Vinyl Resurgence Thread

makinao

Silver Member
I'm picking this up from the "How to beat superior drummer" thread.

I was never really a hardcore fan of vinyl, as I preferred open reel tape as my analog medium of choice. But the people on audiophile fora I'm in are all wetting their pants with prospects of LP only releases and re-releases of albums previously available only on CD.

What are your opinions on the seeming resurgence of interest in vinyl records?
 
Bunch of hipsters thinking it makes them cool.

Or no one can afford CD players and are afraid of being caught pirating music.
 
Hipsters...cool?HMMMM.

Funny,but all I had was vinyl or reel to reel at one time.Eight trak,and cassette came later.

I still have a large record collection,and I add to it when ever possible.You can go to yard sales and pick up vinyl for as little as 50 cents apiece.Not 2 months ago,I got a copy of Quadrophenia in excellent condition for 1 dollar.That's not the rarety,it's the norm.

I really don't know or care about how collecting make me appear cool or not.I do it because.it's cheap,and I still have a great piece of music,that I can convert into any format that I want..You're not pitrateing anything,you own the original copy,and as long as you're not selling other copies,and only using them for your own personal enjotment,thats NOT piracy.

Beat that with a stick.:):)

Steve B
 
I have no interest in vinyl. They scratch, are big, and the price tag is huge. I would also have to find a turntable and a place to put it. I have a ton of CD's and the thought of replacing them or even adding to them gives me a headache.
 
Bunch of hipsters thinking it makes them cool.

Or no one can afford CD players and are afraid of being caught pirating music.

Not just 'hipsters' thinking it makes them 'cool'.

I've had a record player since about 2004. I got my first one when I was 16 and I bought a much nicer player about five years ago. Since then, I've amassed a collection of records covering a wide range of genres. I like the physical feel of an album and the process of playing them - if I put on a record, I am much more likely to listen to the whole album and enjoy it because the experience is less disposable than selecting songs from a list and jumping around.

It's also made it much easier for me to get hard-to-find music. For a lot of older (especially classical) records, there has been no digital conversion made and I can find records easily in charity shops and second-hand shops. I've bought most of my records second-hand. It's also relatively inexpensive - especially for some of the more avant-garde music I'm into (noise). There are record stores around that have a section specifically for avant-garde and I'll often find interesting albums for less than £10. It also means that I 'browse' - so even if I don't know what I'm looking for, I can find something interesting. With online purchases, I have to specifically know what it is I'm after before I can find it. That's not the case with well-stocked record stores.

I prefer the experience. I just do. I've preferred it since I was young and I think it of it as an experience rather than simply sticking on a few tracks. It's a ritual and one I enjoy immensely.
 
Hipsters...cool?HMMMM.

Funny,but all I had was vinyl or reel to reel at one time.Eight trak,and cassette came later.

I still have a large record collection,and I add to it when ever possible.You can go to yard sales and pick up vinyl for as little as 50 cents apiece.Not 2 months ago,I got a copy of Quadrophenia in excellent condition for 1 dollar.That's not the rarety,it's the norm.

I really don't know or care about how collecting make me appear cool or not.I do it because.it's cheap,and I still have a great piece of music,that I can convert into any format that I want..

Beat that with a stick.:):)

Steve B

You don't count because you lived when vinyl was the norm. I was talking about people born post vinyl era.

Also, you never mentioned buying new vinyls of new releases. That also excludes you from the demographic I created.
 
You don't count because you lived when vinyl was the norm. I was talking about people born post vinyl era.

Also, you never mentioned buying new vinyls of new releases. That also excludes you from the demographic I created.

MrPockets, I'm not sure why you're trying to characterise people that undertake a particular activity. Were you beaten by a hipster as a child?

Vinyl is just fun and a lot of the stuff that I like isn't released in other formats, even now.
 
I have no interest in vinyl. They scratch, are big, and the price tag is huge. I would also have to find a turntable and a place to put it. I have a ton of CD's and the thought of replacing them or even adding to them gives me a headache.

^ This.

I had a ton of vinyl when I was a kid. That was then, and I don't see the need to go back.
 
I prefer the experience. I just do. I've preferred it since I was young and I think it of it as an experience rather than simply sticking on a few tracks. It's a ritual and one I enjoy immensely.

I hear you. Exactly my feeling. Admittedly most of my music listening is by CD enroute somewhere in my vehicle, but *preferred* quality experience is going to my room downstairs and putting on vinyl.

Listening to an mp3 or CD is like coffee with one of those "Tassimo" thingies.
Listening to vinyl is like making an espresso, the old way with a stovetop pot.

Its great times, because as Steve mentioned, vinyl is cheap at yard sales, good old stuff to be found, and I am no hipster looking to buy newly packaged vinyl of Lady Gaga or some other autotuned wussie anyway.
 
What are your opinions on the seeming resurgence of interest in vinyl records?
It's simply for a niche crowd. For people who still embrace vinyl, or are first time buyers, good for them. It's a guilty pleasure. At one time, I had over 2000 records. Sold most of 'em. Now I have over 2000 CDs. Most people I know listen to iPod.​
 
I'm a bit of an LP fan, ever since my dad handed his 200+ LP collection. It's not hipster rubbish... buying CD's is pointless + you normally get a high quality download code when you buy a vinyl these days. There's something special about vinyl, much more rewarding than playing something on iTunes. You have the artwork and the feel of an actual physical product. There's also collectable value.

That said, I think the idea of vinyl only releases is pretentious rubbish.
 
There's a reason things go away. I worked with a man who in the 60s and 70s was the guy who owned one of the first Moog synthesizers and wrote the very famous "Main St. Electrical Parade" music, and we were talking about the future of recorded music once and he surprised me when he said "Why would you want to go back to listening to music that way?" Les Paul was even said to tell a group of engineers at an Audio Engineering Society convention (and I paraphrase) "With all those bald heads out there, you'd think you'd come up with a better way to play music than to gouge a piece of vinyl with a diamond needle, or running rust-covered mylar over a pristine magnetic head".

Even in photography, film has died. And even before film died, people made photographs on glass plates, used all kinds of even more dangerous chemicals, etc.,....and all those processes are dead and gone.

I have tons of records from when I was a kid, and my favorites have now all become CD's. I agree I think its pretentious rubbish to only release your new album on vinyl, as you'd be cutting yourself off from potential sales online via places like iTunes.

This, like photography's seeming resurgence in film processes, will quickly die away too. Nobody really has the time to dedicate to it. I used to make cassette tapes of my albums so I can play it in the car - you really think anybody has the time to go back to doing that when they buy an album? Especially after they already know how quick it can be done when purchased digitally? I doubt it.
 
Maybe when they have a turntable for the car they will make a serious comeback. I can play a cd in my card, my computer, my home stereo system etc etc etc. the turntable in my trunk seems to skip a lot.
 
Just as with home theatre - car audio will move far away from compact discs pretty quickly. My car stereo for example, is bluetooth/USB only.

Use the download code from the vinyl and on my phone it all goes. But it's nice to have a physical collection. It's also better quality than CD audio (FLAC or LOSSLESS), so if yyou're wanting a hard copy, why not vinyl? Better quality, lasts longer, holds value... Mostly.

If you're happy to just have a digital copy, that makes perfect sense, too.
 
My take is that a lot of younger people who are discovering, understanding and appreciating music history and where "their" music actually came from are embracing vinyl. I run into a number of college students who are "inheriting" their parents vinyl collections. Part of the movement may be the younger generation tiring of having the latest, greatest technology and returning to "simpler" old school ways. With all the social media and web commercials some of the resurgence in vinyl may be attributed to individuals seeing musicians they respect with massive music libraries comprised of different formats. For example check out 1:32 of Questlove's commercial with both new school and old school technology:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=javJrkBg9ZM
 
My take is that a lot of younger people who are discovering, understanding and appreciating music history and where "their" music actually came from are embracing vinyl. I run into a number of college students who are "inheriting" their parents vinyl collections. Part of the movement may be the younger generation tiring of having the latest, greatest technology and returning to "simpler" old school ways. With all the social media and web commercials some of the resurgence in vinyl may be attributed to individuals seeing musicians they respect with massive music libraries comprised of different formats. For example check out 1:32 of Questlove's commercial with both new school and old school technology:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=javJrkBg9ZM
I share the same view. The more I got into music, the more I started to understand the importance of music history, which of course many random late-night-tangental-internet-clicks later started leading into an audio obsession that now rivals my drumming one. To me, vinyl is the most accessable analog format, which I think is just as valid to have as digital. I only have 50-60 records, compared to my 5000+ songs digitally, but all those physical albums are very important to me. There's something really intimate about holding music in your hands, and setting up a turntable to get the vibes flowing. I'd much prefer to buy vinyl over CD's, of which I only have a modest collection.
 
when I was a child my parents listened to vinyl. When I grew up they still had those records. I wanted to listen to them so I went out and bought a record player. The sound is different. If the record is not scratched the sound goes much deeper, you can hear more clarity. I have been obsessed with that sound for a long time now. My wife and I now have a collection of a few thousand vinyl records. I do hope they make a comeback and I like the download code. But as of now cd's should still be made. Some people are not ready to give up on them.

Most people will never hear the difference and that is ok but I do and that is why I prefer vinyl. hopefully in the future as far as digital downloads go we should start using wav files instead of mp3's the mp3's that are put on cd's and on your Ipods and Zunes or whatever you have that is where the quality is lost. with computers coming with a terabyte on them now wave files are not out of the question. That will take digital media to the next level.

I jumped around a bit so I apologize but I think I got my point across.
 
I don't buy music anymore, haven't for about 10 years now. Formats change. I can't justify the expense anymore. The only time I listen to music is on satellite radio while driving, which has any genre I'm interested in. When Sirius Radio first came out they had a deal....$500.00 USD gets you free satellite radio for life. I jumped on that. WHAT a deal. That was in 2006.

With satellite radio, I get to hear music I would otherwise never hear. Like right now I am trying to absorb more jazz. On a typical ride to work, I would probably have to spend about 100 bones to hear the songs I hear. At home if I need to learn something there's YT. I stopped buying music after realizing that for me personally, what a waste of money it was. I don't need the nostalgia of placing the needle to the vinyl, things are too fast paced for that anymore. It's just not for me, but I realize how much others enjoy the experience.
 
You're not pitrateing anything,you own the original copy,and as long as you're not selling other copies,and only using them for your own personal enjotment,thats NOT piracy.

Nobody got in trouble because they made a cassette copy of their album to listen in the car or Walkman™. It's when they started handing out copies that the trouble began. And that was a real commitment on the part of the owner of the LP - they had to make copies in real time, and typically one at a time, walking softly so as not to skip or rumble the transfer, and having to sticking around to flip the album. Not to mention the cost of the tape, and postage if sending to a friend far away. And, copying the album cover meant a trip to the local Postal Instant Press. Now that was dedication!

Little did the record industry know how benign it all was though. Once the internet took hold and a suitable file was created for transfer over slow connections - the .mp3 - all hell broke loose.

But vinyl for me still has its place, and as mentioned, there are songs and artists that just don't exist (yet) in the digital realm, even with the cornucopia of obscure material posted on YouTube. I still have about 800 LPs and maybe 150 45s, but haven't purchased any new releases on vinyl since they were actually new 20+ years ago. I still buy an old LP now and then, but I don't regard vinyl as a viable way to listen to music with modern (1990+)production values.

Bermuda
 
Bermuda, I'm going to contradict you with an example:

Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' (released in 2007) was a 'new' vinyl release. It was released on other formats too but the vinyl mastering is just gorgeous to the point where it doesn't sound anything like as good on other formats.
 
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