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Vinyl outsells cds for first time in 34 years!
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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    Posted: September 12 2020 at 22:50
I saw this on various radio station websites and also on pitchfork. This shouldn't come as a big surprise to most of us though.


https://q1043.iheart.com/content/2020-09-11-vinyl-records-outsell-cds-for-the-first-time-in-34-years/

https://pitchfork.com/news/vinyl-outsells-cds-for-the-first-time-in-decades/


Here's the thing(at least for me personally). While I'm glad to see a physical medium(ie vinyl)selling well in this digital age I don't think vinyl albums are the be all end all and I do think cds should stick around. My main reason for saying this is you can only hold so much music on a vinyl album without making it a double. Cds are more practical for that reason but also more portable. For cds to die out just shows how people aren't really thinking this through imo and too many younger folks are caught up on seeing vinyl as cool and trendy while cds to them are passe. I'll stick with my cds. 


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - September 12 2020 at 22:51
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dwill123 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

you can only hold so much music on a vinyl album without making it a double. Cds are more practical for that reason
No doubt that cds can hold more than vinyl but I think here the saying 'quality outweighs quantity' comes to play.  The big problem with this is to really appreciate the sound quality of vinyl you need a very expensive audio system.  A basic stereophile system can cost north of $2000 and quickly shoot up into the 5 and easily 6 figure range.  For the average working stiff that's not practical at all imo.  But if you get the chance to hear music on one of these systems the sound is magical.
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Originally posted by dwill123 dwill123 wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

you can only hold so much music on a vinyl album without making it a double. Cds are more practical for that reason
No doubt that cds can hold more than vinyl but I think here the saying 'quality outweighs quantity' comes to play.  The big problem with this is to really appreciate the sound quality of vinyl you need a very expensive audio system.  A basic stereophile system can cost north of $2000 and quickly shoot up into the 5 and easily 6 figure range.  For the average working stiff that's not practical at all imo.  But if you get the chance to hear music on one of these systems the sound is magical.

I agree. Also, owning a turntable and record collection is more of an active hobby. You have to clean the records and care for them, organize them and like you said it's a real investment in terms of what you need to spend to make it worthwhile. I'm not against owning vinyl by any means. I still have records myself stored away and at some point might buy a record player but I'm in no hurry and it will depend on my financial situation.
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For me, the inconvenient with vinyls is the inconsistence of the prices: I don't know the prices in UK, USA or anywhere else, but I see in France ridiculous things, such as simple albums as expensive as double albums (from around 25 to 30 euros) - not to talk about the reissue of some 70's Zambian rock charged 50 euros for ONE (1) LP!
So, I wonder who can afford vinyl albums nowadays...

Another thing that disturbs me is that a lot of references released today are nothing but reissues. And when it's some new stuff, it's from well established bands/artists. I see some new, little starting bands having their music released on LPs, but is that the majority?

So, vinyl outsells CDs, but who buys them? And who profits from that?
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Personally, I much prefer the portability and quite honestly the sound of CDs and digital formats, plus it is far more cost effective.  Maybe if I heard vinyl on a $2,000 stereo system I might change my mind, but I've never been a fan of the hiss and clicks and pops that you hear when playing a vinyl record.
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Points: 16124 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 14 2020 at 19:44
Originally posted by rushfan4 rushfan4 wrote:

Personally, I much prefer the portability and quite honestly the sound of CDs and digital formats, plus it is far more cost effective.  Maybe if I heard vinyl on a $2,000 stereo system I might change my mind, but I've never been a fan of the hiss and clicks and pops that you hear when playing a vinyl record.

Yeah, I don't really get the appeal of vinyl over cds. I can understand liking vinyl but new vinyl typically costs almost twice as much as a new cd(or at least close to it)plus you can't listen to it in one sitting. You have to get up and turn it over. You don't need to do that with cds. At some point I wouldn't mind having both but it's cds for now. Definitely vinyl over streaming though if I had to only chose one of those.

As far as the clicks and pops go that's a real issue. Unless you clean your vinyl regularly and take really good care of them(ie always put them away right away)then you will inevitably get the clicks and pops. It's probably too much work to keep them clean enough that that never happens(especially over time).


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - September 14 2020 at 19:46
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