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Sony plans to make vinyl records again

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#141

Post by oliv__ »

afandian wrote: post #74
OberstKrueger wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theres a middle-ground though that doesn't require you to go back to analogue listening from decades past. Use something like iTunes or whatever other equivalent application with your own music. If you're not comfortable with possible tracking from digital downloads, you can still rip CDs to it. Seems more convenient than going back to LPs and all of the physical management that that entails.

Indeed. I was only pointing out that the 'bizarreness' bar is set pretty high these days. Notwithstanding the fact that I wasn't arguing that there's no middle ground, I fear it won't last long. Lots of people prefer streaming services (myself for one) and this will accelerate the depletion of the digital purchase market (delivered by CD, DVD or network). Soon we won't have a choice.

Well you have your choice. You're choosing now.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#142

Post by hbosch »

charred_toast wrote: post #103
kristiandupont wrote: post #11

I confess, I am part of this trend. And I just got into it, so I get no "before it was cool"-claim to fame. Not sure where that leaves me on the hipster-scale. Buying CD's used to be a weekly ritual for me and I missed it for years. Putting on a new album on a Saturday afternoon with a beer or glass of wine while I start cooking is a very enjoyable moment for me. Now, obviously this was for the most part because I wo…

If you're looking for the best music discovery on the planet, or just some easy eclectic listening while you cook, then try KCRW. Public radio at its very finest. Based in Los Angeles, it's what I recommend to any music listener if they get tired of streaming their own music all day everyday. Let me also plug Gilles Peterson who has a show on BBC Radio 6 every Saturday morning, PST. I've been buying records for over…

You'd probably did KEXP, out of Seattle, as well.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#143

Post by cr1895 »

mitchellshow wrote: post #127
gjem97 wrote: post #41

It always makes me cringe when people say that records "sound better". Here's my unsolicited theory on why vinyl was preferred (by some) to CDs in the 90s and 00s. It wasn't the form factor, it was the dynamic range of the masters. I don't know if it was caused by the advent of digital recording, but the loudness war [1] certainly got going around the time that CDs were becoming popular. So comparing a classic vinyl…

Also, since most everything is recorded digitally these days, there are almost no "true analog" mixdowns, which means you're pressing a stair-stepped digital frequency onto vinyl. With the exception of wealthy purists (read: just Radiohead), that vinyl you're listening to is actually the digital recording pressed onto vinyl, not an analog recording pressed to vinyl.

>With the exception of wealthy purists (read: just Radiohead), that vinyl you're listening to is actually the digital recording pressed onto vinyl, not an analog recording pressed to vinyl.

I'm not even sure Radiohead do AAA. Even the new OKNOTOK is supposedly sourced and remastered from digital. Not that there's a thing wrong with it, supposing it's done well.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#144

Post by bcrescimanno »

As someone who started collecting vinyl about 3 years ago, it's about the difference between passive and active involvement in music. So much of our music consumption these days is a largely passive activity. We have music in our headphones while we work. We have music on in our cars while we drive. We have music on in the background of social events. While modern digital formats have given us true ubiquity of music (seriously, thanks to Spotify and Apple Music and LTE connections, even the old "1000 songs in your pocket" claim from the first iPod could be regarded as "quaint") they've driven the trend further and further away from active involvement in music.

Contrast that with vinyl. The act of putting on a record indicates a desire to do more than put on music in the background. Walking across the room, thumbing through your collection, pulling the record from its sleeve, etc.--the ritual of it all changes one's frame of mind in approaching the music: it's by definition a more active involvement.

When I want to have music on, I reach for my iPhone and Apple Music. When I want to listen to music I grab a record.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#145

Post by tyleraldrich »

nikanj wrote: post #109
nindalf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if this would work for you, but I like Spotify's Discover Weekly. Every Monday you get a playlist of 30 songs that you've never heard before. I listen to it from beginning to end without skipping and I often find songs that I end up liking a lot

Discover weekly is Spotify's key to that sweet payola, and it really shows. You can't remove songs from the weekly recommendation, and somehow it repeatedly gives you well-marketed artists completely outside your listening preferences.

Maybe it depends on the genres you listen to, but I haven't found this to be true at all. My discover weekly playlist is frequently full of bands I've never heard of with monthly listen numbers in the 2,000-50,000 range - I don't think those bands have marketing budgets.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#146

Post by ecshafer »

oflannabhra wrote: post #138

I started collecting vinyl back in 2006, when my uncle passed and left me a turntable and a small collection. I grew up with Napster, CD-Rs, iTunes, and iPods. I've always seen my generations attraction to vinyl as a response to the ephemeral nature of digital music. Vinyl is orders of magnitude less convenient, but it is concrete. When I spend my $5-30 dollars, I own a physical good that I can manipulate. I think th…

I don't do this with vinyl, but I do with films. Something about having a tangible physical object is very attractive.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#147

Post by flavor8 »

kristiandupont wrote: post #11

I confess, I am part of this trend. And I just got into it, so I get no "before it was cool"-claim to fame. Not sure where that leaves me on the hipster-scale. Buying CD's used to be a weekly ritual for me and I missed it for years. Putting on a new album on a Saturday afternoon with a beer or glass of wine while I start cooking is a very enjoyable moment for me. Now, obviously this was for the most part because I wo…

Same boat - I just got into it in the last 18 months or thereabouts.

I got rid of my CD collection 10 years ago to get rid of clutter. I had a great collection curated on grooveshark, but since that was shut down I've mainly listened to streaming radio.

I've found buying vinyl second hand in antiques stores or used record shops to be an interesting way to discover music. Often the price is cheap enough to be able to take a chance on something that looks intriguing. I probably have 100 records now, with production dates from 1932->2016, with lots of interesting albums that probably aren't even digitized (or at least readily available.)

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#148

Post by protonfish »

jccc wrote: post #136
mitchellshow wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, since most everything is recorded digitally these days, there are almost no "true analog" mixdowns, which means you're pressing a stair-stepped digital frequency onto vinyl. With the exception of wealthy purists (read: just Radiohead), that vinyl you're listening to is actually the digital recording pressed onto vinyl, not an analog recording pressed to vinyl.

[absolutely sincere question] If you did two simultaneous recordings of a performance -- one a modern digital and the other a modern analog -- what would be the appreciable difference between the two once pressed to vinyl? I just reflexively assume that there wouldn't be much difference at that point. Unless you're thinking of the loudness-war compression that's done to digital, but that doesn't happen to the recordi…

There is not much difference, though digital can represent a wider range of frequencies than vinyl (higher highs and lower lows) so it can be said that it is generally higher quality. For more information, I think this is a fairly good objective comparison: https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4303

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#149

Post by rfrank »

jballanc wrote: post #112
eterm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why buy vinyl instead of buying CDs? I understand your point about listening to a whole album being preferable to singles, I feel the same way but I'd still much rather listen to a CD than an LP.

Not sure if this is still the case, but 10-15 years ago most vinyl albums were mastered separately from CDs. CDs were subject to the horrors of the loudness wars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war . So, in many cases, the vinyl actually does sound better, but not (directly) because of any difference in technology, just a difference in how the medium was processed.

It's pretty variable, but this is still the case for some releases. The opposite is also true as well, particularly with electronic music releases from small labels, with a low quality masters becoming the source material for the pressing. Music on Vinyl [1] is held in high regard for the quality of their masters/presses.

[1] http://www.musiconvinyl.com/

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#150

Post by amartya916 »

bcrescimanno wrote: post #144

As someone who started collecting vinyl about 3 years ago, it's about the difference between passive and active involvement in music. So much of our music consumption these days is a largely passive activity. We have music in our headphones while we work. We have music on in our cars while we drive. We have music on in the background of social events. While modern digital formats have given us true ubiquity of music…

This is very nicely framed, thank you. At the risk of going slightly off track, do you think this argument about active involvement also fits (physical and not electronic)books?
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