Vinyl Back in some major chains?

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T-rex
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Vinyl Back in some major chains?

Post by T-rex » Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:02 am

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/10/vinyl. ... pstoryview

It's funny, I walked into Best Buy the other day and saw a Who album and thought to myself, "They must have ordered that by mistake."

I didn't know where to post this, mod's feel free to move it.
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Post by LeedyGuy » Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:45 am

I just read a whole article about this in Rolling Stone. It seems that vinyl is back for the listeners, but the labels might not be able to make any money on it because it is way more expensive to press than a CD. Viva la vinyl though!!
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Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:59 am

the vinyl section at newbury comics here in boston seems to get bigger every time i go in there. and they had a ton of these new turntables with usb outs...

it's encouraging.

in a possibly related note (in that there at least seems to be some interest in audio that doesn't sound like total shit), i noticed that the classic rock station here is broadcasting in "hi def", which supposedly offers "better fidelity than standard fm" and/or "cd quality sound from your radio"

you need a special HD receiver and i've no idea what sort of quality the broadcasts actually are, but still...it at least seems like *something* positive.

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Post by RefD » Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:37 am

kentothink wrote:I just read a whole article about this in Rolling Stone. It seems that vinyl is back for the listeners, but the labels might not be able to make any money on it because it is way more expensive to press than a CD. Viva la vinyl though!!
perhaps if they start doing it in any quantity again then the volume cost will be less per unit.

or something, forgive me but i haven't slept since Sunday.
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Post by Zoltar » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:31 pm

some indy lables have stuck by it the whole way (touch and go, cargo, Kranky, Matador, etc)

I think the USB tables in costco that people buy to transfer their old collections have something to do with this. the same sort of thing happens in camera, everybody is buying a new DSLR for their old lenses, and getting new lenses to go with it all.

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Post by percussion boy » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:35 pm

This would all be great news if petroleum weren't involved.
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Post by JGriffin » Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:07 pm

been meaning to thank you, percussion boy, for quoting me in your sig. I'm flattered.
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Post by aitikin » Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:40 pm

RefD wrote:forgive me but i haven't slept since Sunday.
Then by God, sleep! Your mixes aren't getting any better by staying up all the time!
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Post by ledogboy » Tue Jun 10, 2008 5:09 pm

percussion boy wrote:This would all be great news if petroleum weren't involved.
Hallelujah! Vinyl was great and everything, but it's heavy, takes up a lot of space for very little information, and is made with petroleum (shipped with it too!). My turntable isn't going anywhere, but returning to old, inefficient technology doesn't seem like the best idea at this juncture.

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Post by T-rex » Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:38 am

I love vinyl. By no means do I have an extensive collection but it really does sound much better to my ears even with the imperfections. I embraced CD's early on cause I was a big car stereo guy back in the day, so when i went back to listen to some of my records I was like, Wow! Especially compared to those original CD transfers.

My friend and I were talking and if I could buy the vinyl, even for a premium price AND get the digital download I would never go back to CD. it would be the best of both worlds. Nice artwork, great sound quality and a good sounding portable solution for my ipod/car.

Plus I miss the side A side / B side thing. We consciously did that on my bands new CD, actually split the album into two parts based on the songs and sequencing. It's not the same as vinyl, but it made much more sense to us.
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Post by percussion boy » Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:07 pm

ledogboy wrote:My turntable isn't going anywhere, but returning to old, inefficient technology doesn't seem like the best idea at this juncture.
A wistful +1

Wish I'd been born sooner. Cheap gas = the smell of tape and the sound of vinyl.
dwlb wrote:been meaning to thank you, percussion boy, for quoting me in your sig. I'm flattered.
My pleasure, that post was hilarious.
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Post by Cellotron » Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:56 pm

ledogboy wrote:
percussion boy wrote:This would all be great news if petroleum weren't involved.
Hallelujah! Vinyl was great and everything, but it's heavy, takes up a lot of space for very little information, and is made with petroleum (shipped with it too!). My turntable isn't going anywhere, but returning to old, inefficient technology doesn't seem like the best idea at this juncture.
100% in agreement. I love vinyl as well and treasure my collection - i.e. no version I've heard of "Kind of Blue" gives me chills as much as the original Columbia pressing I have. Some of the LP's I have definitely are less enjoyable than CD reissues due to the wear on the LP - but I have a good deal of amazing stuff that was never reissued - plus sometimes the remastering that comes out for newer CD's suffers from hyper-limiting - which generally makes the vinyl original still more fun to list to even if it has a lot of ticks and pops.

I'm also very grateful that I got to be a production manager for a vinyl pressing plant during the heyday of the NYC house music scene - and am even more grateful that I got to master some cool stuff on a DMM lathe for 2 years.

BUT - folks have to realize that if "green" is even in their vocabulary - vinyl records, being the results of electroplating (for the stampers) PVC (for the vinyl itself), and paper mills (for the sleeve/cover) and then transportation of a heavy object, is one of the worst environmentally offending audio product there is.

Anyway - while right now it seems vinyl is making a decent resurgeance with indie musicians and fans looking for a tangible product that still has both a "cool factor" and a sense of value greater than downloads (or CD's for that matter) - I wonder how much they will choose to do in the next few years when pressing plants will finally have to jack their rates up in order to cope with sky rocketing materials and energy costs - all at a time when most folks will probably have less discretionary income due to their own energy/gas bills going up.

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Post by hughmanatee » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:12 am

I agree that vinyl is the least environmentally friendly medium for audio. But I love vinyl, I buy it every once in a while, almost always used. But I am going out today to get that new Al Green record on vinyl. Which is excellent, by the way. someone made me a copy of it over a month ago and it has been one of the staples in my CD player for the last month, that and the new Lettuce record, Nice work Joel! But in any event, what I'm getting at is that i would much rather buy vinyl than a cd. If one of my friends gets a CD it gets passed around and everyones got it. I also feel its necessary for us to stimulate the industry, CD sales have been taking a nose dive for years. One person buys it, and the masses download it. and without the sales we're all outta work. *I really wasn't trying to preach to the choir, may be how it came across though

Im going to keep buying my used records unless i hear some CD that makes me say "I need this on vinyl" atleast until vinyl becomes $40 a side to reflect petrol prices

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Post by wrenhunter » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:14 am

I just bought the new Elvis Costello record on vinyl -- from Amazon. Yes, "shipped from Amazon". I thought that was weird and good.
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Post by sears » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:52 am

Cellotron wrote:all at a time when most folks will probably have less discretionary income due to their own energy/gas bills going up.
As the price of music goes down, tangible music can become a luxury market, in which case inefficient and expensive production becomes a plus.

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