Vinyl LPs... who still listens to (or buys) them?

[d@mn'd]

I remember (re)playing records for day at a time as a kid. As a parent I am playing the vinyl with the help of me 4 year old. Those of you with may be cringing right now, and yes some get scratched but the good outweighs the bad. I destroyed 45s as a kid, playing and scratching and playing again, but I learned a lot too.

So when I hear a rrrrrrrrrrrrpT from the living room, I don't yell. I just remember that the local record store sells used vinyl for $.50. And that is another thing, $.50 what a great way for kids to pick and explore a record store and vinyl.

All this talk of vinyl, damn I want to listen to 'Fox on the run'......... oh, youtube, thank you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLLHb7dAKmo

I love watching him look at the covers. Last weekend he said, 'it's like a book of music'.

[njenabnit]

so along these same lines, my dad used to buy boxes and boxes of vinyl from garage sales in the 80's as most people were transitioning to cassette or whatever. he literally has thousands of vinyls that have been suffering in the oklahoma heat and cold spells for a better part of 20-30 years. he never touches them and most of them he wouldn't listen to even if they worked (his taste of music =/= 80's music). I'm surprised he even has so many since in my opinion he has more of a distaste for any music past the 60 and part of the early 70s...

Anyways, long story short he is ready to part with all of them. i have considered going through them all and creating a catalog and seeing if anything is worth selling. Even then, how do you ship a vinyl record? seems like it might be more effort than it is worth unless some are worth a lot.

[vince]

I love this discussion thread...

I love vinyl. I used to be a vinyl buff: loved the sound, loved the larger artwork/pictures, love the entire experience overall, from the store purchase to the last note of side-B. But do I own any today? Not a single one. I recently sold my collection to a young guy who was just getting INTO vinyl. And the state of that collection was already reduced from previous sales, or some I simply thrashed (that was before e-bay or whatever other online site that helps out with that). BTW, I can confirm that selling those and shipping them is a lot of work. Best bet is to find someone to buy the entire collection, or sell the ones that has the most value, making your time spent worth it.

I gradually parted with vinyl, first because I haven't owned a turntable for many year, thus no way to play them. And the conclusion I came to, is that I'm not enough of an audiophile (and don't have the money anyway) to get into such a setup. I do agree that they sound absolutely great, mostly when played on a good sound system. Also, to my ears, in general CD's are good enough. I also agree that the care given to today's digital recordings is much better, making for a better sounding CD. I do have older CD's that don't sound that great. But albums that are mastered for DVD-A (i.e., higher frequency/sampling) sound amazing also.

So if someone offers me to listen to something off a vinyl, I will gladly accept. But unfortunately, I had to put vinyl behind me...

[Captain Ned]

and don't have the money anyway) to get into such a setup.

http://www.needledoctor.com/Pro-Ject-Es ... ategory=46

$300 (when back in stock) and has strong cred from the audiophile press as the cheapest good way back into vinyl.

[just brew it!]

loved the larger artwork/pictures

This is probably the part I miss the most.

[Flatland_Spider]

@njenabnit

OKC has a great record store called Size Records that might be interested in them, and the flea markets would be a good place to unload the vinyl. Tulsa has some good flea markets; I'm not sure about OKC though.

http://www.wikihow.com/Pack-Vinyl-Records-for-Shipping

[vince]

and don't have the money anyway) to get into such a setup.

http://www.needledoctor.com/Pro-Ject-Es ... ategory=46

$300 (when back in stock) and has strong cred from the audiophile press as the cheapest good way back into vinyl.

A decent price indeed, but that's only the turntable . Add in a good amp and a good set of speakers, and you're easily above $1K. One day maybe (never say never, right?)... Now is just not the right time for me, mostly since I recently sold my vinyl collection.

[cynan]

I don't have any vinyl (or a record player to play them on)

But I did upgrade the USB controller in my external DAC recently to the new VIA Vinyl VT1703. And wouldn't you know it? All the digital harshness is gone. Like magic!

OK, so no, not really. But it does sound pretty good to my ears - and an improvement over the Tenor USB controller that it replaced. And it is the only USB audio controller that I know of that supports up to 32 bit and 384 Khz music. I don't think SPDIF goes that high, does it? Unfortunately, I don't know where to find any native 32-bit music files - do they even exist?

[raen7]

The first CD transfer All of Joni Mitchell "Court and Spark" was (and remains) unlistenable.

Fixed for you

[Captain Ned]

The first CD transfer All of Joni Mitchell "Court and Spark" was (and remains) unlistenable.

Fixed for you

Semi-funny, as I was around when it first hit vinyl. Youth snark is wasted on the young.

[raen7]

Heh, I guess we are 20 years apart...
Side note, most music I do love is from 60s-80s, rock-n-roll in its heyday. So I can see how somebody would say that I would appreciate said music better if I had it from a quality vinyl source instead of downloaded from the internets. But it goes back to the question of resources/money/time, and I just don't get it.

I also really have no idea about Joni Mitchell, I just heard her music briefly in the movie "Love Actually" and it sounded depressing. Massively inaccurate generalization ftw!

[just brew it!]

IIRC he's my age (plus or minus a few), and TBH I never really "got" Joni Mitchell either.

There's music that I listened to when I was younger and don't listen to any more. There's also music that I didn't "get" when I was younger that I'm seemingly discovering with fresh ears later in life; but Joni Mitchell isn't in that category. At least, not yet.

[kc77]

Don't listen to vinyl too much anymore but I've got a huge collection that I need to convert to MP3. Although for some reason I prefer the sound quality or lack thereof found within vinyl to the MP3 or digital counterpart.

[PenGun]

Don't listen to vinyl too much anymore but I've got a huge collection that I need to convert to MP3. Although for some reason I prefer the sound quality or lack thereof found within vinyl to the MP3 or digital counterpart.

Ah someone with ears who can hear. Wonderful, it's quite rare.

[Pez]

Apart from when I'm gaming nearly all my music is on vinyl - I'm a DJ and refuse to use CDJ's as they just don't sound the same

Don't get me started on Traktor / Serato, too many DJ's use it and really poor quality audio.

[sluggo]

For those of you getting into vinyl for the first time, realize that the recording engineers weren't just sitting there with a hand on a dial keeping people out of the red. Records were mastered to sound good on the equipment of the day and for the intended market. Consequently, records made prior to about 1955 were typically single-channel (stereo came later). Extra care was given to classical and jazz recordings, as these were typically bought by people with better playback equipment. Pop music destined for 45rpm singles was often mixed with the vocals way out in front and little if any bass. Early stereo recordings often has very little L+R content. The list of quirks goes on and on, and finding good recordings is not always easy.

Many say that some of the very best recordings made were Rudy van Gelder's work on the Blue Note label. He recorded the best jazz players of bop and post-bop era in his custom studio, then mixed and mastered the content with the utmost care. If you can find some of his stuff in good shape, pick it up and calibrate your system (and your ears) with it - it's good music correctly recorded. I listened to a Gene Ammons record on some very average gear in my garage last weekend and two of my neighbors came over because they thought it was a live band.

Another excellent series of recordings (perhaps from a purely technical sense - many people don't like modern jazz) were the early German pressings on the ECM label. The owner/engineer (Manfred Eicher) was a fanatic about the quality of the product. He used only the highest quality vinyl, stampers were tossed out long before they wore out, even the quality of the liner and jacket materials was far above the norm for the time (mid-70's through .. ?). The surfaces were absolutely silent. The American pressings of the time were not nearly as good, and I don't know if you can even get the German pressings here anymore (or even if they release on vinyl). So if you're looking for something to show off how good vinyl can sound, try those.

Finally, it's worth mentioning the Sheffield Lab catalog. I think there's maybe a couple dozen titles in it, all from the mid-70's to mid-80's. They recorded using a very unique process - no tape. They recorded live. Out of the singer's mouth and into a mike, then into a preamp, then into a mixer, and then into a cutting lathe's voice coil. All live and instantaneous. No tape anywhere in the process. No tape meant no tape noise, no tape wow, no compression, no dubbing, no track misalignment, no saturation ... just pure, uncompressed wiggles going straight onto lacquer. The dynamic range was just stunning. A lot of people detested the music, but there's no question they were the best demo records of the time. Might still be.

[just brew it!]

Another excellent series of recordings (perhaps from a purely technical sense - many people don't like modern jazz) were the early German pressings on the ECM label. The owner/engineer (Manfred Eicher) was a fanatic about the quality of the product. He used only the highest quality vinyl, stampers were tossed out long before they wore out, even the quality of the liner and jacket materials was far above the norm for the time (mid-70's through .. ?). The surfaces were absolutely silent. The American pressings of the time were not nearly as good, and I don't know if you can even get the German pressings here anymore (or even if they release on vinyl). So if you're looking for something to show off how good vinyl can sound, try those.

As recently as a few years ago, you could still get vinyl pressings of some of their back catalog by ordering direct from their web site. They appear to have phased this out though.

ECM is still unmatched in the technical excellence department. They take a lot of care with their recordings, and it shows.

With their "New Series" releases they've diversified into classical.