Vinyl

Electron microscope

Chris Supranowitz decided to look at the grooves of a vinyl record using an electron microscope.

Jason Kottke made some nice pictures as well.

Makes you wonder if it could play at all.

Google "vinyl groove magnified" for more gems.

Scannen

Put your vinyl on the scanner and have a program reading the tracks.

When Ofer Springer published this, many thought this an excellent hoax until he published the source code!

Ofer did it just for fun. A serious effort is the IRENE project.

The Stereophonic Groove

1. The stereophonic groove shall contain two channels of information recorded as orthogonal modulations of a single groove.
2. The 45 degree-45 degree system is the standard. In this system the two mutually perpendicular axes of modulation shall be symmetrically disposed with respect to a normal to the disc surface.
3. The right hand information channel, as viewed by the listener, shall appear as modulation of the out side wall of the groove.
4. When equal in-phase signals are recorded in the two channels they shall result in lateral modulation of the stereophonic groove shall produce equal in-phase acoustical signals.
5. The stereophonic groove contour shall be as recommended in RIAA Dimensional Standards for Disc Phonograph Records, Bulletin E 4.

RECORD INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC.