Laser turntables are so thorough in their scrutiny of a recorded groove that they will pick up everything the groove contains – including alien deposits that have not properly been cleaned from the groove – not necessarily physical damage such as scratches. Some of this can be eliminated. In the case of the ELP device, records must be black; coloured, transparent or translucent records cannot be played, so laser's not good for bringing new life to your punk picture-disc or New Wave coloured vinyl collection.