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Comment by kozak | Hacker News Reader

Fun fact: vinyl has constant angular velocity, not constant linear velocity. It means that sound fidelity gets progressively worse while going from outer tracks to inner tracks.

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Also fun fact, stylus are usually rated only for 150-250h of play before needing replacing.

If you're avidly listening to music this is less than a year.

The vast majority of vinyl junkie audiophiles are not replacing their stylus anywhere near that frequently.

Another fun fact, there are obsessive people out there that they use a new stylus for _each_ song. (I came across one)

I hope they put on new shoes every time they leave their daily new house

I think there may have been a misunderstanding. There are many of us who regularly switch to a different stylus depending on the record or genre we're playing. I haven't heard of anyone treating a stylus as single-use.

Nope, the vinlys were very old (antique?) and he said he was doing it to preserve them.

Depends on the content/ amount of sound recorded. Memory: Frank Zappa used to go for 22 mins a side on lps to allow the quality to remain constant throughout the playing of his plastic releases.

Sorry, no source/ link atm.

Also the reason bass heavy tracks are always first on the album. Not enough room for those huge valleys towards the center; needle will skip a lot.

The needle wiggles side-to-side and might collide with the groove next to it if two bass hits are poorly timed. I suppose the likelihood becomes greater with the more compact inner area?

Also the high end sounds better the faster the vinyl is going so the outer tracks win there too. 45rmp records have more sparkle. The speed of the vinyl is like sample rate.

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