iTunes music store and the iPod face a new - or rather, old ...

[MacBytes]

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Category: 3rd Party Hardware
Link: iTunes music store and the iPod face a new - or rather, old - threat: Vinyl record sales are up 13%. (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20070715221957)
Description:: Cara Henn, a DJ and regular Seismic Records customer says going to the store puts her in touch with her peers and has hammered home the vinyl trend. "I've really been getting back into my vinyl. I love it," she says. "I like to hear crackling, as if it's actually real. Especially with drum'n'bass, DJs are really encouraging fans to buy vinyl."

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Approved by Mudbug

[noriyori]

I think another reason this may be is that many artists are now including digital downloads of their albums when you buy the LP.
not bad when you pay for the nice beautiful record with all of it's art and insleves and get a free downloadable copy of the album.

I got this with the new Electrelane and CocoRosie albums.

[Belly-laughs]

Walk and it shuffles.

http://retrothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/soundburger.jpg

[Scarlet Fever]

Vinyls are the best! Can't beat a good vinyl and record player through a tube amp for warmth of sound.

now if i could get my hands on a Nine Inch Nails vinyl, i'll be a happy chappie...

[nagromme]

Walk and it shuffles.

Cool :) I've always thought that method would be a cool way to make a pocket DVD drive for laptop owners. Just don't bump the edge!

I have a turntable and a massive, award-winning vacuum-tube stereo cabinet... which my grandmother gutted of all the electronics so it could be used to store other stuff :o Oh well, the speakers are still there, and sound great hooked to my Mac.

[BackInTheSaddle]

Even with all of my CDs and iPods, I still haven't been able to give up my faithful B & O turntable. Nothing like vinyl...

[rjwill246]

I have a great turntable/vacuum tube set up, so, it has been gratifying to see recent releases by artists like Dire Straights, coming out on 180g vinyl.

There is nothing like synching the CD and record, then switching between them. Most people I have demonstrated this too are shocked that the vinyl sounds so much richer, fuller and simply just "there." And that is despite putting the CD through tube amps. And, I am fully aware that it is likely the analogue distortion of 2nd harmonics etc. that is contributing to the effect, but it is hard to argue against "sounds better!"

Seven inch discs have the potential to sound incredible if they are at 45 rpm and good vinyl is used-- THAT, of course, is unlikely to happen but one could hope. I guess the buyers are not that interested in the audiophile aspects, but bless these people for keeping this market alive.

[steve_hill4]

As a fan of largely classic rock, I tend to buy albums on CD and rip to my computer and then duplicate it by buying the vinyl copy as well for some of my more favourite acts and albums.

After all, it's much easier to skin up on a gatefold than a mp3. :)

[jayducharme]

Well, vinyl is really the only audio medium that lasts. Sure, the records scratch. But with reasonable care, vinyl will outlive all of us.

I've never agreed with the "warmer" sound claim, though. "Muddy" maybe, but not warmer. Vinyl, even with the best stylus, can't reproduce the full dynamic range of CDs or SACDs. IMO, that's where people claim that the sound is warmer -- the high frequencies CDs can reproduce get rolled off on vinyl. So CDs can tend to sound "brittle." I have yet to hear any digital artifacts as people claim. All the direct-to-digital CDs I own sound far superior to any of the vinyl I've owned (and I still have a *lot* of vinyl left).

But, to each his own I guess. :)

[nagromme]

Well, vinyl is really the only audio medium that lasts. Sure, the records scratch. But with reasonable care, vinyl will outlive all of us.

So will digital files: they can be copied with zero loss, forever :)

Someone should invent a digital vinyl LP. It would store a modem-like signal and probably hold about 10 seconds of audio at CD quality :)

[jayducharme]

So will digital files: they can be copied with zero loss, forever :)

Actually, they can't. Each copy does degrade slightly, imperceptibly at first. But with each succeeding generation, more degradation occurs until the data begins to get corrupted. But it's a lot better than copying cassette tapes. :)

Another problem with digital data is making sure that what was encoded can be decoded. Fifty years from now, it's quite likely that data will be stored in such a different fashion that CDs become not only obsolete but also unplayable. I have a CD player I bought in 1986. It still plays older store-bought CDs fine. But newer CDs and home-made CDs just spin relentlessly. The player eventually stops with an error message.

Right now players are backward-compatible so that new ones can read old CDs. But it won't always be that way. Eventually technology will take another big jump, like it did when the CD first appeared.