Vinyl collecting vs. CD collecting
 

Ok, so I've seen many people who collect vinyl and I've also seen many people who collect CDs. My question is, which hobby do you guys think is better? Which one do you prefer/practice?

Both side has it's pros and cons

Vinyl collecting:

PROS
-can go up in value
-you may prefer the sound
-they serve as art as well (the covers)
CONS
-substantially more expensive than CDs
-Take up more space
-sometimes can't find certain albums on vinyl

CD collecting:

PROS
-much cheaper than vinyl
-take up less space
-easier to upkeep and organize
-the format itself is much more versatile

CONS
-don't go up in value as much (unless they go out of print)
-much smaller so they don't serve as art as well as vinyl
-less "personal" (not as big, plastic cases, more digitized, etc)

Personally, I collect mainly CDs (I have a few vinyls though) because they are MUCH less expensive and are much easier to obtain. I also really like the versatility of them. I can bring them and play them in the car or I can burn them on my computer and put them on my iPod, neither I can do with vinyl.

What do you guys think? Which format do you collect?

I get vinyl when available, but I also have a recording turntable. I hate how overly scratchy the sound is on it sometimes, but it's not a big deal.

One thing I hate about CDs is how susceptible they are to being out of commission with a few scratches. Vinyl are a little easier to deal with in that respect, unless you just beat the shit out of them.

^True, but on that same note, CDs are much less expensive to replace (buy another copy of)

How many vinyl/CDs do you own Surell?

Honestly, some are borrows from my parents, but my girlfriend's family just gave us a bunch of vinyl, so I guess i'd say we have about 40 or so vinyl that we own. CDs i'm not sure on, maybe about 20 or 30. That might be generous, but I've been getting more into vinyl and finding some good stuff for cheap at antique stores and in used sections and stuff. When I was buying CDs more i was still downloading a lot.

You are right about the price difference though it's still a pain in the ass. Also, CDs are more ready for transportation, where you have to go through a whole vinyl at a time with the recording process. Which is a pain in the ass. Too.

One thing I can attest to is vinyl being expensive. I'm practically broke because of my collecting. I try and get what I know I will like, so I don't end up having things that will clutter my room, and I invested in a decent turntable (which cost me a good amount). I only recently started to really expand my collection the last couple of years, I may have gotten at least 60-70 records with in the last year and a half, and I get a single each month from Too Pure's single club.

I'm a fan of music first, and a record collector second, so I don't rule out buying CD's, but I tend to gravitate more towards buying records if I have the option. I tend to listen to music on my computer more than my records, mainly because I like to listen to something again, and again, and again, and I don't want to wear down my records. Records provide a physical feel to a sonic art, and I actually have an "art piece" that has a 3" and 5" clear lathe cut record with various psychedelic artworks printed on high quality paper which are attached to a glossed cover and backing, which is housed in a pretty little cardboard box. A good deal of the records I have purchased also include posters, and large artwork booklets that I like to gaze at, so it feels a lot more fulfilling to have a record than a digital copy of something.

Here's that art piece I was talking about.
http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-4054228-...0945-3474.jpeg

I personally only buy CD's because that's much easier for me as I can't afford a proper record player or the more expensive vinyl.

But to be honest, I am not much of a collector at all, so I probably wouldn't go to vinyl even if I had money.

Vinyl, absolutely no question about that. Vinyl hands down.

Anyone managed to find any real bargains on vinyl? I got Lodger, Scary Monsters, Let's Dance and Tonight (all Bowie albums) in great condition for four quid for all of them :cool:

Vinyl are more expensive but that's part of the enjoyment in my opinion, the chase and the sense of achievement when you manage to get one dirt cheap.

You had me worried about that one, for a second there I thought it might have been the "S" word that dabbles in Dubsteps.

Ah right. Before you edited that I spent a good 60 seconds thinking what you meant and maybe it was a joke that went over my head. Was gonna post but was too scared. Glad you cleared it up. :bowdown:

Oh and good thread SR. x

I would collect more vinyl than CDs if they were more easily available to me and less expensive. Only one place in my town stocks vinyl and their selection is rather limited, after that I have to go to Dublin which is 1 and 1/2 hours away. Picking up dirt cheap second hand CDs is easy for me and I've found some great stuff over the past couple of years by chance at bargain prices.

I like the sound of a record over a CD, it makes the music sound warmer and more vibrant. This might be due in some part to my CD player (it's an old DVD player really) not being the best. Also the bigger artwork is a huge plus especially with gatefold vinyl.

Ebay?

Gimme Vinyl! OK, a lot of my collecting is now more based on getting a lot of my 80's memories back, which usually results in going through the El Cheapo used bins (When it comes to The 80's, there's very little that's seriously collectable unless we're talking about those "Limited Edition" things or a rare Punk album), but still there's something about having that album in hand. To those into music of the pre-CD age, the original pressings - even those pressed on that infamous crappy vinyl some US companies were releasing their product on by the Late 70's - also give off that feeling of being there in a time when so many are content to just stream (nothing wrong with that, just mentioning it). The cover art completes the picture as well.

CDs are great for collections of 60's/70s's bands who's work you know you will never seriously get in full and the Industrial/Techno stuff and the Underground Metal albums I sometimes buy as it was all about The 90's for me (and usually the more rare and experimental the better). But besides the occasional find, it's vinyl for me in the long run...then again, I'm at the age where it just connects with me for those memories.

Attachment 5199

The attached photo is me with the "Cards" from Three Dog Night's Seven Separate Fools album, the one with "Black and White" on it. Found the album for a dollar with the complete package and a nice conditioned vinyl. I read that they usually had inserted some poster in their albums on occasion (I think Suitable for Framing had one), but they are usually not found unless you get it at a higher price. Finding what's arguably Three Dog Night's best non-greatest hits album cheap in good condition with slight cover wear that actually fits the Playing Card style cover was pretty cool.

Now that's a bargain!!!

Thanks mate! Personally, I don't think CDs get enough love. Even if vinyl has a deeper and "warmer" sound, CDs have a cleaner more "perfect" sound.

I've considered that option but I'm slightly paranoid about ordering vinyl online. Do they come well packaged? I've ordered plenty of CDs off eBay and Amazon and I've had a few cracked cases.

For me, CD brings the listener to a lot of the details. Living in The US where albums were pressed in a cheaper way by the Late 70's, causing a lot of the sound to drop in quality by the end of the side, it's great to hear the songs in full fidelity.

I think that when it comes to "Prefect" sound, the more experimental CDs of the 80's and beyond are perfect for the format. Chris and Cosey's CTI experimental collaboration album Core introduced me to that concept as an owner of the vinyl and reading some of the notes on it. The packaging was great, but Industrial was interesting to me and the then-new tech sounded a bit lacking on vinyl after getting my first CD player. I used to be one of those Luddites who was always wishing for a Vinyl Dominated world - although getting the good stuff was always to my advantage in that way of thinking as something like a Cramps album was always value for the money in both packaging and music - but looking through the imports and reading about the "Brave New World" of Industrial of the time just broke the ice for me.

Plus, when it was affordable for Indies to press a CD, it created another "aura" (to use a pretentious word) to collecting, especially when the packaging went ecological. Sadly, I may have to go the Amazon route for those memories as a lot of the records stores around me lack in that area of music.

What I find fascinating is that not too long ago, CDs were thought to be indestructible foreverware, while vinyl records were yesterday's trash you couldn't even give away to thrift shops or at yard sales.
Anyone remember laser discs?
Enjoy your MP3 files and ITunes as long as you can.....

Yeah all of mine did. They came in proper vinyl packaging. If you don't mind the fact that they're not brand new then I'd say definitely try ebay.

I mostly collect CDs but still buy vinyl when I can. New & reissues vinyl is definitely more expensive though I also pick up a lot of older albums at used record shops, flea markets and record shows for a good price. The biggest problem with buying more vinyl is I'm running out of room to store it. Thankfully digipacks are making storing CDs a lot easier as I don't care much for the jewel case.

I've only had one problem with people shipping records, and that was Mr. Kevin Shields and his wife who sent the new MBV album in a cardboard sleeve that was way too lose, and people have actually gotten their records warped and damaged because of it.

I would recommend buying vinyl on discogs, and ebay. Discogs is a bit shotty with the ratings, as people don't always rate buying and selling experiences, but I've yet to have a problem purchasing vinyl from people on their marketplace. Discogs listings stay up forever too, and it makes it easier to find rare, less known releases for sale. I've purchased at least 20-25 records and discogs, mainly because they automatically tell me when someone has listed something on the marketplace that is on my wantlist. The inner music fan will thank you, your wallet will hate you.

^Do you prefer promos or commercial releases for vinyls?

I much prefer collecting vinyls. I don't know what it is, but there is something very impersonal about a CD. The analog quality of the record is really what appeals to me I think. the fact that music is being made by a needle running across perfectly formed grooves and tracks and ridges to give us the complex sound of the music we love seems much more naturalistic and pure, as apposed to a laser simply reading a digital file.

Also with the limited amount of space for music on a record as opposed to a CD I feel the artists had to be more selective and careful with what they decided went on any certain album, whereas with the ever increasing size of CDs artists can now just throw every song they made in the last year on it. Couple that fact with easy reverse and skipping and fast forwarding of the CD as opposed to the vinyl I feel the artists were also more cognitive of how one track flowed and worked with the one before and after it resulting in the earlier albums being much more of a structured story and experience as apposed to simply 10-15 songs on a disk.

But at the same time, the CD allows ambitious artists who actually NEED that extra time to formulate their whole vision.

You've never heard of a double album then?

I hear they were popular in the 70s with prog bands.

I've been collecting and handling vinyl for so long that CDs feel cold and foreign to me. They don't feel "right" in my hands. While vinyl takes up a lot more space (we're having to buy special shelving units for all of these blasted things) there's just something a lot more fulfilling about the handling. The way the vinyl feels, the way the jackets smell, the magnified album art, the deeper sound, the surface noise .... sigh. :love:

Neil Young kicked it up a notch. Oh and George Harrison i guess.

not to mention all the greatest hits and other compilation albums. and live albums

Oh yeah, definitely, but the CD made it much easier, let's be honest, no one really wants 8 sides of records to switch through to listen to an album. (ala 2pac's "All Eyez on Me")

if it's a good enough album nobody should complain about it tho

You can have the greatest album ever and it would still be a pain to flip that many records that many times.

If it's the greatest album ever made you should be willing to fight a Rancor to listen to it. Maybe you just don't love music enough.

/truth

Dude, it takes less than a minute and you have 10-15 minutes in between flips.

Well I'm a lazy mofo, and flipping and putting that many records back in their sleeves is still a pain. All I'm saying is that it's easier/more convenient to listen to an album like "All Eyez on Me" or "Mellon Collie" on CD.

I think vinyls split the album up in more meaningful ways though, especially for albums like On the Beach, where the first half is very eclectic and a little scatterbrained, and the second is more folky, atmospheric, and introspective; or Funhouse, where the Saxophone is latterly introduced and the songs become wilder even than the first half. Grizzly Bear even split their newest album up conceptually on vinyl, and it's an album that was made to be almost entirely cohesive as if for CD.

Oh, and Smile makes the truest sense of Brian Wilson's vision on vinyl.

I don't think I've ever listened to that album all the way through anyway irrespective of the format. It's over two hours long.

Really? You definitely should check out the whole thing, not one bad tune imo

Definitely true, and with albums like that, flipping is not only necessary but it serves a meaningful purpose. But it's not the case with ALL albums, and especially not the case with "All Eyez on Me".

Na I have heard everything on there, just in segments, not all the way through. I bought the CD.

It's not an album I can sit and listen to for 2+ hours.

What I love about vinyls is that, for example, prog rock albums like The Wall and Dark ide (obviously) were intended to be one long song, and on the vinyl this is achieved, whereas on the cd it kinda breaks it up a lot more.

Yes ^

Got three vinyls in the post today :cool:

J Dilla - Donuts (£10)
Changesonebowie (££2)
Young Americans (£4)

:cool: