Vinyl Bargain or Rip off?

dannnielll

We don't have that war with DVD and Blu-ray for a very good reason .. everyone and their aunt know that Blu-ray is better in every respect. And they know the reasons why. 47 Gb versus 4.7 GB versus 800 Mb on a CD. Stingy people like me will happily pay the few quid less for a DVD than a Blu-ray,knowing the quality is inferior
We can agree that better and popular are  not Synonymous. MP3 and streaming downloads is much more popular than purchasing CDs .But CDs are better in sound quality at present. It is technically feasible to stream in better than CD quality, but such sources are few and far between
I don't actually wear the argument that there are albums available on vinyl unique to that medium. ..I am sure that there is plenty of such material , and indeed there is stuff on old 78s which was unique to it. But ..and it is such a simple but,that it ..Every laptop produced since 1990  has a ADC in it which will convert the warbling into digital format and every soundbaster soundcard etc will do it noiselessly. If the recordings have a uniqueness that merits their retention, it can be done at home with 192k, 24 bit accuracy utterly indistinguishable from the record.
I have said it before and repeat again. Anyone is entitled to enjoy the Vinyl experience.. The only objection I have  is when they claim an untruth ..That it is better. Facts are still facts.

SickSquirrel

The other issue is cost, you need to spend at least £2k on a table and phono to compete with a good £300 CD player, and you need to be in the £10k's to compete with a good £1k SACD player.

Vinyl is just not worth the hassle in the modern world, well unless you're a hipster douche bag

oldcootstereo

Audio music recording/reproduction has been a technical, marketing and opinion battleground since forever.  Cylindrical vs. platter, mono vs. stereo, tape vs. vinyl, 8-track vs. cassette, moving magnet vs. moving coil, etc... and the grand-daddy of them all, tube vs. semiconductors.  

Given that Toole proved our ears/brain filters out the "sound" of the room, the allegiance to vinyl may derive from a similar phenomena where the ears/brain filters out the "sound" of the inevitable imperfections of vinyl reproduction.  Just like tube amps are often regarded as sounding "better" because the distortion generally produced by tubes tends to be even harmonics, while semiconductor distortion is(was?) perceived as more "harsh" to the ear.  

I don't "hate" vinyl, just find the interminable "debate" over which is "better" pointless.  

Commonplace lossless digital is AT LEAST equal quality to all but the highest-end vinyl sourced music.

At least a vinyl aficionado gets exercise jumping up regularly to change albums or skip tracks...

SickSquirrel

I am not adverse to old formats, I still use a MiniDisc recorder on a regular basis to record radio programs from my tuner, as I did with a tape deck when I was growing up in the 80's...

I also use a portable MiniDisc recorder on the train, rather then having all my songs in my pocket ala Ipod.  It is nice to select a full album or mix tape (MD) before I leave for work as I have done for the last 23 years.

Interestingly, every week or so some young lad or lass comes over and says "Hey Bruv / Mate / Dude what's that?" And they are actually interested in hearing about the old tech...

My MiniDisc Deck:-

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Minidisc.org / Review of Pioneer MJ-D707 UK                                                                                                        A review of the Pioneer MJ-D707, UK version, for minidisc.org                                                                                                                                                                                                        www.minidisc.org

shotokan101

You better not be trying g to put words in my mouth

shotokan101

....darn it!!!  - For a moment there I thought someone had mistakenly thought that this was a discussion about which digital media audio format and/or digital video format was measurably better than others and definitively sounded better than the others - and then I remembered that this discussion was actually about the cost of analogue vinyl records..... Good job I read the OP I guess....


...oh and the word I was actually looking for I now think opinionated Richard

Jim

Derek S-H

Oh, it nearly always gets sidetracked into that tired debate, even though not one person on here has actually said that Vinyl sounds better than CD.

Back OT: it's great that HMV seem to have embraced Vinyl and that there's still a market for new turntables, and I know that quite a few posters have pointed out the relative cost of Vinyl taking inflation into account, but the price discrepancy still seems too great for me.

I never even look at Vinyl when I'm in a shop, I just head straight to the CD's. I also buy less Vinyl than I used to online as the postage costs are just ridiculous compared to the price of receiving a CD.

I dunno. I'm glad it still exists even though I haven't added to my collection for years. I suppose it is the most vulnerable of the physical formats though, amazingly, cassette is making a comeback too, so who knows?

brian s

Funnily enough after reading the last post by  @Derek S-H this turned up on my Google articles.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Back in the loop: why cassette tapes became fashionable again                                                                                                        Magnetic ribbon for format once the preserve of police interviews is in short supply                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                www.theguardian.com                                                                               
It says that cassette tapes had been only used for Police interviews but they are being used more generally again and sales are picking up. Why they used cassette tapes to interview Sting and company is beyond me.

Bri

gibbsy

That's a step too far. More wow and flutter than a politician on the election campaign trail. Mind you it would do wonders for the sale of biros as one was always needed to wind the tape back into the cassette, especially in the car.

Talking about cars I can just imagine the advert for the new Golf Mk9. Our infotainment centre features the very latest in music cassette technology with a winding tool neatly located in the glove compartment.

brian s

I'm a huge fan of Gil Evans. Way back in the days before CD I read a Melody Maker review of a live concert in Warsaw 1976. I'm a Gil completist so I'm always on the lookout for anything I don't already have but knowing about this meant I had to have it. I looked and looked but never found it. CD came along and I started getting a mix of his new and old albums on the the format. One day I picked up a French import CD callied Gil Evans Live 76. It was only about 6 or 7 quid so I was very happy. There was scant detail about the recording, only the track listing and the band line up.

Some time later we went on a day trip to York and I was delighted to find a vinyl copy of the Warsaw gig in a shop there. It was very expense. It was at least £10, maybe a pound or two more. As it was Gil I didn't care and bought this holy grail of an album. On the way home I started looking at it in more detail. Looking at the track listing and the band line up I started to get a funny feeling. Sure enough when I played it it was the same recording as the French CD. I've never played the second side of the vinyl. I'm not sure if I played all of side one. I always go back to the CD.

Bri