you know the ones i’m talking about… the old reinforced enforcers EPs and various jungle pic discs came in them. more recently PAN were using them for most of their releases up until a few years ago, and the latest stereolab reissues (2019-20) all came in them.
1st, can we all agree that the chemical compound in these sleeves ruins records over time? surely there must be some evidence to the contrary because so many labels still use them. personally i always toss them out immediately so i haven’t been able to do any sort of before & after comparison over time, but any used or vintage records i pick up that have been stored in them will always have the same weird cloudy effect imprinted on the vinyl and sound like crap.
2nd, does anyone know how strong and far this chemical reaction can travel? i just bought a new LP with a PVC outer sleeve but i don’t really want to get rid of it because it has a special spot gloss print on the outside of it; i’m wondering if the standard card stock sleeve and paper inner sleeve inside will be enough of a buffer to protect the vinyl.
I have a few records that this has happened to. Wish I’d re-sleeved them when I bought them but wasn’t aware of the problem at the time.
I’ve not tried this myself but apparently they can be restored with certain products designed for polishing plastic:
So for I’ve only seen it myself when the record was directly in contact with the PVC sleeve or there was just a paper inner sleeve inbetween.
From what I’ve read it can happen even with a thick card sleeve as well if enough time and / or heat are added to the equation.
