78s are easier, because they're monaural. LPs are often stereo so you have to do reading of boths side of the groove. A high school friend of mine (Jim Russell) working at Battelle Northwest, didn't like the way the diamonds ruined his microgrooves, so he invented a device called the Compact Disk in 1965 (see MIT's Lemuelson Prize website about that and Jim's picture). Now it's me that's working for Battelle Northwest (via internet) and he's consulting in Redlands, Washington (a little south of Seattle)
|