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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

#71

Post by hashkb »

swiley wrote: post #59
hashkb wrote: post #14

As long as nobody is claiming they sound better, and it's just for fun and nostalgia, I'm all for it. It really bugs me when vinyl buffs try to argue their rig sounds better or warmer or whatever than the same rig with a digital (or non-vinyl analog) source.

It sounds like (as others are saying) the limitations of vinyl as a medium had social effects that made it sound better (similar to the limitations of older video game consoles.)

That may be true, but you could just not use gross compression on your digital tracks to achieve loudness and it'd be moot.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#72

Post by icebraining »

mrspeaker wrote: post #7
arethuza wrote: post #2

I must saw I am mystified by this - I grew up with LPs, singles and cassettes in the 70s and 80s and I can't say I miss them.

I think the tactile-ness of vinyl makes it really enjoyable. The act of selecting a record and putting the needle down, finding the track you were after - it's satisfying. Get someone who's never touched a record before to do it and they are instantly hooked. Much more of pain than just playing a spotify playlist, but I understand why people still get into it!

Get someone who's never touched a record before to do it and they are instantly hooked.

Definitively not. When I first encountered them I found them a nice historical curiosity, like wax tablets, nothing more.

Some people, sure, but it's far from an universal experience.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#73

Post by gjem97 »

torrent-of-ions wrote: post #58
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…

They actually did sound better during the very early days of CDs. Consumer DACs were terrible in the 80s. But these days that isn't a problem. CDs can sound great, but they will also happily carry all kinds of non-harmonic distortion which many people find disagreeable. The loudness war is an issue, but it isn't widely understood.

Ah, the DACs! Yeah, I probably didn't start listening carefully to CDs until the early 90s, so maybe I missed a lot of the bad ones.

When you say non-harmonic distortion, are you talking about clipping? Isn't that directly related to the loudness war?

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#74

Post by afandian »

OberstKrueger wrote: post #61
afandian wrote: post #38

If you think this direction is bizarre, consider the 'cutting edge'. In the 21st century my 'CD player' (Spotify) is tracking everything I listen to so they can sell the data to a company who will build a comprehensive psychological profile about me and try to influence where I spend my money (or worse, which way I vote). This tweet specifically was bare-faced about it and appeared to be saying "our users are fine wi…

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.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#75

Post by bluesroo »

nindalf wrote: post #15
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…

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

> I listen to it from beginning to end without skipping

This was the important part for me at least. There are a lot of songs that I think I'm not into. Once I forced myself to listen to all of them all the way through I found a lot of good stuff.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#76

Post by cr1895 »

alexchantavy wrote: post #18
arethuza wrote: post #2

I must saw I am mystified by this - I grew up with LPs, singles and cassettes in the 70s and 80s and I can't say I miss them.

To some degree I probably trick myself into thinking vinyl sounds better, but for me there's something special about putting on side A, listening through the whole way without skipping tracks, and then physically flipping to side B. It forces me to get to know an album in a way that doesn't happen when I use Spotify.

>To some degree I probably trick myself into thinking vinyl sounds better

Audiophile bickering aside, the vinyl version may very well be cut from a different master. That's a very real difference (of course it could also be worse/the same).

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#77

Post by aarmenante »

eterm wrote: post #33
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…

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.

If you're into DJing older soul/disco/house/techno you can't get a lot of stuff on ITunes/Spotify. A lot of people end up ripping YouTube uploads for rare cuts.

It's a distribution issue. You can't even get some of these songs as torrents ha. You have to find the physical record or find a high bitrate download.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#78

Post by intro-b »

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…

One particular sight while living in Tokyo was the checkout line snaked around the store at places like Tower Records. Students and businesspeople alike, each with a CD or two, buying them after classes/work. New releases had entire sections with lots of promotional material. Honestly creates this warm nostalgic feeling, and I like the Japanese trend toward a "collection" aspect of maintaining a physical library of music/books/film/other media, but personally Spotify already feels too integrated into my life to give up, especially for music discovery.

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#79

Post by afandian »

cr1895 wrote: post #69
afandian wrote: post #38

If you think this direction is bizarre, consider the 'cutting edge'. In the 21st century my 'CD player' (Spotify) is tracking everything I listen to so they can sell the data to a company who will build a comprehensive psychological profile about me and try to influence where I spend my money (or worse, which way I vote). This tweet specifically was bare-faced about it and appeared to be saying "our users are fine wi…

I wonder how it impacts paid subscribers, since I don't get ads on Spotify. In any case, of "things which are tracked" Spotify learning about my music preferences is something I'm OK with. It results in me discovering new music through their playlist/radio recommendations, something that I really like about Spotify.

I'm a paying Spotify customer and I love the suggestions. I've discovered loads of new stuff.

But I am very worried to hear what is being done, unchecked, with personal activity data. I'm not making a connection between Spotify and Cambridge Analytica, but this style of control already has legs.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great...

Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again

#80

Post by jasonkostempski »

arethuza wrote: post #2

I must saw I am mystified by this - I grew up with LPs, singles and cassettes in the 70s and 80s and I can't say I miss them.

For me, the ceremony in selecting an album, getting it set up, and the inconvenience of changing that choice and skipping songs, positively adds to the experience. Tape is similar. With digital, I find my mind is constantly thinking things like: what song should I pick next? am I bored with the song that's on? I tried using CDs in my car with a no skip rule, and was successful for a while, but I'm pretty much back to the old habits now, probably because it holds 6 CDs.
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