I know I wrote earlier that I had no damage and that I would continue with PVC. A couple of things, I am not a big collector, and as I have said, 99% of all my original records purchased in the late 70s are still ok today, all were and are still covered by PVC. However, after careful examination, I have found one damaged record. Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde. The PVC outer has 'bonded' itself to the cover, to the point that to 'unstick it' causes damage to the printed cover. The records have the haze others have reported. So it is clear this damage can and does occur, but, in my case, it is only one record out of 100's.
It makes me want to understand the circumstances for this one record out of 100's to be affected. One possible factor was the make of the PVC cover, it was I believe of inferior quality to the others that I used back in the day, another possible factor was I never likely the album at the time, thereby it never got played. So it is probably one of the very few albums that remained unloved and unplayed in this PVC cover, for all that time.
I know I will horrify many, but I am continuing to use new high-quality PVC covers, I won't buy any more and I have replaced all old PVC covers that have that 'cellulite' look about them, bumpy, lumpy quality, as I think they both detract from the beauty of the cover and maybe 'on the way out' Most of my old covers and new ones too are in smooth, high-quality PVC covers. Now I am attuned to this issue, and it is clearly an issue, I will monitor carefully. If I see any others going the way of Dyan, then I will remove all and swap them all out. But I feel I need more than 1 failure in 40 years to justify such a swap out (for me that's a judgement, I feel I can take, but I totally get those who have many £1000's invested in their collection, why they would not take even this risk).
I just wanted to share my experiences. I also bought some nice gate folder covers from Spincare along with their inners off Amazon, both are of good quality in my view and the outers are PVC free and very clear and do not suffer the poor quality of the old-style non-PVC covers of yesteryear. Link here
25x 12 Inch GATEFOLD Outer Vinyl Record Sleeves | CRYSTAL Super Clear Covers Fit Single Double Triple Albums & LPs | PVC & Acid-Free Protective Plastic Sleeves | Clean & Crisp Polypropylene: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo