Vinyl Sales Increase 17.7% Since 2011

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
There is sort of a slow motion retro revolution going on in the recording industry: old style vinyl Long Play records are making a comeback. Could be just a nostalgia kick, but it could also be a trek back to the roots of recording by audiophiles fueling the return.

Digital download sales continue to climb, reaching 1.3 billion in 2012, but consumers also bought more than 4.6 million records in the same year — that's a 17.7% increase from 2011.
Click to expand...
 
I buy them purely for display. Especially when they are autographed by the artist?
 
I have never understood the appeal to vinyl. I don't want to hear the crackle and pop that comes with playing a record. To me that doesn't add anything, it isn't intended sound and therefore detracts from the listening experience. I have the same bitch with movies at the theater with "Artifacts" added in to make it feel like real film. Once upon a time that stuff was there because the technology wasn't advanced enough to eliminate it. Now that technology is, this movement to add that shit back in is incredibly stupid.
 
Let me be the first to say that if you don't think the sound of crackle and pop adds anything to the vinyl experience, then yes, please move along and join the rest of generation Y. Your compact disc and digital download await you.

You either get it or you don't and you don't. When you hear people talk passionately about vinyl, they aren't just talking about the sound, but the whole package. The smell of the cover, the age, the tangible touch and feel of the record itself. It's something real, not an empty hollow collection of bits and bytes that make up most mp3s.

People are buying into nostalgia when they purchase, collect and listen to vinyl.

Dekoth-E, today your age and it's wisdom betray you.
 
One of the best experiences ever before the internet came along was a little extra money in my pocket and trips to Tower Records.

I still have my record collection and while not massive it reflects everything I liked back then and still do today.
 
SixFootDuo said:
Let me be the first to say that if you don't think the sound of crackle and pop adds anything to the vinyl experience, then yes, please move along and join the rest of generation Y. Your compact disc and digital download await you.

You either get it or you don't and you don't. When you hear people talk passionately about vinyl, they aren't just talking about the sound, but the whole package. The smell of the cover, the age, the tangible touch and feel of the record itself. It's something real, not an empty hollow collection of bits and bytes that make up most mp3s.

People are buying into nostalgia when they purchase, collect and listen to vinyl.

Dekoth-E, today your age and it's wisdom betray you.
Click to expand...

I am actually part of Gen X, I am in my mid 30's sorry to kill your perceived stereotype of me. Sorry, I don't get vinyl in the least still. It doesn't add a damn thing to me except unwanted noise. Sometimes nostalgia are severely misplaced. Nostalgia that seeks an "inferior" audio experience to me is nostalgia misplaced.
 
Vinyl simply provides a warm, colored sound that many find enjoyable.

I'd probably get a vinyl player, but the mark-up seems too great on the few releases that are out there.
 
Dekoth-E, You obviously know nothing about vinyl and very little about audio in general. Your post makes you sound foolish. People do not listen to vinyl to hear clicks and pops nor is it just for nostalgia. A well mastered and cut vinyl record played on a good turntable just flat out sounds better than its digital equivalent. People who are into vinyl go to great lengths to get rid of pops and clicks. Really clean vinyl has very little background noise. I listen to "uncompressed", "hi definition" FLAC files for convenience but if I really want to listen to my music critically I will pull out my vinyl.
 
BryanSTG said:
In b4 proclamations of vinyls superior sound quality. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

mumstead said:
Dekoth-E, You obviously know nothing about vinyl and very little about audio in general. Your post makes you sound foolish. People do not listen to vinyl to hear clicks and pops nor is it just for nostalgia. A well mastered and cut vinyl record played on a good turntable just flat out sounds better than its digital equivalent. People who are into vinyl go to great lengths to get rid of pops and clicks. Really clean vinyl has very little background noise. I listen to "uncompressed", "hi definition" FLAC files for convenience but if I really want to listen to my music critically I will pull out my vinyl.
Click to expand...

There it is. What took you so long?
 
In some cases digital sounds great and better than vinyl Trust me, I'm a big digital audio guy. I have built a CAPS server and own and use an "audiophile" DAC. I have spent far too much money on 24bit FLAC files from HDTracks. The truth is when vinyl is done right it just sounds better.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I have never understood the appeal to vinyl. I don't want to hear the crackle and pop that comes with playing a record. To me that doesn't add anything, it isn't intended sound and therefore detracts from the listening experience. I have the same bitch with movies at the theater with "Artifacts" added in to make it feel like real film. Once upon a time that stuff was there because the technology wasn't advanced enough to eliminate it. Now that technology is, this movement to add that shit back in is incredibly stupid.
Click to expand...

People buy vinyl for the same reason people buy codex books.
 
BryanSTG said:
There it is. What took you so long?
Click to expand...
To be fair, "sounds better" isn't necessarily a proclamation of better sound quality. Vinyl tends to be less hotly-mastered than its CD counterpart, which many find "sounds better".

Wait for someone to say something about analog being better than digital or something, then pounce.
 
I buy most of my music on vinyl. I have a decent setup and dont hear any clicks and pops when playing albums. About the only time you hear that it is either due to the needle being dirty or worn or the album being dirty or scratched.

Also not a hipster.

Is the audio quality better? I dunno. Do i like the sound better? Yes

I for one am glad hipsters have forced vinyl to come back, its no longer a special order for some overpriced special edition vinyl for new releases, almost every band is putting out vinyl these days.
 
BryanSTG said:
There it is. What took you so long?
Click to expand...

They were probably just waiting for someone to post a smartass remark that added nothing to the discussion before going down that road.


I can see both sides of the argument. I grew up with vinyl and I understand the "warmness" of the sound, but digital done right is pretty damn good too, and miles more convenient to collect/listen to etc...
 
BryanSTG said:
There it is. What took you so long?
Click to expand...

He's right, but only on 0.01% of the sound systems out there... With great components ($$$) and a lot of calibrating it is true that the sound is more "complete" (to my taste at least). But on 99.99% of sound systems a CD will destroy a vinyl.
 
MrPatate said:
He's right, but only on 0.01% of the sound systems out there... With great components ($$$) and a lot of calibrating it is true that the sound is more "complete" (to my taste at least). But on 99.99% of sound systems a CD will destroy a vinyl.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right about that. My CAPS server and DAC cost about a third of what my turntable, tonearm, cartridge, phono amp, and record cleaning machine cost. Convenience is another thing digital has going for it. A dedicated pc build (CAPS Server) with Jriver and an iPad with Jremote to control it are hard to beat as far a convenience and coolness are concerned.
 
EdGaRRRRR said:
I buy them purely for display. Especially when they are autographed by the artist?
Click to expand...

Same here been buying vinyls for display just got a few vinyls signed by Capital Cities, Downtown Party Network, Goldroom, and trying to get kavinsky to sign some of his vinyls :D
Anybody else buying cassette's!? lol just got Le Youth limited edition cassette ;)
 
CorruptedOne said:
I feel like not being an audiophile comes with a lot less aggravation.
Click to expand...

Audiophiles like the aggravation. It is part of the hobby. It is kind of like a PC enthusiast. It would be much less aggravation to go to Best Buy and buy a PC off the shelf but what would be fun about that? :)
 
I read a very interesting article talking about Vinyl vs Digital. First off, to get vinyl to sound better than digital you need a very nice turntable with a very nice pin. To get audiophile performance it will cost you more to go vinyl than it will digital. Also, the article explained things recorded digitally actually sound better on an audiophile digital system (good dac) and things recorded analog will sound better on vinyl. So basically anything recorded more than 20 years ago will sound better on vinyl and the rest will sound better digital. The article said the reasoning behind this is the way it has to be converted to digital or vice versa.
 
I'm surprised that vinyl is still around. When I saw Korn etc. albums in Hot Topic 10 years ago I was certain it would be a short-lived fad. Alas, I don't even see turntables at Goodwill anymore.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I am actually part of Gen X, I am in my mid 30's sorry to kill your perceived stereotype of me. Sorry, I don't get vinyl in the least still. It doesn't add a damn thing to me except unwanted noise. Sometimes nostalgia are severely misplaced. Nostalgia that seeks an "inferior" audio experience to me is nostalgia misplaced.
Click to expand...

You've probably never listened to a truly great stereo setup. Yeah, if you're using a crappy $150 technics record player through a $150 Kenwood tuner it's not going to sound all that great. If it's not clean it will get pops, crackles. When you step up into a quality turntable it's a different experience. Most of the quality turntables are all made up of personally selected parts, much like building a PC - buying a case, PSU, motherboard, CPU, etc. High end "record players" are the same way. You buy a turn table, then an arm, then the cartridge, etc. It's like comparing a $299 Best buy PC special to a $2000 custom built PC. Which one is going to be better?
 
I like the sound of vinyl fine, the pops and crackles don't bother me. I spend most of my time with the convenience of digital music...I sometimes buy cd's still but more often buy digital music. However, there is some stuff on vinyl that simply hasn't made it to the digital age and it's fun to hunt down the vinyl in second-hand shops.
 
Megalith said:
Vinyl simply provides a warm, colored sound that many find enjoyable.

I'd probably get a vinyl player, but the mark-up seems too great on the few releases that are out there.
Click to expand...

I love this warm and color. Two adjectives that have nothing to do with each other (unless you use a thermal cam). Yet they are used to depict the natural difference between bit perfect and analog music.

Thing is newer music and old music remixes are very heavy on bass and the audio spectrum is compressed so you can listen to your mp3s on lousy headphones.
 
Putting on a record creates a warm atmosphere, but if I have friends over and were are picking different groups to listen to it would be a hustle. I don't want to buy my music twice,
 
canna said:
You've probably never listened to a truly great stereo setup. Yeah, if you're using a crappy $150 technics record player through a $150 Kenwood tuner it's not going to sound all that great. If it's not clean it will get pops, crackles. When you step up into a quality turntable it's a different experience. Most of the quality turntables are all made up of personally selected parts, much like building a PC - buying a case, PSU, motherboard, CPU, etc. High end "record players" are the same way. You buy a turn table, then an arm, then the cartridge, etc. It's like comparing a $299 Best buy PC special to a $2000 custom built PC. Which one is going to be better?
Click to expand...

This is the first intelligent argument I have ever seen presented on it and one I can relate too. Most of the time you just get the "Hur Dur" its just better arguments that are tantamount to nothing more than hipsters trying to explain why their "fad" is obviously superior.

You are correct, I have never listened on that high end of a setup. However I don't listen to a bunch of older stuff as far as rock and such. I listen to more modern stuff as well as classical done by modern orchestra recordings in digital. As such, "most" of what I listen too because it was digital to begin with, ends up superior to vinyl anyhow. Simply put, given there is little benefit to that which I listen too, I won't be spending thousands of dollars on that kind of setup.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I have never understood the appeal to vinyl. I don't want to hear the crackle and pop that comes with playing a record. To me that doesn't add anything, it isn't intended sound and therefore detracts from the listening experience. I have the same bitch with movies at the theater with "Artifacts" added in to make it feel like real film. Once upon a time that stuff was there because the technology wasn't advanced enough to eliminate it. Now that technology is, this movement to add that shit back in is incredibly stupid.
Click to expand...

I listen to vinyl and I rarely if ever hear "crackle and pop"... if you have nice records that are clean they will have a pretty "black" background...

SeegsElite said:
I read a very interesting article talking about Vinyl vs Digital. First off, to get vinyl to sound better than digital you need a very nice turntable with a very nice pin. To get audiophile performance it will cost you more to go vinyl than it will digital. Also, the article explained things recorded digitally actually sound better on an audiophile digital system (good dac) and things recorded analog will sound better on vinyl. So basically anything recorded more than 20 years ago will sound better on vinyl and the rest will sound better digital. The article said the reasoning behind this is the way it has to be converted to digital or vice versa.
Click to expand...

I disagree, getting good sound out of digital is expensive too... people routinely spend thousands on high end DACs and transports...

you can get a decent vinyl setup for about the same price as a decent digital setup, and a lot of the stuff is the same (amplifiers/speakers etc)

personally I think they are both great, just in different ways... I have a lot of vinyl, a lot of CD's and SACD's, FLAC files and even 1/4" open reel tapes :)

ComputerBox34 said:
Hipsters

That is all
Click to expand...

this sums it up pretty well.. and thank god for those hipsters because it means I can still get vinyl :)

let them buy up all the crappy audio stuff from thrift stores (that ironically sounds better than most new audio stuff you can get at the big box stores) and keep the sales of vinyl up!
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I am actually part of Gen X, I am in my mid 30's sorry to kill your perceived stereotype of me. Sorry, I don't get vinyl in the least still. It doesn't add a damn thing to me except unwanted noise. Sometimes nostalgia are severely misplaced. Nostalgia that seeks an "inferior" audio experience to me is nostalgia misplaced.
Click to expand...

There is nothing inferior to vinyl..if anything, the digital sound is the inferior one .
A good turntable with quality vinyl will sound much better than the digital equivalent
 
I am sure vinyl done right is great and all but I just do not have the patience or space. I always had a problem with whole albums, I don't want to listen to your 12 mediocre to bad songs just to get to your one or 2 good ones. Back in the days of tapes I recorded my own mixed song tapes lol I think about how you had to time it to do it. I view it from the other way I will spend more money to make my digital music sound good so I do not need to deal with tapes, vinyl, CDs or otherwise. I think just like cameras eventually we will get to a point where analog is out classed by digital. We just need to get through everyone building their MP3 Libraries, once sales start leveling off the music industry will go oh well you need to buy HIFI digital now.
 
Megalith said:
Vinyl simply provides a warm, colored sound that many find enjoyable.

I'd probably get a vinyl player, but the mark-up seems too great on the few releases that are out there.
Click to expand...

If you're worried about the markup, you can't afford the turntable, and audio equipment that might produce a better sound than a CD (assuming both are from the same master recording). Seriously, a good turntable probably starts around a grand. I sold a POS turntable 25 years ago that's better than anything I've seen in a store in the past 10-15 years. A pretty good turntable in the mid 80's went for 300-600 bucks (no needle included). Those weren't great turntables, but they were good enough. What you see now is lightweight plastic junk, which means even if you had a mint MSFL disk, you couldn't possibly extract anything from it that's not on the CD (and honestly CD's have better potential than vinyl ever did)

There was a time when CD mastering was hit and miss, but those days are long gone. The biggest problem today is hyper-compression, which is ironic, because CD audio was supposed to allow for greater dynamic range, but at some point it became more important to make every part of the song super loud (to the point that if you look at the audio file in a program, the the top of the wav is always chopped off and it looks flat. This is not how audio files looked 15 or 20 years ago. Technically that's still a mastering issue, but now it's an intentional choice...a bad one, but intentional nonetheless.

As for buying vinyl today, the the kids that buy them now seem to mostly collect them. And honestly, if I buy vinyl, it's because it's a band I really like and in most cases it's a limited release. I'll never play it...and if I can get a FLAC D/L code without opening it, I won't open it either.

No matter what, Vinyl is dead. a few million total sales is nothing.
 
Can't we have both!? About to purchase the latest NIN album on Vinyl and Digital download. That way I have a physical copy for when the Apocalypse hits and the vinyl will play, and a digital download to jam out on the go/car/when the cell towers are down. Now everyone get along, move along, and shuffle along.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I have never understood the appeal to vinyl. I don't want to hear the crackle and pop that comes with playing a record. To me that doesn't add anything, it isn't intended sound and therefore detracts from the listening experience. I have the same bitch with movies at the theater with "Artifacts" added in to make it feel like real film. Once upon a time that stuff was there because the technology wasn't advanced enough to eliminate it. Now that technology is, this movement to add that shit back in is incredibly stupid.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, it's all about mastering. With digital formats, you can be a little more careless with the master because it won't sound too bad. Vinyl, on the other hand, demands better mastering. This is why Super Audio CD sounds better (in my opinion). It's not that the format is inherently different, but mastering standards are different. You master the CD in the same way as Vinyl, then you won't notice any difference between the two (other than the obvious lack of crackle and pop on the CD). This is why most prefer Vinyl to CD.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top