Not shellac,vinyl.Anybody who lives with a large collection of shellac 78s,knows how goddamn breakable they are.I will grant you this is more of a problem, with 78s from the 40s,50s,and 60s,than it is with pre-1920 records.I have accidentally knocked early single face records on the floor,and have them survive unscathed. But the later 78s (Later being after 1930 or so,from all countries.),are so fragile, that the slightest variation in temperature,or just a scintilla of too much pressure on them,will cause them to snap in two,or shatter into pieces.
And as time goes by,these records seem to get more and more fragile.
I recently had this happen with my Siemens/DGG Herbert Von Karajan set.The set had been sitting,outside of an album,in sleeves,in a box sandwiched between other 78s.I had not looked at these for years.I pulled them out last month,and to my horror,all but two of the records in the set were broken.In the past two years, I have received four 78s,in the mail,that seemed very well packed,a late Australian Elvis 78,an Argentine Bill Haley,a Lord Kitchener,on Melodisc,and an unplayed Fee Bee Del Vikings.All of these arrived in pieces.I am having serious doubts if I will ever buy or ship any more shellac.
Roger
1) save all extant sound recordings in the lateral-cut shellac- discs format...AND...
2) Develop a method of saving digital data on shellac disc...!
Steven C. Barr