[kid64]

Not trolling, but can you elaborate on vinyl's flaws? My understanding is that the width of the groove corresponds directly to the frequency. Issues of dust etc are just implementation problems, which can be resolved by placing a small vacuum near the stylus (for example). But maybe I don't fully understand how it works.

[SaberTail]

Off the top of my head:

For the disks: Vinyl can get permanently scratched. The disks can get warped. The playback needle can put too much force on the groove and damage it.

For the playback: It's incredibly difficult to get a motor to spin the disk at a perfectly uniform rate, so you get distortions in the frequencies being played back known as "wow" and "flutter". The groove is not the audio exactly as recorded, but instead equalized to lower bass frequencies so that the needle doesn't skip out of the groove. This RIAA equalization has to be undone for playback, and if it is done with analog components, it's never going to be exact.

[InCityDreams]

I'm desperately trying to find the exact source, but Zappa [allegedly(!)] stated that he preferred his lps to be 18-22 mins due to that being the best audio quality available, given the physical size of a disk versus the size/ quality of the grooves thereon.

Closest I can find so far - https://www.musictimes.com/articles/6349/20140526/7-great-al...

[nelgaard]

Yes (depending on the modulation), just as the bits on a CD corresponds directly to the frequency.

Vinyl records have limitations determined by design decisions and physical properties.

For example deep bass and stereo separation are reduced on vinyl or the stylus would jump out of the groove.

And vinyl records have a lot more noise than good digital formats.

[dragontamer]

Temperature and Humidity literally warps the Vinyl.

Even if you had perfect humidity control + temperature control vacuum chambers storing these things, they'll still degrade over time due to other aging issues.

It doesn't even take that much time before these older technologies (vinyl, tape, etc. etc.) degrade permanently.

[kevin_thibedeau]

They have inherent noise that you can't escape nor can they faithfully reproduce low frequencies. Variation in all of the mechanical parts affects the sound reproduction and they are damaged on every playback.

[mnd999]

I think implementation problems is a good summary of vinyl’s flaws. In theory, it’s great.