Library of Congress - What to do with a broken record - IRENE

Occasionally, the Library of Congress will receive rare records that are broken or unplayable.  Since their goal is archive all recordings ever made, there are some tools at their disposal that will help them achieve their goal.

Meet IRENE.  IRENE is a digital camera that photographs the grooves on a record using a laser.   I didn't even ask what this thing costs.

On the photo below, you can see an image of IRENE's hard work in the background.   The photo can be converted to audio and voila - an archived recording.