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It's a better media for music.
Like the gopher that just won't leave your yard, vinyl continues to thrive in spite of CD and newer formats, such as SACD and DVD-Audio. Are you still a vinyl fan?
Found a great local store with lots of used vinyl (and CDs), most of it at least interesting, some of it great, and all in very good to mint condition. Why buy a CD reissue for twenty bucks when you can get the original vinyl for five? Many of the comments on last week's question about new music comment on the high price of CD's. And this week's soapbox prompted a lot of talk about inflation. Vinyl, albeit used, costs about the same now as it did in the '70s when everyone was wearing those stupid WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons. Talk about inflation busting.
Theoretically, I accept the view that LPs' are superior to CDs'. However, I tend to buy used and new CDs' because the sound is acceptable and the format is convenient I believe that upgraded equipment plus better mastering has also contributed to my reluctance regarding LPs'.
I find that most vinyl sounds very good in comparison to CDs, even if its not the expensive audiophile quality 180 gram. For convienience, I simply make CDR copies for the car and for listening to favorites while I'm at work. As for the other formats, I'll consider them only when their software and hardware reach the point of popularity as the CD. No matter how good, I'm not converting to any new format unless prices are even lower than the CD.
It's interesting to note that I bought a CD player this year so that I could get CDs from the library. While I've checked out many, many CDs, I have yet to buy a CD of my own. In the same period of time, I've bought many, many records. I'll probably be going down with the vinyl LP Ship.
Greetings! Keep it up Stereophile! I may have to subscribe again! I recently obtained a JA Michell Focus One table w/ a Mission 774 Arm. I had a Shure V-15(newest) so I put it on. I had collected some AWESOME LPs (eg: 9 CBC half-speed masters, unopened!) I sat spellbound for 13 hours NONSTOP, as if hearing good music/audio for the first time all over again! Shit man, I wasn't prepared for the orgasmic rightness and dynamics! My system is a SF Line-3, POWER-2, ProAc 3.8, vdH the second vdH Revelation speakerwire, Michell Focus-One,'table, No Cd yet, (but soon-when I can decide which one! It will have to have up-sampling) Vinyl RULES!
I find it rather difficult buying more music than I do, approx 100+ records a year. Not so much because of limited availability of interesting music, rather than limited time to listen to the music I buy. I owe some 1 moth (approx. 750 hours) worth of continuous playback, without a playing one record twice. About 80 % of the music I buy is on vinyl.
Vinyl still rules. The new pressings of jazz and rock are getting better all the time. And no watermarking! I bet this new digital watermarking thing is just a scheme so the labels can raise prices to $25 list. Analog is so much more musical. I bought about 20 records this year. But I probably already have 3000. Happy birthday Stereophile!
A lot more, just like previous years. For mainstream artists and labels, I still find that used vinyl is the same cost or even less vs the comparable CD reissue. In addition, the internet has made it very easy to find what you are looking for, especially if you do not live in a major metropolitan area.
Other formats fight each other, are hurt by copy protection schemes, emphasize multi-channel over quality, etc. Vinyl, at least, is clearly NOT more than two channels, has NO copy-protection fouling up the sound, and seems to be becoming the medium for people who want quality sound.
To those with time, I am sure that vinyl is rewarding. Unfortunately, I have never listened to a system where vinyl actually sounded better than a Compact Disc (Yes, I have heard a system that costs more than a quarter million). I have also heard that the only way this would happen is with tens of thousands of dollars worth of phono equipment and VERY careful maintenance of the LPs themselves.
Not a lot of great venues for LP purchases in the Denver area, so did some catalog purchases with great results. Been buying mostly reissues but plan on trying my hand on the Internet this year with used purchases. We shall see if that turns out to be wise or a folly.
More! A helluva lot more, in fact. I've been to library sales, I hit the thrift stores as often as I can, I look for used vinyl stores in new towns, go to yard sales, or just about anywhere there might be some vinyl for me to take home. I also buy audiophile and regular new issues if I like what's on them. New 'table last year, more vinyl than ever. And I still buy plenty of CDs.
Vinyl's days are gone. When you consider how primitive it is (dragging a tiny "needle" connected to a magnet through a vinyl groove and then amplifying the minute current produced as the magnet moves in a wire loop) and the ever present problem of keeping the (usually flawed anyway) record surface clean of dust and static, that goodness those days are gone. And let's not forget that every time you play a record you damage it.