Spinning vinyl

EricF

Member
Any other vinyl record fans on DW?

A couple of years ago, a good friend re-intoduced me to the rich sound of LPs. One spin of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors", and I was hooked on that sound again. In this world of iPods/MP3's on shuffle as the background to another activity, it's rare that one sits down to listen to a whole album where listening to music is the activity.

My analog stereo rig...
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I've still got about 1,000 LPs and maybe 150 45s, but I don't listen regularly. Vinyl is making a slight resurgence, lots of new and 'catalog' titles are coming out on LP. Our latest album came out on vinyl last June, it's still sitting next to my turntable. Guess that tells you how long it's been since I turned it on!

Bermuda
 
Yes!

I`ve got myself over 100 vinyls that I sometimes listen to. They`re not all music I enjoy but i love them. I also got two vintage turntables (Tesla anyone?) that are still working and a reel-to-reel Unitra player. I love vintage hi-fi stuff!
 
In this world of iPods/MP3's on shuffle as the background to another activity, it's rare that one sits down to listen to a whole album where listening to music is the activity.

Hell, I don't need vinyl just to do that brother. I'm sittin' here engrossed with my ipod as we speak.

To top it off, I don't even have to get up to change albums let alone sides!! :)
 
To me there was something lost when the CD came along and that was the dedication to sitting down and taking the time to listen to music. With the CD, mp3, Ipod there is too much temptation to skip tracks, fast forward, pause and come back later...these are also advantages but I think people can abuse these options and miss out.On the flip side I don't miss pops, skips and scratches in the vinyl.

Also with CDs I miss sitting down and studying those big old 12" album covers and booklets!!!

Yeah nothing like putting on a slab of wax and letting it spin
 
To me there was something lost when the CD came along and that was the dedication to sitting down and taking the time to listen to music. With the CD, mp3, Ipod there is too much temptation to skip tracks, fast forward, pause and come back later...these are also advantages but I think people can abuse these options and miss out.On the flip side I don't miss pops, skips and scratches in the vinyl.

Also with CDs I miss sitting down and studying those big old 12" album covers and booklets!!!

Yeah nothing like putting on a slab of wax and letting it spin

Exactly!!...

...except for the pops, skips, and scratches. A properly cared for and cleaned LP can be as noise-free as a CD.
 
Also with CDs I miss sitting down and studying those big old 12" album covers and booklets!!!

At least you still get the liner notes. Pretty much why I can't cop digital downloads. I wanna know who played what and where it was recorded and who produced/engineered etc etc. I'm thankful all that info is still available on a CD.....gonna be a sad day when liner notes go the way of the dodo.

Still don't get why you guys feel you can't listen to an album in it's entirety on CD or ipod though. I do it daily.......and I'm not limited to being within hearing distance of the turntable either......my entire record collection comes with me.
 
if there was a vinyl addicts anonymous support group i'd definitely be part of it. i have probably 250 records i consider in my collection and maybe another 200 laying around my room looking to sell or trade. there's just something special about looking through all the artwork and deciding on an album and listening to it the way the artist wanted you to...from beginning to end
 
I had about 500 LPs. I gave them all away to a friend in the 90s at a time when I had very little space and before the vinyl revival - styluses were hard to find and cost the earth.

The collection included a rare copy of The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp, which I only got after it had been on order at the import shop for 2 years! Another rare one was Aphrodite's Child's 666, which included Vangelis and Demis Roussos before he became a crooner.

Doesn't matter. You can't take 'em with you. Listening to entire albums is a good thing to do but I don't see it as big a deal as some of you. I like MP3s. I don't need the filler, nor the fragility, scratches and pops and rapid deterioration of vinyl.

What I do miss is the presence of LPs, but I don't know how much of that is nostalgia.
 
Still don't get why you guys feel you can't listen to an album in it's entirety on CD or ipod though. I do it daily.......and I'm not limited to being within hearing distance of the turntable either......my entire record collection comes with me.

An iPod is a regular part of my world. I also (almost) always buy - and listen to - complete albums from iTunes, not just individual songs. My wife and teen-aged daughter (and most of the music-buying public), however, don't share the same sensibility.

At home, however, (when I have the time), just sitting and listening to an LP - purely for the sake of listening - is thoroughly enjoyed, and not relegated to being just a background to other activities.

if there was a vinyl addicts anonymous support group i'd definitely be part of it. i have probably 250 records i consider in my collection and maybe another 200 laying around my room looking to sell or trade. there's just something special about looking through all the artwork and deciding on an album and listening to it the way the artist wanted you to...from beginning to end

My favorite hi-fi forum...http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php. Vinyl freaks are welcomed with open arms.

I like MP3s. I don't need the filler, nor the fragility, scratches and pops and rapid deterioration of vinyl.

What I do miss is the presence of LPs, but I don't know how much of that is nostalgia.

There's no doubt that vinyl needs some extra love, but clean, un-damaged LPs sound REALLY good - even on a moderate-budget system.
 
My thoughts are not that you can't listen to a disc in its entirety, or that vinyl is better than digital, it is that the temptation to skip/fast forward/program, especially in this disposable mentality the world has nowadays, is so great that I think a lot of the newer generation may miss out on the experience of sitting down and taking the time to listen to an album in its entirety. Not saying you can't do it with CDs (I do it all the time) just saying the convenience and ease can make one blow through a disc.

Overall, to me, the advantages of CDs/digital is so much greater it blows vinyl away.

But as far as "music on the go"...yeah that is an advantage and I myself have a loaded mp3 player on standby. But if given the chance I'd rather eat my food at home at a dinner table than pull through the drive thru and eat it while driving. Sometimes you can't do that, and that is a time vinyl loses. Of course, I guess we could always bring out the 8-track player and put it in the car!
 
I have hundreds and hundreds of Lps. Stuff I retained from childhood (Beatles, McCartney, Stones), and albums recent purchased over the last few years when I purchased a used turntable. Thanks to Half Price Books and Records I have bolstered my collection with the good, the not so good, and the "huh?".... LPs recently purchased for $1 by the likes...

Patsy Cline, Jukebox
Santo & Johnny, ???
Dean Friedman..the guy who wrote "Ariel"
Leo Sayer
Chicago, V
Pointer Sisters, That's a Plenty
some K-Tel compilation albums..those are always fun
Edgar Winter, the Frankenstein album
 
Over the last year or so I've began assembling a slowly growing collection of LPs. I had picked up a relatively affordable to Stanton turntable and have been converting everything over into FLAC files. I've also got to take some time an re-rip my CD collection as well.

My big thing with vinyl however (and CDs to some extent), is I'm an album cut junkie. I can't stand compilations CDs, mind you I do have some, but I'd much rather buy four or five Skynyrd albums than a best of any day of the week.

On a side note if anyone's interested. I've got my entire vinyl collection up on google plus, if you want to take a look.
https://plus.google.com/photos/100078389387467116770/albums/5691045637851076657
 
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