[78-L] Estimated Survival of Shellac 78s in 2109??

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <78records at cdbpdx.com>
>I asked this question before I thought about how well they've already 
>endured the decades compared to other mediums invented since. Most of my 
>video tapes from the 70s are kaput, my old cassette tapes are mostly 
>useless, 4 track and 8 track tapes are pretty much past their life 
>expectancy. Guess I should have asked how long do we have to record the 
>tapes to shellac before they turn to powder. Scary to think that in a 
>thousand years, the only thing surviving from the last century might be 
>these old shellac recordings.
>
I still own six cassette tapes which I recorded on Philips C-60's back in 
1967! They seem to
play and sound as good as they ever did! I have MANY other cassettes from 
the early
eighties...all are "major brands" (Ampex, Sony, etc.) and again all 
play/sound as good
as ever! I have lost a few cassettes over the years through playing them 
using in-car tape
players...which had a nasty habit of actually "eating" cassettes by wrapping 
the tape
around their mechanisms!

Vinyl discs are also basically indestructible...although they CAN be 
irreparably warped
by exposure to extreme heat, and the plastic is soft enough that audible 
damage can
easily be inflicted by mishandling.

The biggest actual problem for 78rpm records is this: how long will there be 
enough
people interested in playing/listening to them to make it financially 
practical to sell
the necessary players and 3-mil needles?!

Steven C. Barr