Vinyl

[Gol Dernitt]

I feel a little bad about this, but most of my record collection is bought online.  I like putting on records.  I don't like collecting a bunch of records that I will never enjoy spinning, and the ones I'm looking for will not show up in a record store in my city.  I got drunk and spent 60 bucks on eBay on a replacement The Love Language record, which I originally bought for 10 bucks and leant to a friend, I guess forever.  When I finally got it, (from Russia), I considered not opening it for about 10 minutes before I spun that record, collector's value be damned.

I'm not making a record collection because I think collecting records is cool.  I just like to use my record player, I like actively spinning/flipping records, I like listening to albums all the way through.  A lot of people roll their eyes at me when I say my record collection is small, focused, and full of 220 grams.  I get it, I'm not part of the real vinyl appreciation culture, I don't pretend to be.  It's not exploratory for me, I do that on Spotify, YouTube, and via some trusted friends.  But I feel a little bad that I can't turn around and have a beat up Dylan or Prine or Baez padding the collection, just as credentials.

But I like that hard copy of the music I'm into.  It's less transient and harder to misplace than cassettes or cds.

[Rev. Rye]

I'm honestly skeptical about the vinyl revival. I mean, sure, it's more robust (except for the whole "needle slowly wearing down the grooves in the LP" thing) and it's less suceptible to the loudness war, but the evidence of vinyl being superior like a lot of people claim, just doesn't seem to hold up:





And seeing them go up in price just makes it all the more dubious to me.

Also, they're going up to 220 grams now? I thought the main standard was 180 now.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I feel a little bad about this, but most of my record collection is bought online.  I like putting on records.  I don't like collecting a bunch of records that I will never enjoy spinning, and the ones I'm looking for will not show up in a record store in my city.  I got drunk and spent 60 bucks on eBay on a replacement The Love Language record, which I originally bought for 10 bucks and leant to a friend, I guess forever.  When I finally got it, (from Russia), I considered not opening it for about 10 minutes before I spun that record, collector's value be damned.

I'm not making a record collection because I think collecting records is cool.  I just like to use my record player, I like actively spinning/flipping records, I like listening to albums all the way through.  A lot of people roll their eyes at me when I say my record collection is small, focused, and full of 220 grams.  I get it, I'm not part of the real vinyl appreciation culture, I don't pretend to be.  It's not exploratory for me, I do that on Spotify, YouTube, and via some trusted friends.  But I feel a little bad that I can't turn around and have a beat up Dylan or Prine or Baez padding the collection, just as credentials.

But I like that hard copy of the music I'm into.  It's less transient and harder to misplace than cassettes or cds.

I'm pretty much indifferent to the whole vinyl-vs-CD-vs digital spat.

What I can't believe is that you spent sixty dollars for The Love Language.  Next time you get that urge, I suggest puncturing both of your eardrums.  The resultant atonal ringing sound is just as enjoyable as The Love Language and much cheaper.

Boru

[downbeatplumb]

I am also going from using planes to slowly migrating to destinations over generations. I just feel it gives me a more natural way to experience the world albeit much less of it.

[onlinebiker]

I copied my vinyl to CD then sold the vinyl.


Good riddance.


It freed up an entire corner of my living room.

[The Grand Nudger]

I keep a hard copy on my guitar. 

[onlinebiker]

I keep a hard copy on my guitar. 

Carpal tunnel ended my guitar playing many years ago.

[AFTT47]

This should be in the psuedo-science section because that is exactly what this is,

Digital techniques are capable of storing the original recording with a MUCH greater fidelity than than vinyl records can - and that's before the inevitable degredation of the vinyl media through cutting by the diamond stylus.

I won't argue with someone who insists they like the sound of the record better because that's entirely possible . All it means though is that they prefer the sound of the distorted recording to the original.

The whole point of any recording process is to record the original with as great a faithfulness as possible. There is no physical way to do this better than through digital techniques. An analogue technique such as used by vinyl records is measurably inferior in every way. That's really the end of the story. Claiming vinyl records have any advantage in fidelity over CDs is in the same league as arguing for intelligent design or the sun orbiting around Earth. It is demonstrably false.

[Rev. Rye]

Well, by design, it's a lot less susceptible to the Loudness War, since the dynamic range is pretty limited on vinyl (indeed, bass sounds that are too loud can actually bump needles out of place and high sounds that are too loud can actually destroy printing needles).





Then again, that's pretty much it for Vinyl's fidelity advantages on digital media, and even that's just there because some executives and engineers got obsessed with increasing volume at the expense of dynamic range (and a lot of it's because Noel Gallagher had "Wonderwall" brickwalled, possibly because the cocaine he was taking took its toll on his hearing; yes, that scene from Boogie Nights where Dirk complains about the bass on his song is actually accurate) and not anything inherent in either medium. Honestly, if anything, any sort of objective points the sound of analogue media has in its favour is actually because of how it distorts the actual sound.

Fun fact: guitarists still prefer the sound of tube amplifiers to their solid state equivalents, and the reason why (even if many couldn't explain why) is specifically because tube amps distort, and not only that, but especially accentuate distortion on the even-order harmonics (which are easier on the ears than their odd-order equivalents, which get more focus in solid state amps.)

Bear in mind, I'm a man who's kind of obsessed with finding out about how musicians and their instruments worked in the old days (to the point where I spent a long time trying to figure out exactly what kind of strings Robert Johnson used when he was still playing [Gibson Mona-Steel 12-56, BTW]), but even I have no illusions that vinyl actually has superior fidelity over digital methods.

[Gol Dernitt]

I feel a little bad about this, but most of my record collection is bought online.  I like putting on records.  I don't like collecting a bunch of records that I will never enjoy spinning, and the ones I'm looking for will not show up in a record store in my city.  I got drunk and spent 60 bucks on eBay on a replacement The Love Language record, which I originally bought for 10 bucks and leant to a friend, I guess forever.  When I finally got it, (from Russia), I considered not opening it for about 10 minutes before I spun that record, collector's value be damned.

I'm not making a record collection because I think collecting records is cool.  I just like to use my record player, I like actively spinning/flipping records, I like listening to albums all the way through.  A lot of people roll their eyes at me when I say my record collection is small, focused, and full of 220 grams.  I get it, I'm not part of the real vinyl appreciation culture, I don't pretend to be.  It's not exploratory for me, I do that on Spotify, YouTube, and via some trusted friends.  But I feel a little bad that I can't turn around and have a beat up Dylan or Prine or Baez padding the collection, just as credentials.

But I like that hard copy of the music I'm into.  It's less transient and harder to misplace than cassettes or cds.

I'm pretty much indifferent to the whole vinyl-vs-CD-vs digital spat.

What I can't believe is that you spent sixty dollars for The Love Language.  Next time you get that urge, I suggest puncturing both of your eardrums.  The resultant atonal ringing sound is just as enjoyable as The Love Language and much cheaper.

Boru

So a dude doesn't like lo-fi crooning, this is the other opinion that keeps me buying the records I like. Mind, the sophomore effort from The Love Language is... well, very bad. But that first one, it gets me where it needs to get me.

And it is not streamable, as far as I've searched for it.