The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

If you really don't feel like tracking all of these down, save before you pick one up, pick it up, and reload the save. The tracker will go up every time you pick up the phonograph.

The achievement unlocks when you pick up the 20th portable phonograph. Each phonograph plays an audio log. With one exception (Lucky Montoya’s Last Message), you pick up the phonograph and listen to the audio log simultaneously. For convenience, turn on the achievement tracker. Designate this achievement as a favorite so you can track its progress. When the tracker hits 100%, the achievement will pop.

You can see the audio logs you have collected by pressing to go to your inventory screen followed by to tab to the journal. Press to switch from Quests to the Codex Screen. At the top, you will see Gorgon Audio Logs and Eridanos Audio logs once you have acquired at least one audio log from the applicable planet. Press to expand the entry and view all listed audio logs. The below illustration shows 23 audio logs from Gorgon and another 7 bonus audio logs from Eridanos that also count towards the achievement:

The first Gorgon audio log is acquired from the main quest, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Gordon.” This is the quest that initiates the Peril on Gorgon questline.

Important: Make a hard, manual save before you start Peril on Gorgon and do not overwrite it until after you have completed the questline—an insurance save in case you are victimized by a rare bug.
You are required to open a container. Lucky Montoya’s Last Message plays, unlocking an achievement. Refer to the following guide for details: Solution for Peril at Hand In The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

Once you have listened to it, a 'portable phonograph' appears on the table. Pick it up by pressing . It will begin to play again. This is not redundant. You must pick up the device to count this phonograph towards the 20 required for this Achievement. It is a peculiarity unique to this instance. All other portable phonographs are picked up and play simultaneously. Thus, you can consult your journal as described above to ensure you have their corresponding phonographs.

The game’s system save file maintains a count of the phonographs you acquire. Thus, if you make a save (Save A) before picking up a phonograph, a save made after picking up the phonograph (Save B) updates the system save file. You can then load the save before the pickup, reacquire the phonograph and save again to update the system save file—it’s most expedient to overwrite Save B since its only purpose was updating the system save file. You could do this 20 times and pop the achievement. This can be done for any phonograph but supernova players can only save on the Unreliable so this first one is unique in that it allows all players a hard, manual save.

CAUTION: While most have reported success with this method, some have reported a glitch where the achievement counter gets broken. On rare occasions, the only way to fix the counter is by starting a new game.

Accordingly, a recommended approach is to play through the entire Peril on Gorgon questline. With one or two exceptions, the phonographs are well visible and easily identifiable by their unique appearance. None is well hidden. Most of them are encountered upon playing through Gorgon's quests and tasks. If the achievement does not pop during normal gameplay, you should be well on your way to unlocking it.

Accordingly, if, once you are through with Peril on Gorgon and do not have the 20 phonographs, you can load the insurance save you made at the start, pick up the phonograph, and save on a scratch save slot to update the system save file. Do this as many times as you need until the achievement pops. It is best to use the tracker as described at the beginning of the guide to track your progress and to make sure you are credited with the phonographs you pick up.

Though you only need 20 for the achievement, there are 23 audio logs on Gorgon. They are listed below including the story-related Lucky Montoya's Last Message. Ensure you pick up the phonograph from the table. The remaining phonographs are acquired upon listening to their logs and, for them, a journal entry is verification the phonograph was acquired. The 23 audio logs are shown in reverse order from the sequence in your journal:

1. Unoffical Recording: HIA: Supervisor's office where you complete the quest We, in Spacer’s Choice’s Employ…
2. Lucky Montoya's Last Message: Audio log is unmissable. To count, though, the phonograph MUST be picked up from the table on board the Unreliable.
3. Olivia’s Goodbye: Minnie’s bedroom, Ambrose Mansion
4. An interview with Dr. Ambrose, Part 1*: OCI, floor 3, on a shelf. Turn right after taking the ladder up from the maintenance room
5. An interview with Dr. Ambrose, Part 2*: Executive apartments—up a ramp & into the first apartment
6. An interview with Dr. Ambrose, Part 3*: HIA, floor 3, behind a big vertical pipe near a door. Refer to the bottom right sector of the map—unlike most phonographs that are out in the open, this is slightly hidden
7. Observational Notes, Undated: Groundbreaker Auxiliary Maintenance Bay, floor 2/4 in the big room on a table
8. Observation Log: Percy: Groundbreaker Auxiliary Maintenance Bay, floor 2/4—on a table in a small dead end passageway running perpendicular to the corridor leading to the elevator. You must first enter a passageway running perpendicular to the elevator corridor.
9. To Roscoe*: CHEM Lab on a shelf in a room to your right as you enter the lab
10. Follow-up interview with Dr. Ambrose*: In a hut in The Trash Dump accessed from the CHEM Lab Lower Exterior Exit
11. CHEM Lab Passphrase: Acquired from Dr. Low during A Man in High Orbit
12. Dr. Ambrose’s Diary: Memory: In a structure in Maurice’s Research Site
13. Dr. Ambrose’s Diary: Metamorphosis: In a structure in Maurice’s Research Site
14. Ambrose Lab Notes #1: CHEM Lab, on the floor in the lower of two rooms depicted in the upper part of the Floor 3 map
15. Ambrose Lab Notes #2: CHEM Lab, on a wheeled cart in the lower right sector of your Floor 3 map in the same area as the Material Processing Terminal
16. Ambrose Lab Notes #3: CHEM Lab, on metal shelving, in the lower portion of the far right sector on your Floor 2 map
17. For Benji: Abandoned Mines— In a shaft of light at the end of this very short tunnel. Enter the tunnel by going around a big rock you find to the right just before the northbound tracks terminate at a wall
18. Incident Report: HIA: Down the stairs on the far side of observation room. Unbar the door. Go through it. Turn left and go up some stairs to find it at the top
19. Lucky’s Notes: Onto Something: CHEM Lab upper exterior. Face the facility and go to your right, hugging the facility on your left. At the end, you’ll find the audio log on a small box
20. Lucky’s Notes: More to the Story: OCI Upper Exterior—to your right just before you enter the facility
21. Lucky’s Notes: Narrow Escape: Above and to your right of the Abandoned Mines marker on the Gorgon main map. You will hear the mega Ice Queen when you get to the location. The mega Ice Queen is located just a bit further along. It is designated by a Mining Accident marker on your map once you discover it.
22. Lucky’s Notes: Smoke and Mirrors: Marauder Stronghold near Lucky’s corpse
23. I Feel Like Me Again: Economy Flats behind a door you’ll have to lockpick (skill check ~55-65)

* Items designated with an asterisk are part of the Electric Fling side quest acquired from Roscoe Clanton (2nd floor of the Sprat Shack). You may accept the side quest and use the marker to help you find the phonographs. Do NOT turn them in to Roscoe or surrender them to the NTVUR until after this achievement pops. Otherwise, your tracked percentage may decrease. Additionally, the NTVUR option is sometimes bugged.

If, by the time you finish the Peril on Gorgon questline getting all achievements except for this one, you have two viable options—other than scouring the Gorgon map for the remaining audio logs. First, you can use the Murder on Eridanos questline to find additional phonographs—the corresponding audio logs are pictured above. Second, you can load your insurance save, pick up the first phonograph that plays Lucky Montoya’s Last Message, and save the game on a scratch file to update the system save. Rinse and repeat until the achievement pops.

Timestamps:
Lucky Montoya’s Last Message (0:00) - Can go back onto the ship and pick it up off the table.
Olivia’s Goodbye (0:20)
I Feel Like Me Again (1:31)
An Interview with Dr. Ambrose, Part 1 (2:17)
An Interview with Dr. Ambrose, Part 2 (3:01)
An Interview with Dr. Ambrose, Part 3 (3:31)
Dr. Ambrose’s Diary: Metamorphosis (3:58)
Dr. Ambrose’s Diary: Memory (4:29)
Follow-up Interview with Dr. Ambrose (4:44)
CHEM Lab Passphrase (5:16)
Lucky’s Notes: More to the Story (6:00)
Lucky’s Notes: Smoke and Mirrors (6:25)
Lucky’s Notes: Onto Something (6:53)
Lucky’s Notes: Narrow Escape (7:23)
For Benji (7:58)
Observational Notes, Undated (8:27)
Observation Log: Percy (9:00)
Ambrose Lab Notes #2 (9:23)
Ambrose Lab Notes #3 (10:00)
To Roscoe (10:31)