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A gramophone record made of vinyl is stored under cool conditions in a sealed envelope. How long would it remain comprehensible when played after it was manufactured (assuming that the record was placed in that location under those conditions shortly after it was made)?

By comprehensible, I mean that the contents of the record (either music or spoken text) remain understandable when played.

My character in 2105 is trying to play a vinyl record produced in the 1950s as part of his research project. Would it be possible for him to do so?

Edit: The contents of the record must be understandable when played using conventional means (a record player), rather than specialized processing of audio through a computer.

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  • $\begingroup$ Personally, I've bought ones that lasted less than 6 months before they started 'shedding layers' and became unplayable, there are others which have lasted 40 years. What's the objective of the question and how is it about worldbuilding? $\endgroup$
    – Escaped dental patient.
    Mar 27, 2021 at 1:01
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    $\begingroup$ We don't know... At least one hundred years -- if you find a vinyl record made in the 1940s and kept in good conditions you can play it. (Modern-ish micro-groove vinyl records were introduced in the late 1940s.) $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Mar 27, 2021 at 1:01
  • $\begingroup$ @Draft85: Modern micro-groove vinyl records appeared in the late 1940s. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Mar 27, 2021 at 1:05
  • $\begingroup$ Does it have to be vinyl? Metals will last a lot longer. $\endgroup$
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Mar 27, 2021 at 1:08
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    $\begingroup$ I have an original Elvis single, from 1956. Its a bit scratchy, and has warped enough to make the needle do a rollercoaster ride, but plays quite well. And from 1956 to about 1985, it was not stored in any special way, just kept in a standard sleeve in a pile next to the player. Was played several hundred times over this period. As long as you do not physically break the the thing, or subject it to excessive heat, or to direct sunlight(the UV, i think) they can last "indefinitely". $\endgroup$
    – PcMan
    Mar 27, 2021 at 7:05

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Around 1000 years.

When stored undisturbed for a very long time, vinyl disks will deform slightly, but there would be no mechanical deterioration of the surface. This will may make the sound terrible, but it still be "understandable".

The main limiting factor would be longevity of PVC which is what vinyl disks are made of.

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  • $\begingroup$ Nope, some degrade much sooner. I guess it depends on other things than in ideal conditions. $\endgroup$
    – Escaped dental patient.
    Mar 27, 2021 at 4:29
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    $\begingroup$ If PVC deforms substantially in only a few hundred years, all of the houses with PVC plumbing will REALLY be in trouble. What destroys a record is the stylus that keeps wearing it away, and if these records have never been played, there will be no wear. $\endgroup$
    – Justin Thyme the Second
    Mar 27, 2021 at 13:00
  • $\begingroup$ @Justin Thyme the Second - PVC has some plasticity - it will creep by a fraction of a millimeter over a hundred years. Not anywhere enough to affect plumbing, but sufficient to be noticed on an audio record. If vinyl disk is stored horizontally in a stack, that's a big problem even in a course of a few years. If disk is stored vertically and gets repositioned from time to time (as in a real life collection), it's a non-issue for 100 years and perhaps more. $\endgroup$
    – Alexander
    Mar 28, 2021 at 3:33
  • $\begingroup$ @Alexander One second of sound is stored on one inch of grooved track. Very minor millimeter creep will make an insignificant difference - milliseconds of the recording. $\endgroup$
    – Justin Thyme the Second
    Mar 28, 2021 at 14:14
  • $\begingroup$ @Justin Thyme the Second keep in mind that the creep is affecting the entire disk, and its effect is non-uniform. $\endgroup$
    – Alexander
    Mar 28, 2021 at 23:11
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"My character in 2105 is trying to play a vinyl record produced in the 1950s":

  • Here is a recording from the 1950s: Jo Stafford singing Make Love To Me, recorded in 1954.

    Oh, but that video was uploaded in 2012. Not fair! How about we go back 20 years?

  • Here is Laurence Tibbett singing On the Road to Mandalay, recorded around 1932.

    That's better, but still. How about we go back to WW1?

  • Here is a 1915 recording of La Marseillaise (the French national anthem). (And you can see an actual vintage gramophone playing it!) Or you may prefer a 1915 recording of God Save the Emperor (the Russian imperial anthem of the time).

    Bonus! Before WW1!

  • Henry Burr singing Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland, recorded in 1910.

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    $\begingroup$ Pretty sure those records from before 1948 are not on Vinyl. Possibly Durium, Possibly Shellac. Possibly even Celluloid. $\endgroup$
    – PcMan
    Mar 27, 2021 at 7:00
  • $\begingroup$ @PcMan: I'm sure that they are not on vinyl. Micro-groove vinyl records were introduced after WW2. (Pre-WW2 record players did not use electronics to amplify the signal; all the audio power came from the record valiantly pushing the stylus. Vinyl is way too soft for that.) (Personal experience is that they are really really heavy.) $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Mar 27, 2021 at 7:07
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Using a laser stylus from a company like this, the records will be readable for centuries, if not millennia.

Laser Advantage Because there is no contact, the laser reproduces without any distortion. The laser picks up all of the audio signals in the groove, lower signal through higher as it is. This results in laser sound quality that is quite similar to the original sound in the recording's master tape. Most of people never get to hear the master tapes, but with the Laser Turntable, you get comparable quality, as acknowledged by Professional Sound Recording Engineers in Japan.

No Contact and No Wear The same audio information has been engraved on the groove wall from the top through the bottom. A stylus reads audio information close to the bottom. The laser reads audio information close to the top. Namely the laser reads audio information which never been read by a stylus, without any contact and without any digitization or audio compression.

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https://www.elpj.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LT-classic.jpg

Since one inch (2.5 cm) of grove record approximately one second of audio, degradation over millimeter sections will result in only millisecond aberrations in the sound. It is not like a DVD, where very small areas of local damage can cause severe glitches in audio.

Since the analog signal on a record track maps the frequency exactly, with the eventual degradation of the PVC, it will be the high end frequencies that are lost first. The lower frequencies will remain intact. That is, unlike digital, there is always information that can be retrieved from all sections of the grove, even if it is damaged, until the track is totally destroyed. With digital, ALL information is lost in a sector if ANY information is lost, on most players.

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