The recent thread on the risks plastic inner sleeves pose to LPs was
interesting but left a few unanswered questions in my mind.
What about those "audiophile" sleeves, like Nagaoka and others? I am not
a
chemist, but I am sure that some on this list might have more specific
information on what kind of polymer interacts harmfully with vinyl discs
and
what sort (if any) is inert.
Some have posted their choice of paper over plastic of any kind. Has this
been
tested out on any large scale (say, at an instititution with 10s of
thousands
of records or more) or is this just anectdotal, drawn from personal
experience? Either sort of information is of interest to me, but it would
be
useful to know what sort of basis was used for recommending one over the
other. If there has been any large scale trial, was there any conclusion
drawn
on the merits of acid-free sleeves or on the use of rice paper versus the
run
of the mill sort found in most commercially issued LPs?
Somewhat related, I am also wondering if using a static electricity
discharger
makes a significant effect on the longterm health of discs and whether
the
crucial time for de-stating is before shelving the record or when you are
about to play it. I guess one ought to do both just to play safe, but I
am not
savvy enough to know whether or not how long the disc sits on the shelf
in a
charged state makes a bit of difference.
My experience with long term storage of recorded media (I have been
dragging
around some elements of my collection since the mid-60s) confirms that
one's
mileage is bound to vary from the scientifically derived benchmarks (for
example: all of my cassettes, even cheapo 30 year old ones, are still
playing
just fine on my less than professional quality decks, though I know that
this
should not be so), but it would be good to know if there are any
benchmarks in
this area,
Just a few tech questions from a non-tech mind.
Thanks in advance,
Peter Hirsch
punto@xxxxxxxx
(212) 569-8716 - home
(212) 714-8570 work (NYPL)
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