"Greg Mayman" wrote to "Roy J. Tellason" (27 Dec 02  08:10:00)
 --- on the topic of "MESSAGE EDITING"

 GM> Yup. The old analog wobbly groove can always be worked out by
 GM> future generations -- hell, if civilization collapses, and
 GM> someone digs up the disk in 10,000 years, and assuming it hasn't
 GM> corroded away, there's a good chance they'd be able to work out a
 GM> way to play it!

Last improvement I remember for the turntable was an entirely optical
pickup using a laser. No needle to scratch the delicate grooves.
Here's the announcement from 1995. Don't know if the url is still good:

 Area: rec.audio.pro
 Date: 22 Aug 95  22:12:46
 From: ilios{at}uspan.com (James H. McG. Sibley)
 Subject: Introducing the World's First *LASER* Turntable!
 Organization: USPAN, Inc.

   Introducing the world's first *LASER* Turntable!

 Finally, you can achieve perfect reproduction and perfect preservation for
 your valuable vinyl collection.  The ELP Laser Turntable offers the following
 features:

 - No contact, no wear

 - There is virtually no chance of damaging an audio document during
   playback.  The property of the recording is perfectly preserved.

 - No acoustic feedback or howling

 - Records warped as much as 5-6mm can be played back

 - Damaged records, which normally cause stylus jump, can be played
   through

 - Cracked or split records can be played if they are joined with clear
   tape

 - No stylus, or scraping noise

 For complete details: http://useattle.uspan.com/elp/
 James H. McG. Sibley - Technical Director - ilios{at}uspan.com

------------------------------------------------------------------


 Mike
 ****

... 'Keep the smoke inside.' -- 1st Rule of Electronics.
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30