I was in the local record shop on Saturday, picking up the latest Bat For Lashes and Brand New Heavies albums. CDs are still selling more units, but vinyl is up to 3 times the price of a CD, so no wonder it can make up the shortfall. Vinyl packaging is just nicer. Back in the 1980s and 90s, vinyl and cassettes were the same price. I wish I'd bought fewer tapes during my Walkman years and instead recorded the vinyl onto tape. Those tapes are all shot now, but my record collection is still here...
Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
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Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#212CDs are dying, but they are mostly being killed by streaming services, not by vinyl. Digital music formats are still the king by far. The vast majority of people don't even care that their streamed music is lossy and they lose out on high frequencies that their ears can't hear and their headphones can't reproduce. Vinyl appeals to hipsters and dumb audiophiles (there are smart audiophiles, but they aren't buying viny…
I just like having a physical copy of my favorite music. It is similar to how there's a greater appeal to rows of hardbound books on shelves compared to a Kindle loaded with epubs, even if the latter is more practical/portable/etc. I'm just going to stream the album anyway. If I'm going to go as far as to directly support the artist by purchasing it, for me it feels more substantial to buy the vinyl.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
This seems kind of counterproductive for the (I think) vinyl target group. If I listen to vinyl, I want the kinda retro feeling "real" analog audio signal, else I'd just get a CD or online download. A mid-range stylus is completly sufficient for a great experience without any noticable noise and next to no real wear on the records.
Why is using a laser not real analog audio?
I would guess (could be wrong) that the laser turntable involves some DSP and a DAC.
Normal turntables have a very simple analog signal path, with the needle moving electromagnets which emit the signal.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#214Is anyone working on a reasonably priced turntable to play vinyl discs without degrading them? In the mid '80s, Finial Technology announced such a turntable, and had a working unit at CES in 1986. It had a stylus that contained laser interferometers that could very accurately and precisely measure the distance from the stylus to the grove walls. It kept the stylus near, but not touching, the groove, getting the audio…
I don’t really see why you’d need such a thing (apart from marketing to audiophiles—who are willing to pay the buck—or for research/archiving purposes—who are also ready to pay the buck).
If you want supreme sound quality you don’t play from a vinyl. A CD (or even FLAC file) will always “sound” better, even from first play. I, at least, don’t really care about the minor degrading my mid-range turn table does to my records. Almost all of the new records I buy come with a download code, so if, for some reason, my record becomes degraded beyond listening—however many listenings that would take—I always have the option of listening to the higher quality FLAC file.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#215All these comments and no one has mentioned reel-to-reel tape decks. That will be the next hipster craze.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your conception of vinyl buyers is very negative. I think there's another category of people that buy vinyl. If you really love an album and want to support the artist you can purchase the vinyl version of the album. Apart from supporting the artist you often get additional treats like a nice booklet with the lyrics or additional art/imagery. I really think there's extra value in buying vinyl apart from it being hip.
You can also support artists by going to concerts and buying merch. If you're buying a lower quality audio option that degrades with usage, then you are buying into the hype at least a little bit.
> If you're buying a lower quality audio option that degrades with usage, then you are buying into the hype at least a little bit.
I buy them, I don't listen to them. I don't even own a record player, but I have like a dozen of titles I really like to listen to. It's the same with books, I've personally never opened the physical copies of the majority of titles on my bookshelf. I've read them on an e-reader and liked them so much that I wanted a copy that I can actually lend to people.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe true for rock concerts. Definitely false for classic or jazz live performances.
Which part is false? "Feels more real" or "sound quality isn't better"? I suspect you mean the latter, though with modern audio tech, well-mic'd and mastered recordings can easily sound ... if not better, then more intense, than live performances. Though there's nothing like seeing the music being performed live.
Yes, excuse the ambiguity.
To me a philharmonic concert sounds... very different than recorded audio. I'm confident I can double-blindly 100% tell the difference. And so can everyone else. This is one experiment I'd be happy to participate in.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#218CDs are dying, but they are mostly being killed by streaming services, not by vinyl. Digital music formats are still the king by far. The vast majority of people don't even care that their streamed music is lossy and they lose out on high frequencies that their ears can't hear and their headphones can't reproduce. Vinyl appeals to hipsters and dumb audiophiles (there are smart audiophiles, but they aren't buying viny…
>Cassette tapes could replace vinyl someday as the hip alternative to digital music
That happened a few years ago
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#219Is anyone working on a reasonably priced turntable to play vinyl discs without degrading them? In the mid '80s, Finial Technology announced such a turntable, and had a working unit at CES in 1986. It had a stylus that contained laser interferometers that could very accurately and precisely measure the distance from the stylus to the grove walls. It kept the stylus near, but not touching, the groove, getting the audio…
The ELP Japan has some pretty back drawbacks other than price...
It doesn't work with coloured vinyl and it's worse than regular turntables when it comes to dust since it just reads it instead of potentially moving it away
There are some videos about it on YouTube and it looks like you have to meticulously clean your vinyl before playing it.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#220CDs are dying, but they are mostly being killed by streaming services, not by vinyl. Digital music formats are still the king by far. The vast majority of people don't even care that their streamed music is lossy and they lose out on high frequencies that their ears can't hear and their headphones can't reproduce. Vinyl appeals to hipsters and dumb audiophiles (there are smart audiophiles, but they aren't buying viny…
True in that there are less die-hard CD fans compared to vinyl, which is always on a perpetual resurgence in some field or another, be that DJ's, wannabe DJ's, hipsters thru to audiophiles. It's always has a strong and following.
CD's, not so, as digital, switch to other digital mediums just removed the negative part and that was having to take it out of it's caddy and placing into a player.....An experience less exciting than vinyl on many levels we could all probably agree upon.
So I'd say that this was inevitable and not a swing or sign of things in any way. Though perhaps how some formats, whilst simple, still excell. Which with analogue and digital in many area's, still seeing divides for quantifiable reasons. Photography would be another area in which has its own bastions of the film format camera's.
But vinyl has managed to carry on and not on the back of core users, it's had wave after wave and removing any single group, be them hipsters who move onto something else, won't suddenly kill off vinyl as many fashion born resurgences do.