Eiron said:

But the interesting thing is that the translucent EMI inner sleeves
(marked 6/80 - a date code?) had become brittle and shattered as I removed
the disc. Perhaps it's the same strategy of built-in obsolescence that
produced foam surrounds.

It's a possible explanation, I'm not sure it's a necessary one. I had to
ditch a 30yo very good and much loved tent a couple of years back, likewise
because the (synthetic) fabric became brittle and split too badly to seem
worth fixing (or trusting). ... It could just be that decades-old synthetics
weren't perfect. Maybe "They" knew that, maybe they didn't, I don't know.
Nor do I know how long the contemporary-equivalent replacements will last.


--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://www.qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html