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50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

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Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#171

Post by analog31 »

superultra wrote: post #129

I oversee pressing for over 150k+ records a year. We eliminated download cards a while ago because the redemption rate was so low. I wouldn’t doubt if the number of buyers who don’t own a record player is even higher tha 50%, and that the percentage of people who actually play the records is actually 10-20%. I don’t have data on that, it’s just a hunch. Many of us in the indie music industry (hip hop sustained record…

While I haven't seen vinyl at performances, I've seen plenty of CD's. My family enjoys attending shows given by smaller indie acts in areas such as folk, jazz, and classical. There's often a merch table with CD's to buy. We often buy them, then I take them home and rip them onto an NAS.

I've asked some of the musicians flat-out: Which way of buying your material will get the most money directly to you? The answer is always: Buy the CD. Of course I can also make donations, and have done so.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#172

Post by nihiven »

vr46 wrote: post #155
Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the youngster in this case and I am going to tell you something but we really need to move off of spotify. I never really got onto spotify. I was always the youtube kind of guy, although I recently started listening to youtube music when I realized that my youtube feed was being impacted and youtube music's a better way to listen I guess We really need to get to pen-drives first before CD as well I guess. Like d…

Come and join the resurgent Minidisc movement!

Sounds cool, what's a good player?

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#174

Post by Nav_Panel »

jonhohle wrote: post #55
stefanfisk wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But sadly often horrible mastering.

That’s not the mediums fault. I’m sure during the 70s and 80s there were equally horrible vinyl masterings.

It is partly the medium's fault. A lot of the sins of CD/digital mastering wont fly on vinyl because there's physical constraints around what you can literally press into the record groove.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#175

Post by disqard »

bob1029 wrote: post #34
thechao wrote: post #20

My dad grew up in the 50s & 60s. During COVID he purchased my daughters' the, I quote, "shittiest briefcase record players" he could find. Both girls listen to their music on their devices, but also buy vinyl. The other day, my eldest came down from her room complaining that her vinyl "sounded awful". I told her to bring it up with their Grampy. His response: "you can't appreciate good playback until you've heard awf…

480i content, CRTs, analog signal chains, non-digital transports, film grain, et. al., provide opportunity for our imagination to step in and produce a better interpolation than the ground truth might otherwise provide.

You reminded me of how Marshall McLuhan called TV a "cool" (as opposed to "hot") medium.

My interpretation is that back in his day, TV was grayscale, grainy, and interlaced, and therefore demanded that the viewer exert their imagination to "complete the picture".

I imagine that if he were to see today's 4k full-color 120Hz panels, he would call TV a "hot" medium.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#176

Post by antod »

microtonal wrote: post #44
thechao wrote: post #20

My dad grew up in the 50s & 60s. During COVID he purchased my daughters' the, I quote, "shittiest briefcase record players" he could find. Both girls listen to their music on their devices, but also buy vinyl. The other day, my eldest came down from her room complaining that her vinyl "sounded awful". I told her to bring it up with their Grampy. His response: "you can't appreciate good playback until you've heard awf…

I was going to ask, when are the youngsters going to discover CDs? Much less prone to degradation to vinyl, lossless ripping, superior quality.

My daughter (16) and her friends are. She's asked for specific CDs as presents, and is now the guardian of my brother and mine CD stashes dragged out of the wardrobes and attics.

She'll trawl thrift shops for CDs too.

New CDs in shops now are much much cheaper than they used to be as well.

Giving up Spotify isn't on the cards yet though. I'll teach her how to rip songs next I reckon.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#177

Post by antod »

vr46 wrote: post #155
Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the youngster in this case and I am going to tell you something but we really need to move off of spotify. I never really got onto spotify. I was always the youtube kind of guy, although I recently started listening to youtube music when I realized that my youtube feed was being impacted and youtube music's a better way to listen I guess We really need to get to pen-drives first before CD as well I guess. Like d…

Come and join the resurgent Minidisc movement!

I'll have to pivot to DAT revival for max hipster cred.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#178

Post by antod »

greekrich92 wrote: post #64
jonhohle wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not the mediums fault. I’m sure during the 70s and 80s there were equally horrible vinyl masterings.

I have a record collection and a cd collection. It was not the same. So many CDs of older music sound bad on CD. Recordings made during the CD era sound fine though, but I'm not an audiophile. Maybe the "loudness wars" are a complaint for some.

There was a stretch of time between when specific mastering for CDs started and before the loudness war kicked in. Plenty of time for good recordings to happen.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#179

Post by tracker1 »

garciasn wrote: post #146
superultra wrote: post #129

I oversee pressing for over 150k+ records a year. We eliminated download cards a while ago because the redemption rate was so low. I wouldn’t doubt if the number of buyers who don’t own a record player is even higher tha 50%, and that the percentage of people who actually play the records is actually 10-20%. I don’t have data on that, it’s just a hunch. Many of us in the indie music industry (hip hop sustained record…

Gen X. Own a record player. Listen to vinyl as “intentional listening” and love the album cover art. My daughter (Gen Z/A) could play her albums but doesn’t. She puts them on display in her room. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also Gen X... though don't own any vinyl or a record player... mostly ripped CDs through the later 90's up through 2010 or so. Since then, mostly just use online streaming.

That said, I did once consider getting a record player only to rip/archive my grandmother's collection of vintage vinyl that wound up going to my niece on her passing.

I just prefer convenience/portability. Of course, as far as purchasing goes... I bought far more music when original Napster was around... it lead me to discover a lot of music that lead my to outright buy/rip full albums myself. It's the one thing that is significantly worse today without actual DJs in control of music at radio stations in favor of automated industry garbage controls.

I have no good way to discover new music any more. At least nothing I actually find myself using.

Re: 50% of U.S. vinyl buyers don't own a record player

#180

Post by vr46 »

nihiven wrote: post #172
vr46 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come and join the resurgent Minidisc movement!

Sounds cool, what's a good player?

We generally encourage people to buy a NetMD device as their first player, so they can simply drag-and-drop music onto disks via USB. Probably any working machine, except an Sony N1 or Sony N10.

https://www.minidisc.wiki/guides/getting-started/what-to-get

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