitations
of the record itself, at least until the 1980s.
7"
singles were typically poorer quality for a variety of the reasons
mentioned above, and in the 1970s the 12" single, played
at 45 rpm, became popular for DJ use and for fans and collectors.
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