Insights into the kind of crap 78-rpm records were made of, and other scarce technical infos.
If you’re not sure what ‘a record’ is, or haven’t ever seen one, you’re excused.
Oh, and by-the-way, 78 is the approximate number you get when you rotate a 46-tooth gear with a 3600 rpm motor. (60 cycles per second.)
Further wisdom such as this is found by the ton here: http://www.78rpmrecord.com/links.htm
There is indeed a way to use lasers to read 78s without touching the surface, and the gear is availble. Though probably not at a price most of us would like. Here’s one example: https://www.elpj.com/ But after decades of work, they seem to have problems … /Laser_turntable#Performance