CarlosV wrote:The video is interesting but it only demonstrates that the plastic needle can play one side of a record. A product like this to be convincing needs an endurance test, i.e., play the same record multiple times changing for a new needle after every play, and checking the wear afterwords. Our experience as collectors show that a record played with steel needles that are not reused, or played with thorn needles, is subject to minimal wear after hundreds of cumulative playing, and this is what makes most of us collectors confident in utilizing such needles to play our records.
In 1980 an old collector I knew told me that in 1930 he and a friend took two new 78s and played them , the first with a steel needle used over and over again , after 8 plays the sound was greatly degraded and then if played with a new needle very poor , the record grooves were visibly damaged , they then played the second record over a few days hundreds of times using a new needle each time the result was no visible record wear and the sound was still as good , I often thought about trying to repeat this but life is too short