Is Vinyl and CD making a Comeback?

Trollheart · 06-12-2012, 05:26 AM

I'm directly from the generation that once went "Compact WHAT? How can you do that?"

Yes, I was a vinyl collector (but enough of my weird sexual proclivities!)

I currently have in the region of 400 albums, all vinyl, behind me as I look at my ancient metal record rack, and I have to say it's been years since I took one out. Even after the Great Crash of '07, when my turntable, along with CD and amp fell off the wall when my shelves collapsed (talk about Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria! At least mine stayed up for about a decade!) I never got another turntable, though recently I invested in a USB one. Haven't even taken it out of the box yet. I got this primarily though in order to review albums that I hadn't got on CD and that weren't available anywhere.

People look back at the heyday of vinyl with rose-coloured glasses of nostalgia, but I can tell you that the only reason we used vinyl then was that there was nothing else. Though it has its charms, vinyl was and is tricky: you have to clean off the record, hold it by the edges, replace it carefully in the sleeve when you're finished. You have to check your stylus before you put it on the record, in case there's any dust or fluff on it which might make the record stick or skip. And speaking of skipping, many turntables are quite sensitive, so if you move around too much when a record is playing you could find it jumping.

Storage is also an issue. My old collection as I say takes up four steel racks, about 5 feet high and the same wide. My CDs, on the other hand, are on a single walnut unit a third that size. The artwork is certainly nice, but tell me this: why did so many people rush to get into CDs when they first came out? Sure, at first they were a novelty, but that novelty would have worn off over the years.

They did it because it was much more convenient. All of the above problems with albums on vinyl were now moot: you could just slide a disc into a tray and hit play and forget about it. Also, you coudl now store all your collection in about a third or less of the space, and access them much easier. You can't exactly take a vinyl album with you to work. Also, remember, vinyl albums also had to be turned over to "side 2" when the first side ended, and if it was a double album then that was four turns (well, three) you'd have to perform. Vinyl, despite how well you took care of it, crackled hissed and popped like a breakfast cereal: dust, fingermarks, fluff, it all got into the grooves and often though you would clean your stylus as best you could there was still a stubborn hair or something left on it that was really hard to get rid of: you couldn't really touch these things with your fingers as they were very delicate, so you blew on them or used special brushes.

I'm not saying vinyl isn't an attractive prospect, but as Urban says, quite rightly, those for whom it was the first medium they used in their youth, before there was a choice, would be very unlikely to go back to it now. I know I wouldn't. Having used Windows 7 would you go back to Windows 95 (Mac users fill in your own analogy)?

That's my take on it anyway, from someone who grew up with vinyl. Yes it's seen as charming now, but when I was using it vinyl was the workhorse, but also the only horse. When CDs came I took a flying leap and landed on the bandwagon, and I don't intend to get off till they realise I haven't got a ticket and kick me off.

Howard the Duck · 06-12-2012, 06:45 AM

CDs never really died here - sales are just much much lower than before

vinyl is some sort of specialist niche here

it was never popular here, except in the 60s and 70s

once cassette arrived, it died

SGR · 06-12-2012, 07:31 AM

Trollheart nailed it!

Gucci Little Piggy · 06-12-2012, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Yes, I was a vinyl collector (but enough of my weird sexual proclivities!)

If you wanna use your music in that kidn of way then I suggets you use CD's instead, they have a hole in the middle like a donut. Just saiyan.

Howard the Duck · 06-12-2012, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gucci Little Piggy

If you wanna use your music in that kidn of way then I suggets you use CD's instead, they have a hole in the middle like a donut. Just saiyan.

vinyl is less rough

Gucci Little Piggy · 06-12-2012, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howard the Duck

vinyl is less rough

Still, a hole is nice aye aye?

Guybrush · 06-12-2012, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

I'm directly from the generation that once went "Compact WHAT? How can you do that?"

Yes, I was a vinyl collector (but enough of my weird sexual proclivities!)

I currently have in the region of 400 albums, all vinyl, behind me as I look at my ancient metal record rack, and I have to say it's been years since I took one out. Even after the Great Crash of '07, when my turntable, along with CD and amp fell off the wall when my shelves collapsed (talk about Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria! At least mine stayed up for about a decade!) I never got another turntable, though recently I invested in a USB one. Haven't even taken it out of the box yet. I got this primarily though in order to review albums that I hadn't got on CD and that weren't available anywhere.

People look back at the heyday of vinyl with rose-coloured glasses of nostalgia, but I can tell you that the only reason we used vinyl then was that there was nothing else. Though it has its charms, vinyl was and is tricky: you have to clean off the record, hold it by the edges, replace it carefully in the sleeve when you're finished. You have to check your stylus before you put it on the record, in case there's any dust or fluff on it which might make the record stick or skip. And speaking of skipping, many turntables are quite sensitive, so if you move around too much when a record is playing you could find it jumping.

Storage is also an issue. My old collection as I say takes up four steel racks, about 5 feet high and the same wide. My CDs, on the other hand, are on a single walnut unit a third that size. The artwork is certainly nice, but tell me this: why did so many people rush to get into CDs when they first came out? Sure, at first they were a novelty, but that novelty would have worn off over the years.

They did it because it was much more convenient. All of the above problems with albums on vinyl were now moot: you could just slide a disc into a tray and hit play and forget about it. Also, you coudl now store all your collection in about a third or less of the space, and access them much easier. You can't exactly take a vinyl album with you to work. Also, remember, vinyl albums also had to be turned over to "side 2" when the first side ended, and if it was a double album then that was four turns (well, three) you'd have to perform. Vinyl, despite how well you took care of it, crackled hissed and popped like a breakfast cereal: dust, fingermarks, fluff, it all got into the grooves and often though you would clean your stylus as best you could there was still a stubborn hair or something left on it that was really hard to get rid of: you couldn't really touch these things with your fingers as they were very delicate, so you blew on them or used special brushes.

I'm not saying vinyl isn't an attractive prospect, but as Urban says, quite rightly, those for whom it was the first medium they used in their youth, before there was a choice, would be very unlikely to go back to it now. I know I wouldn't. Having used Windows 7 would you go back to Windows 95 (Mac users fill in your own analogy)?

That's my take on it anyway, from someone who grew up with vinyl. Yes it's seen as charming now, but when I was using it vinyl was the workhorse, but also the only horse. When CDs came I took a flying leap and landed on the bandwagon, and I don't intend to get off till they realise I haven't got a ticket and kick me off.

I think there are a lot of people like me who will pirate music and then buy favourites. Because I already have a digital version of the music before I buy it, I don't actually want the physical format to listen to. I just want to own the album because I like it.

It does sound a bit daft to buy vinyls or CDs without intending to listen to them, but sometimes they are a bargain. Because I don't listen to neither CDs nor vinyls very often, how convenient they are to listen to becomes largely irrelevant and how interesting they are as collectors items becomes very important. And for collecting, I'd rather own a vinyl print of an album than a CD.

**Frownland** · 06-12-2012, 12:01 PM

I'm actually glad that I've been a music nerd and collected the hard copies of my favourite albums because my iPod recently broke and left me with only three Beatles tunes. Now, The Beatles are great, I just can't listen to 9 minutes of music for the few months where I'm saving up for a new one, so I just listen to CDs when I'm away from the computer. I don't know if CDs are necessarily coming back, but I'm sure glad as hell that I've bought several hundred of the things.

Stephen · 06-12-2012, 01:09 PM

It's been ages since I've bought a hard copy of anything. I have maybe 100 vinyl records and about 300 CDs but I don't really have the time these days so getting stuff digitally is hugely convenient. Plus for listening all I need is my computer or iPod to access hundreds of albums on a single device.

Geekoid · 06-13-2012, 02:30 PM

Before I got my first iPod in 2006, all I had were CDs and cassette tapes. Heck, I was still making mixtapes on cassette in 2004. I still buy CDs to date for two reasons:
1) because I live in Canada, and there are lots of American record companies that don't want us to be able to purchase their music digitally; so I have to buy stuff on eBay and Amazon and import them, which is sometimes cheaper anyway. As copyright law gets more and more strict in the digital realm, more people seem to be going this route.
and 2) because of the sound quality. I can usually tell the difference between 256 and 320 kbps. For most pop and alternative music, I'm OK with the lesser sound quality, but for most electronic albums, I like to be able to hear every little nuance clear as crystal, or it's just not the same experience.

I think a lot of people are starting to realize that most digital music available for download isn't optimal quality, and iTunes has slowly been upgrading their bit rates over the years for that very reason. Some people buy vinyl to transfer it digitally once, and then they put up the album art for display. No need to listen to it again on a record player once it's on your iPod.

All in all, though, it's just too much work for me to even consider vinyl. Having been employed in the signage business, I know how frustratingly delicate vinyl is. The number of times my CD's have been dropped or narrowly escaped tragedy scares me away from vinyl all together. Although, for people who are reverent enough about certain albums, by all means, it's a nice idea. It shows that you care enough about the recording that you would be willing to go through all the trouble of maintaining it, and I guess enough people agree, so vinyl is making a comeback with hardcore music collectors.

06-12-2012, 05:26 AM	#11 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	I'm directly from the generation that once went "Compact WHAT? How can you do that?" Yes, I was a vinyl collector (but enough of my weird sexual proclivities!) I currently have in the region of 400 albums, all vinyl, behind me as I look at my ancient metal record rack, and I have to say it's been years since I took one out. Even after the Great Crash of '07, when my turntable, along with CD and amp fell off the wall when my shelves collapsed (talk about Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria! At least mine stayed up for about a decade!) I never got another turntable, though recently I invested in a USB one. Haven't even taken it out of the box yet. I got this primarily though in order to review albums that I hadn't got on CD and that weren't available anywhere. People look back at the heyday of vinyl with rose-coloured glasses of nostalgia, but I can tell you that the only reason we used vinyl then was that there was nothing else. Though it has its charms, vinyl was and is tricky: you have to clean off the record, hold it by the edges, replace it carefully in the sleeve when you're finished. You have to check your stylus before you put it on the record, in case there's any dust or fluff on it which might make the record stick or skip. And speaking of skipping, many turntables are quite sensitive, so if you move around too much when a record is playing you could find it jumping. Storage is also an issue. My old collection as I say takes up four steel racks, about 5 feet high and the same wide. My CDs, on the other hand, are on a single walnut unit a third that size. The artwork is certainly nice, but tell me this: why did so many people rush to get into CDs when they first came out? Sure, at first they were a novelty, but that novelty would have worn off over the years. They did it because it was much more convenient. All of the above problems with albums on vinyl were now moot: you could just slide a disc into a tray and hit play and forget about it. Also, you coudl now store all your collection in about a third or less of the space, and access them much easier. You can't exactly take a vinyl album with you to work. Also, remember, vinyl albums also had to be turned over to "side 2" when the first side ended, and if it was a double album then that was four turns (well, three) you'd have to perform. Vinyl, despite how well you took care of it, crackled hissed and popped like a breakfast cereal: dust, fingermarks, fluff, it all got into the grooves and often though you would clean your stylus as best you could there was still a stubborn hair or something left on it that was really hard to get rid of: you couldn't really touch these things with your fingers as they were very delicate, so you blew on them or used special brushes. I'm not saying vinyl isn't an attractive prospect, but as Urban says, quite rightly, those for whom it was the first medium they used in their youth, before there was a choice, would be very unlikely to go back to it now. I know I wouldn't. Having used Windows 7 would you go back to Windows 95 (Mac users fill in your own analogy)? That's my take on it anyway, from someone who grew up with vinyl. Yes it's seen as charming now, but when I was using it vinyl was the workhorse, but also the only horse. When CDs came I took a flying leap and landed on the bandwagon, and I don't intend to get off till they realise I haven't got a ticket and kick me off. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

06-12-2012, 12:01 PM	#18 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	I'm actually glad that I've been a music nerd and collected the hard copies of my favourite albums because my iPod recently broke and left me with only three Beatles tunes. Now, The Beatles are great, I just can't listen to 9 minutes of music for the few months where I'm saving up for a new one, so I just listen to CDs when I'm away from the computer. I don't know if CDs are necessarily coming back, but I'm sure glad as hell that I've bought several hundred of the things. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

06-12-2012, 07:31 AM	#13 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	Trollheart nailed it!

06-12-2012, 01:09 PM	#19 (permalink)
Stephen I sleep in your hat Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne, Vic. Aus. Posts: 1,847	It's been ages since I've bought a hard copy of anything. I have maybe 100 vinyl records and about 300 CDs but I don't really have the time these days so getting stuff digitally is hugely convenient. Plus for listening all I need is my computer or iPod to access hundreds of albums on a single device.

06-13-2012, 02:30 PM	#20 (permalink)
Geekoid Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 171	Before I got my first iPod in 2006, all I had were CDs and cassette tapes. Heck, I was still making mixtapes on cassette in 2004. I still buy CDs to date for two reasons: 1) because I live in Canada, and there are lots of American record companies that don't want us to be able to purchase their music digitally; so I have to buy stuff on eBay and Amazon and import them, which is sometimes cheaper anyway. As copyright law gets more and more strict in the digital realm, more people seem to be going this route. and 2) because of the sound quality. I can usually tell the difference between 256 and 320 kbps. For most pop and alternative music, I'm OK with the lesser sound quality, but for most electronic albums, I like to be able to hear every little nuance clear as crystal, or it's just not the same experience. I think a lot of people are starting to realize that most digital music available for download isn't optimal quality, and iTunes has slowly been upgrading their bit rates over the years for that very reason. Some people buy vinyl to transfer it digitally once, and then they put up the album art for display. No need to listen to it again on a record player once it's on your iPod. All in all, though, it's just too much work for me to even consider vinyl. Having been employed in the signage business, I know how frustratingly delicate vinyl is. The number of times my CD's have been dropped or narrowly escaped tragedy scares me away from vinyl all together. Although, for people who are reverent enough about certain albums, by all means, it's a nice idea. It shows that you care enough about the recording that you would be willing to go through all the trouble of maintaining it, and I guess enough people agree, so vinyl is making a comeback with hardcore music collectors.