Anti-skate

>>I believe that you have to settle for less than optimum playback on that last song.<<

Totally disagree.

Less than optimum playback is most likely due to one of 2 factors.

1. Tonearm/cartridge combination. This is the most critical match in your analog front end. Only the amplifier/speaker combination is more important in a system.

2. Cartridge alignment. Sorry to say that many hobbyists and even some dealers don't do it correctly. It's not something you knock off in 20 or 30 minutes. It's not unusual to spend 3-5 hours or even more getting it right.

Anti-skating is an "icing on the cake" setting. It's efficacy is also dependent on the tonearm and cartridge used. I have a dozen cartridges here; depending on the tonearm, some are very susceptible to minimal anti-skating changes while others seem impervious to larger settings.

Good luck.

>>The last track always sounds best.<<

Agreed.

Knowing it's almost over makes the last track of any Madonna, Britney, or Michael Bolton, album the best.

Assuming correct alignment, inner groove distortion is generally the result of:

1. Resonance and improper tonearm damping.

2. Reduced groove velocity at the inner grooves. On a record the average outer groove starts at 11.5 inches diameter and the inner groove at 5.8 diameter. So, the inner groove is 50.4 percent the linear velocity of the outer groove. Put another way, if someone handed you a record that ran at 16.8rpm you wouldn't you expect the outer groove to sound great. That's the effective velocity of the inner groove if it were to run at the outer part of a record spinning at 16.8 rpm.

>>I guess I forgot about the heroin effect.<<

Memory lapse.

A direct result of too much dope smoking.