Flipping the LP over ...

Unless you have a low-torque motor such as the ones used by Nottingham and the platter essentially stopped when you tried to hold the LP, leaving it spinning is an open invitation for disaster. Unless your timing is perfect every time, even if you lift the LP with top hands, the spinning platter will still drag the LP forward and either scractch the bottom surface or simply throw the LP entirely off the platter and even damage other delicate part of the turntable such as the stylus.

I exercised that on various tables such as VPI 19, TNT, Basis Debut and none of them worked well and I am left with a handful of damaged records. Fortunely, when the vinyl flew off the platter, they didn't hit any part of the tone arm.

The benefit is not worth the risk.

Kinsekd,

Care is of the essence, I suppose! But I've never met a Linn person who shut off the table. And I've never had, nor heard of, any disasters as others describe.

Since the late 70's I've never stopped my LP12 to remove an album. Never, ever have I had anything that came close to a bad event. Other turntables would likely be a problem.

I leave it spinning.

With the Linn, the felt mat is a slip device, and allows removal of the record while the platter is spinning without fear of damage. When I had my Linn, I didn't turn it off while flipping records either.

But with my new TT, this is not a good thing to do, because it doesn't have a mat. Even if I decide not to use the clamp, there is a possibility of scratching the record.