Vinyl, CD or Digital - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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The Rock

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Joined: June 30 2005
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Posted: June 16 2013 at 22:14

Vinyl and CDs.Mostly vinyl.

What's gonna come out of my mouth is gonna come out of my soul."Skip Prokop"

Nogbad_The_Bad View Drop Down

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 21:49

Dean wrote:

For me vinyl is a nostalgia thing because that's how it was when I got into buying music in a big way. It is impossible to recreate that and buying vinyl today is not the same pleasure it was back in the day. Modern vinyl vendors actually spoil that experience for me, (just as guy-who-knows-everything does in the comic book store). I also prefer not standing next to another enthusiast when leafing through stacks of albums, If I find a gem I don't want some 'expert' looking over my shoulder, buying albums is not a team event.

I miss the uninformed indifference of the 70s shop-assistant and back then you would actually see (and meet) girls in a record store - I've been to modern vinyl record fayres - not a female to be seen for miles.

This pretty much perfectly describes me, perfectly written, thanks for posting.

Ian

Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com

https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

Metalmarsh89 View Drop Down

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 20:57

Digital is convenient, but I'm not a fan. I collect CD's because I can rip them to my computer with ease and they are good, small size. Vinyls are something I'd pursue down the road, but that's when I have my own place, and/or a good sound system set up. I love the size of the artwork from vinyl though, and it does offer a much warmer feel for the music than CD's (which in turn are warmer than digital).

Dean

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 20:32

Gerinski wrote:

With all the new technologies, can't they make vinyls which do not get scratched nor bent by heat or wrong storage, which can play for 70 minutes without having to flip the side, do not wear a physical stylus, and don't need to be cleaned every time before being played?

Of course they can, but there is no demand. Anything that alters the basic concept and material would be seen as sacrilege.

The polymer used (poly vinyl chloride acetate) is ancient technology and the material science of polymers has advanced considerably in 50 years - creating a polymer that is resistant to scratches and is stable over a wide range of temperatures is easily achievable with modern plastics. If the technology had continued unevolved since the 1940s then albums would still be made of shellac and the merest thought of changing to vinyl now would meet with huge resistance from the diehards and so it would be with changing from vinyl to a more robust plastic.

It is also possible to engineer play-back mechanics that do not touch the groove, working laser transports have been around for decades but the development of them stalled because of low demand. Since laser transports could play normal vinyl albums without the laser physically touching the platter it would be technically feasible to cover the grooves with a coating of clear varnish, making them practically scratch and dust proof. Modern discs playable only on an analogue laser transport could be easily made to have a scratch-proof clear layer to protect the audio tracks.

Using the same technology as CD and laser discs (a laminate of acrylic and aluminium), it is also feasible to record analogy waveforms direct into the aluminium layer that could be played back using a laser, this would require two parallel tracks to record stereo, but that is not difficult to achieve technically.

The playback time is limited by the width of the groove, which is goverened by the size of the stylus, using lasers the grooves could be much thinner and the playback time increased.

The problem with all those approaches is the vinyl enthusiast themselves. Because they are discerning (read: finickety) they would detect faults and discrepancies in the new technology even if none actually existed, and they would continually harp back to the authenticity of the original vinyl album and elliptical diamond stylus.

Gerinski wrote:

Nah, I too like the classicism of vinyl but let's be honest, besides the size of the artwork, what is its real advantage? Let alone a very important feature, vinyl does not have the 'skip to next track' function, so useful when you listen to modern Dream Theater Wink

I can't read the text on a CD inlay without a microscope, let alone appreciate the artwork - and don't get me started on the jpeg artifacted thumbnail that accompanies downloads.

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Whether they sound better or not is not a discussion I'll get drawn into - all those superlative adjectives like "warmth" and "sterile" are not something that concerns me - I get both from either source and it's nothing to do with the medium being used.

I buy CDs because they are convenient and sound absolutely fine.

ClemofNazareth wrote:

Yeah storage and transport can be an issue. I've moved 15 times in the past 30 years and there has been some challenges and collateral damage to the collection. When I was in boot camp and my first couple years in the Marines I had to store my vinyl at one of my brother's houses and a couple hundred records 'disappeared'. After I got married we moved from the Mojave Desert to Chicago during the summer and the logistics of keeping vinyl from melting in the truck were daunting. And when we moved from Chicago to Kansas City I made a separate trip in my car just to haul the records (got two speeding tickets in Missouri along the way).

But in the end I'm glad to still have them even though most of my listening today is via streaming or mp3s.

When I last moved house I carefully packed my vinyl collection myself, but allowed the removal men to shift it from the old house to the new as the strain on my little VW's suspension would be too much. With the first box they attempted to lift and carry I heard them quip - "What's in here then? Heavy Metal?", and they continued to say that for the next thirteen boxes... twice!

What?

Barbu

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 20:16

Cds

Mormegil

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 20:06

Vinyl, as I grew up with it and fell in love with the richness of the sound (until either it or the needle wore down).
Digital for the convenience as a close second.

Welcome to the middle of the film.

The.Crimson.King View Drop Down

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 19:12

CD. I grew up in the time of vinyl/cassette/8 track and I used to buy whatever media had the album I was looking for. I recall first buying "The Lamb..." and "Chocolate Kings" on cassette, "Islands" & "Selling England..." on 8 track and just about everything else on vinyl. 8 track & cassette were horribly unreliable...hitting a speed bump while listening to your new $5 "Starless and Bible Black" cassette could ruin it in a second. Besides, vinyl had the best artwork.

When CD's came out I waited a while before taking the plunge but the ability to listen to an album as a whole (rather than 2 20+ minute halves) and not having to worry about pops/scratches/warps made it worthwhile. Nowadays, maybe 5% of my collection is digital but CD is still the king.

Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987

Man With Hat View Drop Down

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 18:47

CDs

Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.

Gerinski

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 18:34

With all the new technologies, can't they make vinyls which do not get scratched nor bent by heat or wrong storage, which can play for 70 minutes without having to flip the side, do not wear a physical stylus, and don't need to be cleaned every time before being played?

AlexDOM

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 16:41

zeqexes wrote:

I get mainly CDs, but I love vinyl too.

Same, but I buy vinyls of albums I really love. I wish Neal Morse would release his albums on vinyl. I'd get them. But yeah I most get Cds. But I feel its a tie between the two, but there is something very special about vinyl!

zeqexes

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 16:32

I get mainly CDs, but I love vinyl too.

Hercules

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 16:15

Snow Dog wrote:

CD. grew up with Lp's. Glad they became obsolete.

Obselete? Funny - there's far more vinyl available now than for years and turntable sales are higher than they have been since the early 90s. And vinyl was the only format that has seen sales growth in the last 5 years.

A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life.

Hercules

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 16:12

Snow Dog wrote:

I wish people would stop saying vinyl sounds so much better. It doesn't.

It does. Miles better.

CDs are very unrealistic tonally and have a 2 dimensional soundstage.

Vinyls, played on a top quality player, have a solidity, tonal accuracy and depth of soundstage no CD player I have heard can get near.

I went out to find a CD player (I do have about 100 CDs) which could give a sound as good as my Pink Triangle Anniversary/SMEV/Lyra Lydian. I had a budget of £3000. In the end, the dealer got up to a £10000 player and it still didn't get close. I couldn't hear subtle details I KNEW were on the disc so I didn't buy.

A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life.

Nogbad_The_Bad View Drop Down

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 15:39

CD's as I like the convenience while still having something tactile, I'm not into renting my music via download. I'd love to buy vinyl but it's just not practical enough for everyday life. I transfer the CD's to hard-drive and listen to them on an ipod. Just too convenient.

I do believe that vinyl sounds better than CD for those with the patience or the aural ability to detect it but to my ears vinyl and CD's are both great.

Ian

Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com

https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

infocat

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 15:08

I don't think I've listened to a vinyl record since I got a CD player in 1989. Of course I still, at the time, had my cassettes that I had recorded from vinyl.

I don't buy digital downloads. I only buy CDs. I only download free albums; but when I like them (and why would I download them otherwise?) I always buy them on CD when available. (Perhaps, I am talking to you!)

The one thing I miss about good ol' records is, of course, the album covers and readable liner notes. Wouldn't it have been great if, even though it could have been considered a waste of space, CDs would have been packaged in LP size packages??

--
Frank Swarbrick
Belief is not Truth.

Snow Dog

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 14:42

I wish people would stop saying vinyl sounds so much better. It doesn't.

BrufordFreak View Drop Down

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 14:36

I love vinyl but it's a pain in terms of time, care and storage.

CDs I still buy if I really love a album that's new to me, but I've gotten used to the modern iTunes/Spotify habit of creating collages/playlists--I rarely listen to a whole album start to finish anymore, so the whole digital & computer storage system works great for me. Plus, I'm too old to keep adding more physical junk to my shelves/storage.

Digital gets my nod for convenience and expedience. But, for recorded music, I do love vinyl best (100% virgin vinyl Japanese presses are preferred though I know of the health hazards involved therein) (probably cuz that's what I grew up with).

Drew Fisher
https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/

Wanorak

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 13:40

Vinyl because it just sounds so much better. Saying that, most of what I listen to now is digital because of the convenience.

A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!!

Tasartir

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 13:27

Digital -for someone who travels and has no stable home there's no other way to go (I do try to get the highest quality Mp3 possible though, but .flac files take up too much space so I've given up on them).

...Histoires Sans Paroles...

TheGazzardian View Drop Down

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Posted: June 16 2013 at 12:56

Guldbamsen wrote:

Vinyl vendors are a special breed. They're all somewhere around 60 to 70 years old, longish grey hair, unshaved, perhaps a bandana, glasses hanging around their neck in some orangy string. They've been to every concert with PinkFloydKingCrimsonJethroTullTangerineDream insert big/small/obscure name here, and they enjoy talking about them in the shop - preferably over a beer and a cigarette(in some instances pipe).

One of the record stores in my city has a guy that pretty much exactly fits that description

but not the others.

I will acquire music in whatever format I can so I may listen to it. Truthfully although I do enjoy vinyl it has become my least-collected format, just because I do a lot of my listening while working on my computer and vinyl is a lot harder to digitize, unless it is new vinyl with a download card in which case it costs $30 for an album that costs $12 on CD.

I tend to go for CD first unless the cost is prohibitive, in which case unless it's an album I really really love digital is the way to go.

Poll Question: Which do you prefer to collect? and why?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Vinyl	26	[28.26%]
CD	52	[56.52%]
Digital	14	[15.22%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted