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I still have my Technics 1200 and, in fact, once in a while I'll have a jolly good sit down and play some LPs and singles.
It's fun and certainly appealing for nostalgia's sake, but I would never delude myself about vinyl superiority--that's for damn sure.
The 1200--great machine, though. Solid as a rock.
Yes, it's a beauty.
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By Brandon Drenon
BBC News, Washington
March 13, 2023
Vinyl record sales outperformed CDs in the US for the first time since 1987, according to a new report.
I went to a record store near my office a couple of hours ago today (something I still do now and then when I get the opportunity), and indeed, the vinyl section seems to be growing. Lots of new albums out on LP.
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I understand how much this mystifies (and angers) so many on this board, but as a father of a girl who adores vinyls, I understand it. Streaming is a miracle in many ways, but it's too easy, and has the effect of making none of the music feel special. Digital music files, whether delivered over the internet or on a plastic disc, are pretty much the same. (I know, I know, there are no liner notes on streaming, but most music doesn't come with notes, and few read the notes.) LPs (vinyls) are beloved not despite the inconvenience of them, but because of it. (My daughter also treasures her film camera for the same reason.) The effort of listening to a record forces you to think about it in a way that's easily lost when music is disposable.
None of this would make me go back to vinyl. But I do understand why some others are.
These are the first wise words I've read about the topic since I joined this forum. Thanks for that.
I'm a Vinyl lover and an audiophile. That's why I keep buying CDs and digital music.
Vinyl is about experience and being an active part of it. It makes you slow down and pay attention to how special what you're listening to is.
I'd compare that to opening your photo albums or nice art book. It's like taking a break from the World around you and rest in a cosy bubble for 45 minutes.
I totally get the ritual aspect of this. The slowing down, the paying attention. I'm an advocate. In fact I recently said in another thread it's one of the reasons I still listen to CD. But what I can't understand - for the life of me - is why vinyl is preferable for this. Why not opt for a ritual whose format is without flaws? After all, once you put the disc to the player (CD or vinyl) and relax in your chair/couch/bed etc to handle the album package while you listen, isn't the experience exactly the same? Other than smaller artwork on the CD, compensated for with extensive liner notes? Even if you just listen, again isn't the commitment exactly the same?
Or as Schiffy suggests, is CD still too "digital" for rebellious tastes?
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It's not like the artists are etching each blank PVC disc by hand with an awl...
Well they should, considering the price of LPs nowadays.
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It's just how music distribution has changed. When the CD came out in the early 1980s, it had several advantages right "out of the box" over LPs:
1. Higher dynamic range
2. No wear (every time you play an LP, there is wear)
3. More durable (more resistant to scratches etc.)
But there were also several disatvantages in those early stages:
1. Analog recording and distribution techniques were perfected over decades, digital recording technology was comparatively new and had many teething problems.
2. Many early CDs and LPs just used the same master, and the masters were usually done for LP. (Often, a CD was just the earlier analog LP mastering put out on CD... back then often denoted as "AAD" release.)
But digital recording and distribution techniques improved quickly, and many recordings were then (re-)mastered more specifically with CD audio in mind.
Now CD sound is digital sound. Whether you listen to digital sound from bits and bytes on CD or DVD-Audio or Bluray-Audio or WAV or ALAC or FLAC files, whether you put in a physical disc, listen via NAS, or subscribe to a streaming service, if you put it through the same DAC on the same hifi system, the sound will be exactly absolutely the same. Now most people have dropped buying CDs/LPs in favor of digital files, and the majority of listeners uses streaming.
Now streaming had its teething problems as well, in the beginning, streaming meant poor lossy sound, 64 or 128kbps MP3 on PC speakers etc, but nowadays you can easily stream 24bit/192kHz sound on a Ferrari priced sound system if you are so inclined. And with streaming, you have millions of titles available. So for those people who are listening to digital music, there is little reason to still buy CDs and there is even little reason to buy downloads. If I subscribe to a streaming service like Tidal, Deezer, or Qobuz, what's the point of buying a lossless/high-res download of a recording that's already included in my subscription? Why go through the trouble to set up a NAS and rip CDs and buy downloads if you can just switch on a streaming service? In the exact same quality? (I know many of us here all have our reasons, but I am talking about the general public.)
So there is no reason to "buy" music for sound quality anymore.
So the reasons people would still buy music may be because:
1. To "own" music, to ensure that no one can take it away from them, that they can listen to it, regardless of availability and dependence on a subscription.
2. To pay and support their artist/band/label etc.
3. To have a physical representation of the music, something to hold, put on display, sort in a shelf
3. To have background information, cover art, booklets, etc.
4. To establish a particular recording/album as "part of you" and your musical history
Now most of theses things LPs can do as well and some even better than CDs or downloads, so I would say that is one of the reasons people nowadays buy "more" LPs than CDs or downloads. Nothing quite like holding a brand new LP in your hand (I flipped through both LPs and CDs today in a store, and, well, LPs are much more imposing... the cover art, the weight... if you still want to spend money BUYING music nowadays, I think LPs just offer more incentive than CDs to do so.)
People who are just in it for the music don't "need" CDs or downloads, for the most part they can rely on a streaming service and get the same quality music.
People who want more and want a physical connection to the music get more out of it from the LP than from a CD. (Even I would buy an LP over a CD if I really thought an album was great (looking), provided the LP came with a (lossless/high-res) download code.)
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Posted: |
Mar 15, 2023 - 9:41 AM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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... LPs (vinyls) are beloved not despite the inconvenience of them, but because of it. (My daughter also treasures her film camera for the same reason.)
There's nothing inherently poorer quality about photochemical photography compared to digital, whereas even the best-mastered vinyl will always sound inferior to a well-recorded and mastered CD.
Right, but the comparison is about the convenience. She can take a hundred photos this morning with her phone, and they'll all look pretty good and be ready instantly, but they're so easy, and free, actually looking at the photos almost seems like an afterthought. A film photo is expensive, and depending on where you are in your film roll it can take weeks or months before you see the end result, but it changes the experience and forces you to appreciate the end product.
I know it seems weird to say this about an audio product, but you have to take sound quality out of the equation for this LP/CD debate. A well-mastered LP sounds just fine, and not everybody is an audiophile. (I will not get into the whole warmth vs. digital debate, which is beyond my ears.)
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Posted: |
Mar 15, 2023 - 10:23 AM
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By: |
nuts_score
(Member)
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I understand how much this mystifies (and angers) so many on this board, but as a father of a girl who adores vinyls, I understand it. Streaming is a miracle in many ways, but it's too easy, and has the effect of making none of the music feel special. Digital music files, whether delivered over the internet or on a plastic disc, are pretty much the same. (I know, I know, there are no liner notes on streaming, but most music doesn't come with notes, and few read the notes.) LPs (vinyls) are beloved not despite the inconvenience of them, but because of it. (My daughter also treasures her film camera for the same reason.) The effort of listening to a record forces you to think about it in a way that's easily lost when music is disposable.
None of this would make me go back to vinyl. But I do understand why some others are.
These are the first wise words I've read about the topic since I joined this forum. Thanks for that.
I'm a Vinyl lover and an audiophile. That's why I keep buying CDs and digital music.
Vinyl is about experience and being an active part of it. It makes you slow down and pay attention to how special what you're listening to is.
I'd compare that to opening your photo albums or nice art book. It's like taking a break from the World around you and rest in a cosy bubble for 45 minutes.
Hi steffromuk! I've largely avoided this thread because I know where the conversation goes. I am also a collector of vinyl these days. I spent 20 years of my life collecting CDs and then just moved on. I moved all of the CDs to digital files on their own hard drive and downsized to a vinyl collection to focus solely on albums that I truly love and find great satisfaction in. I feel many of us just buy-buy-BUY to satisfy this collector urge as soundtrack fans and I was gobsmacked by just how many CDs I had purchased for the hell of it or because someone here recommended it as some high and mighty type thing despite my later realization that maybe their advice isn't advice I should follow. I am much happier collecting less film music in the digital age, and always enjoy hunting for vinyl. If it is not in good condition I pass on it despite the price and/or my desire for it.
There will always be the debate about sound quality difference and from those that haven't listened to vinyl since the 1980s and probably didn't take care of the media itself it makes a lot of sense for them to harbor "anger" or "resentment" over the format still existing but they do seem to negate the concept that collectors can and will collect whatever they prefer and also vinyl is still heavily used by studio musicians and DJs and other people working in the music industry. It was never going anywhere. For the sake of quality, enough can't be said of hearing the proper sound of those old analog 70s and 80s masters. If it was mixed and mastered on tape originally, I typically don't want a digital re-master. I want the original recorded sound. I want vinyl. Anything after 1988 can be a grey area, because it was probably mastered digitally, anyway. It's honestly a blessing and a luxury to be able to collect any physical media and be able to access digital content on demand in so many manners. At the end of the day, anything between vinyl, CD, digital, etc. is just an approximation of what has been recorded live and mastered by professionals who know their art better than we do. Just be happy in your pursuits and pay no heed to the grouches here! 
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