What are your thoughts on vinyl?

[heymisterk]

LPs, or course.

 

Enthusiasts of vinyl records swear by them for the same reason many of us (me included)swear by tube amps: warmth, tone, mojo.

 

I agree that vinyl has a certain quality that cannot be matched digitally, but I feel that may be as much "experiencing" vinyl as it is the sound: you put the needle down, and you generally listen to a great record straight through, the way - I would guess - the artist meant. And of course, the occasional pops and crackles add character.

 

On the other hand, I admit that I love my iPod and iTunes account, and you can't plug a turntable into your car's AUX jack! In addition, I learned that transferring vinyl into a digital format is a long and tedious process; it is, after all, turning analog to digital, which many would argue is not how God intended it...

 

So what are your thoughts on this?

[dem00n]

Simple.

 

Ipod: Convince and great for travel/car.

Vinyl/LP: Quality for when your at home.

 

Done.

[surfpup]

I hung on to my vinyl for years... but I finally caved. Convenience won in the end. And the records just took up too much room. It's gone - all digital now.

[MrNylon]

I still have all my vinyls from the 60"s, and 70's. They played well, I just never liked vinyl LP's if they were scratched. Digital is defiantly more forgiving.

[AlanH]

You can't just stick it on any old turntable. To surpass the sound quality of CD you need a vary good stylus, cartridge and turntable.

[L5Larry]

I AM the guy that will pick up your record collection when you decide to go digital only. I have collected four "giveaway" record collections (plus my own), and now have hundreds and hundreds of albums on vinyl. In fact I have not cataloged them yet and really have no idea what I've got, although I did hand pick through the collections and only took the stuff I had some personal interest in, or had historical value.

 

About the same time CD's were taking over the world I went out a bought a $1200 turntable, figuring it would last me the rest of my life. My wife even wants me to add a turntable to out living room home theater system.

 

That said, what I listen to most (home and car) is local radio (NPR, PRN, college stations, etc), and CD's are the go to self-programming medium.

[Searcy]

I met my wife is a record store. She worked there. When we got married she had about 2000 LPs. At our peek we had about 3500 I guess. Lost them all in the flood. Now I buy used CDs and burn them to a hard drive the resell the CDs. I do still have a wooden box full of 45's though. I'll be keeping that.

[MrNylon]

You can't just sick it on any old turntable. To surpass the sound quality of CD you need a vary good stylus, cartridge and turntable.

 

You're so right about the good stylus, cartridge and turntable.

[Rabs]

I used to have quite a bit but have changed with the times.. I enjoy the clarity of Digital personally.. Vinyl is just way too prone to scratch etc (even though yes it is a warmer sound).. Also with a good quality EQ which some phones and high end systems have, that can really make a difference to the digial sound.

 

HOWEVER I do still own quite a few vinyl picture discs that I will always keep (got some great Hendrix and Zeppelin ones)

[MrNylon]

I have some of my vinyls that I lent out to friends to listen to, and they came back to me scratched etc. I can listen to certain songs on CD's, and wait to hear the skip that the vinyl has on it. And of course, It's not there. I still remember places where 8 Tracks switched a track in certain places of songs too.

[heymisterk]

I admit there is something magical about vinyl. If I am home alone with some good wine and a book, or am doing housework, I let the needle drop...

[MrNylon]

I thought it was pretty fast the way CD's took the place of the LP's. There was a local Peaches Record And Tapes, I bought my vinyls at. I was unable to get in there for about a month. When I walked in the store, there were two conference size tables that had what was left of all the LP's in the store on the tables.

[Riffster]

To me frankly vinyl is king but I do not associate it with mojo, I associate it with the art of listening to music, like actually sitting down and listening to a record.

 

Life is so fast and busy that the convenience of portable music is unbeatable but are we really listening? I can tell you I am not, at least half the time is background music because I am doing something else.

 

I have about 200 LPs, I am selective, back in the day I was too broke to buy a lot and these days I only buy what I consider exceptional albums.

 

I do believe vinyl sounds better, now that I have tinnitus in my right ear and my hearing is sensitive to harness I can tell the difference even more. I can crank up the vinyl and my ears are just fine, not so with CDs.

[Riffster]

[Jon S.]

Simple.

 

Ipod: Convince and great for travel/car.

Vinyl/LP: Quality for when your at home.

 

Done.

 

 

+1. My thoughts exactly! I even break out some old 8 tracks on occasion.

[stein]

Vinyl is still the king, and more so than it has ever been.

 

Regarding pure sound quality, of corse.

 

For one, typical records hold more info than the 16 bit digital format. It takes far, far more computer power than 16 bits to come up with the same amount of information recorded on records. The info that goes missing is often in the decay of notes, little timing cues, stuff that adds up to "boogie" when musicians do so. Also, things like differences in volume levels or differences in dymanics are dumbed down by the 16 bit format.

 

What it all adds up to is that a lot of the info that MAKES the music is lost with a CD compared to a record. Perhaps, MAYBE, if a DVD was dedicated two having all it's capacity to a two track recording, it MAY approach having the same amount of info. But then, the playback system would have to be up to it.

 

So, another point: a record playback is much simpler than a CD or digital player. More is happening to do it digitally. And what it means in the real world is that for cheaper built systems, less is lost in the analog format.

[Rocky4]

Ease of use turned me digital. I gave away 400 albums when I got divorced and was moving somewhere different every 6 months. Zeppelin Bootlegs, Hendrix In The West, Rory Gallagher Irish Tour '74, Heart,s Magazine on Mushroom, etc. The sound of Aerosmith Rocks on vinyl is awe inspiring. I had an old Technics turntable with a Pioneer SA 6500 II power amp. Oh well, now I have music stored on my Mac that transmits to a sub and satellite speakers. I do most of my listening in my truck though. Hard hitting bass and all that without any of the realism that vinyl supplies.

[rocketman]

Never looked back once the CD came out. Believe it or not I'm not a huge technology fan. For example, I hate computers. I prefer writing over a word processor. I'd rather solve my math problems by hand than have some computer do it. My "contacts" on my Android phone has made me dumb. I used to have a photographic memory with numbers but I started losing that ability when I punched in a contact. So I type the numbers again without using contacts. When I asked my wife-to-be out (18 years ago!) she was impressed that I didn't need to write her number down. Either that or she took pity on a lonely looking geek!

 

But I have no desire to ever use vinyl again.

[Lazerface]

I was born in 87 but the first music i remember listening to was a beach boys record. Vinyl will always hold a special place in my heart, a record is more of an experience than skipping tracks through an ipod on shuffle. Vinyl rules!

[brad1]

I have about 200 CDs. But I have close to a thousand LPs. Have a nice turntable to play 'em on too.

 

I love going to used record stores and spending time going through all the vinyl.

Feels like a museum of music to me. :)

But then, I still like going to libraries too

[L5Larry]

I have about 200 CDs. But I have close to a thousand LPs.

 

Now there's a sidebar poll for this thread, do you have more LP's or CD's? Without actually counting, I would have to say I have more LP's, and always will!

 

I was around when the audio "cassette" was invented, and received as a Christmas present one of the VERY early Bell & Howell cassette recorder/player. Being able to actually record music (or jams, it came with a STEREO microphone) on a pocket size medium was the world's greatest invention at the time. Having an industrial/commercial quality cassette recorder I was able to completely disregard the 8-track fad, as 8-track was generally a "playback" medium (yes, there were 8-track recorders, but nobody wanted or bought them), my need was for duplicating other peoples albums. I was a kid and couldn't afford to buy every album I wanted, but for the price of a blank cassette I could record EVERY album I could get my hands on. Prior to the CDR I had many more cassettes than LP's.

 

You've got to remember that all these media format changes are designed to SELL you something. EVERY medium change is brought about (marketed) by a competitor of the previous format, the video business in the same way..... AND the "technically" best medium is NOT necessarily the one that wins out for mass market acceptance.

[quapman]

Grew up with it. Have seen all the mediums evolve. They all have their place.

[69tele]

mp3 and cds are convenient, but there's nothing like a vinyl LP on a good system.

 

I have an old 70s JVC turntable with an ortophon cartridge plus a marratz amp and wharfdale speakers and with a good quality audiophile album the sound is to die for.

[badbluesplayer]

I haven't even hooked up my turntable for years. I listen to music in the car or thru my ipod into some PA or amplifier. Sometimes I watch the blues channel on TV.

[stein]

Now there's a sidebar poll for this thread, do you have more LP's or CD's? Without actually counting, I would have to say I have more LP's, and always will!

 

I was around when the audio "cassette" was invented, and received as a Christmas present one of the VERY early Bell & Howell cassette recorder/player. Being able to actually record music (or jams, it came with a STEREO microphone) on a pocket size medium was the world's greatest invention at the time. Having an industrial/commercial quality cassette recorder I was able to completely disregard the 8-track fad, as 8-track was generally a "playback" medium (yes, there were 8-track recorders, but nobody wanted or bought them), my need was for duplicating other peoples albums. I was a kid and couldn't afford to buy every album I wanted, but for the price of a blank cassette I could record EVERY album I could get my hands on. Prior to the CDR I had many more cassettes than LP's.

 

You've got to remember that all these media format changes are designed to SELL you something. EVERY medium change is brought about (marketed) by a competitor of the previous format, the video business in the same way..... AND the "technically" best medium is NOT necessarily the one that wins out for mass market acceptance.

I feel ya.

 

When I was a kid, my dad bought the Nakamichi 582z when it came out. The idea here was to record records and play them back in the car. The quality was multitudes better than buying pre-recorded cassetes from the record stores. Turns out that the quality of that deck would have a huge impact on me throughout the cassette "age" and the CD "age".

 

By the time I was a young adult, the casstte was perhaps the main medium for most, but certainly for me. So even while most were buying cassettes, I was still buying a lot of records to make into cassettes. A little later, when I was playing with more poeple, I found I could make "demo" tapes using the Nak deck that were as good as anything-turns out the QUALITY was only limited by what microphones and head-amps I could get. What that meant for me was that I could record what me and my friends did and the quality was at least as good as what one could get going into a studio if we wanted. Of corse, not having a "real" band or a record deal didn't really get poeple to play them much or care, but it was fun having good recordings around and having freinds ask "what's this?", or having coffee shops and clubs play them sometimes. Loads of fun to make, too.

 

Fast forward to the CD "age" and I was STILL making tapes that sounded better than CD's. By then I had got the "audiophile" disease and had more NAK decks and some fairly expensive playback stuff. But a lot of the hobby was taking something on vinyl, making a tape, and having poeple question or be blown away at why the CASSETTE I gave them sounded so much better than the CD they had bought. Then I am pretty much sharing this "hobby" by tuning other poeples turntables and casstte decks.

 

Those days are long gone aren't they? Now, even if you COULD buy blank cassettes or even give someone a cassette, they don't have anything to play them back on.