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That article is bogus.

Not as bogus as comments regarding quality posted in this thread. Sure, in theory it's all peachy, but it's far from reality. And if you look at comments here that aren't based on the quality argument (as flawed as it may be), they are pretty close to the opinions expressed in that article, just worded differently. Now I'm not saying that the article isn't facepalm-inducing, but much less so than some of the golden remarks here.

What I got from the article was that the only reason vinyl is still around is because people buy all the variants and then stare at them, which I think is ridiculous.

To answer the question, my first records were way cheap Allman Brothers/Yes/Jim Croce records that I got because I didn't see the CD. When I saw Tera Melos in '09, they didn't have any CDs, just vinyl. I started only getting vinyl when it was the only format available or it was cheaper, but after a while I found myself in love with the format and the intimacy of playing a record. I have a fair amount of vinyl-only releases, especially with 7"s and splits.

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Vinyl is audible beyond 24/192.

No it's not. It can reproduce those frequencies, but it's not audible.

24 bit is strictly a digital specification, it just means greater dynamic range than standard 16 bit files. Vinyl is theoretically capable of greater dynamic range, but the fact that it's a needle dragging through a groove means there is always going to be some surface noise.

As for a 192 sample rate (resulting in a 96 kHz frequency range), adult human hearing generally tops out around 20 kHz, which is fully covered by CD specs, which top out at 22.05 kHz. So, a file with a 192 kHz sample rate is reproducing frequencies about 5 times higher than what you can hear. Yeah, I know there can be frequencies above 20 kHz which can produce discernible overtones, but overall, double blind comparisons have repeatedly shown that not even nerds can tell the difference.

An excellent article about 24/192 files and digital audio in general:

http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

I listen to vinyl because a massive iTunes library doesn't get chicks.

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What I got from the article was that the only reason vinyl is still around is because people buy all the variants and then stare at them, which I think is ridiculous.

Indeed, and just like baseball cards in the late eighties and then comic books after, when this vinyl surge collapses, all those variants wont be worth even an eighth of what was paid for them.

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I buy it because I stopped buying physical CDs a long time ago. Its so easy to just pirate music. Only time I'd buy the CD/Album is if I really loved the artist and wanted to support them. I just felt like buying the music off iTunes kind of sucked because you never got something physical from it.

I started collecting in December of 2010, and the whole package is just better. you actually get to appreciate the artwork that someone spent a long time developing. I mean, you really can't appreciate complex artwork on 5 square inches. At least with LPs, you get a 12 x 12 Sleeve, and a physical medium. It feels more "worth it" to me.

and on top of that i get to support my favorite artists. I always listen to albums from start to finish anyway, so this is like the perfect medium.

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Vinyl is audible beyond 24/192.

No it's not. It can reproduce those frequencies, but it's not audible.

24 bit is strictly a digital specification, it just means greater dynamic range than standard 16 bit files. Vinyl is theoretically capable of greater dynamic range, but the fact that it's a needle dragging through a groove means there is always going to be some surface noise.

As for a 192 sample rate (resulting in a 96 kHz frequency range), adult human hearing generally tops out around 20 kHz, which is fully covered by CD specs, which top out at 22.05 kHz. So, a file with a 192 kHz sample rate is reproducing frequencies about 5 times higher than what you can hear. Yeah, I know there can be frequencies above 20 kHz which can produce discernible overtones, but overall, double blind comparisons have repeatedly shown that not even nerds can tell the difference.

An excellent article about 24/192 files and digital audio in general:

http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

I listen to vinyl because a massive iTunes library doesn't get chicks.

Success Dean! "Why thats me! how did i get those bags of money in my hand?"

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I like reading most of the comments here and I can relate to them. People here obvisiously love vinyl records.

I like finding weird old records that have probably not had a CD pressing or got forgotten. I often find gems in the most weird places.

By the way, I always tought CDs were junk because of the cheap plastic cases. They remind me too much of cassette cases.

Colors and limited runs are a plus for the common nerd but a standard black vinyl is just as good and sexy. Try listening to classic jazz on a record and you'll get a good sense of why vinyl is beautiful.

It is gratifying to know you have a nice collection of music you love, looks good and that plays great because you take care of it.

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I buy it because I stopped buying physical CDs a long time ago. Its so easy to just pirate music. Only time I'd buy the CD/Album is if I really loved the artist and wanted to support them. I just felt like buying the music off iTunes kind of sucked because you never got something physical from it.

I started collecting in December of 2010, and the whole package is just better. you actually get to appreciate the artwork that someone spent a long time developing. I mean, you really can't appreciate complex artwork on 5 square inches. At least with LPs, you get a 12 x 12 Sleeve, and a physical medium. It feels more "worth it" to me.

and on top of that i get to support my favorite artists. I always listen to albums from start to finish anyway, so this is like the perfect medium.

I could have written this word for word!

Long time CD collector, then moved on to pirating and buying only CDs of bands I really liked.

Did pay for a digital download once. But the whole process felt so meaningless to me, because it was even less effort than pirating.

My tipping point was when I was moving my CDs from one place to another. One cardboard box ripped open when I was lifting it. Now imagine the sound of more than hundred jewel cases dropping on wooden floor. It sounded horribly 'worthless'. It didn't sound like something I'd want to represent the music I love.

I looked at the CDs scattered on the floor and felt no urge to pick them up. Or even check if some cases were damaged.

I just didn't care for that pile of platic.

And I think that's the point. I care about music and it enhances the whole experience if I can care about the media itself as well.

Also about the people who say "It looks good on my wall": it sounds vain at first, but because music itself is ethereal and intangible it needs a physical representation. So I believe we are willing to let it occupy as much of our living space as we deem it to be important to our life.

Some might be happy having everything on an iPod and most likely music is not that important to them.

For us, a shelf full of records is the shrine we build to pay homage to the music we like. Something that we can turn to in order to find some inner piece. And good music. :D

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I was really into downloading/pirating mp3's when they first got big with the advent of file sharing. Napster was huge for me in terms of finding new/old bands that I would've never found on the radio or MTV. I gradually got an ear for needing the highest quality 192kbp and on up to 320kbp. Then I got back into CD's, with the slight difference between even the highest quality MP3 and a CD being magnified with my long absence from the format.

After CD buying became stale for me (digipaks, compression/loudness wars), and after hearing vinyl in various places, I made the plunge. Records for me sound completely different from CD's, whether to you that is better or worse is subjective. To me, at least listening to older records when they were engineered for the format, it's like listening to a private live session. It's fucking amazing is what it is. Some people can't hear the difference, that's up to them. But I certainly can.

Now, in terms of albums mixed and mastered in today's climate, I'm not 100% convinced that there is an improvement in sound quality. I do notice that it cuts down on effects from compression, making albums that would be unlistenable on CD format at least at listenable levels on vinyl due to the extra ceiling space (real or imagined?).

But for those artists that still remain loyal to the format, and for releases that are handled with care and remastered as long awaited vinyl releases, it's truly a joy to experience them in an analog setting. I find myself being able to listen to one instrument at a time, my mind switching from listening to the drums to guitars or to just the vocals to hear inflection that I could never make out previously. I could never do that with any digital format. Having a pissing war over which is "technically" better is dumb and missing the point. Not all experiences can be calculated. Math is a language too, and vinyl dances in the space that it leaves.

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  • 4 years later...

My reason for choosing vinyl is simple. It's because I feel like I'm playing the music myself. I feel turntables and vinyl are instruments that you play. Each album or 45 that is played is like a different flavor of instrument played.

Thank you for your support...

Edited by VinylMario
typo
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22 minutes ago, throughbeingcruel said:

Came here thinking we were gonna be talking about the band Why? and how fucking dope Alopecia is

Random story:  One morning I walked out of my apartment and found a brand new, sealed vinyl copy of Why - Alopecia on the sidewalk. I picked it up in disbelief, wondering who would leave a brand new record outside overnight?  As I picked it up, my landlord walked around the corner and greeted me with a 'good morning'.  After discussing my find, he asked if I was interested in some records a previous tenant had left and I happy obliged. 

 

Unfortunately the 50+ records left by the tenant were stacked  (some with ringwear) but in relatively good condition.   I did acquire some nice jazz, a rare radiohead remix album 1/500, some Portishead, a couple of obscure meditation/self-help records. 

 

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Why vinyl?
 

Why, to listen to it of course!

 

One night, I was half asleep thinking about how I wasn't supporting artists anymore because 95% of my music came on promo for review....so...that's when I realized I could break out that turntable that was given to me, and use that Crobot EP I accidentally bought, and start listening to vinyl records.

 

As others have said, good speakers, good turntable and you'll get a wonderful experience. I liken it to home theater set ups in the 90's on VHS...some of those tapes sounded JUST like being in the theater, some sounded a little better, and some sounded the same.

 

So, for sound quality, it's at worst a zero sum game, but my vinyl library is in ONE room and I have to go work to listen to it...not the shuffling I do with my iPhone the whole rest of the time.

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The music is only part of the story. As a Graphic Designer, the artwork is the other part of the story for me.

Sure, CD's generally have some booklet with the art, but it is quite small. For 20 or 30 bucks, you are not only buying the music and usually the MP3 dowload code, but the beautiful artwork the accompanies the record, specifically gatefolds. Some of that artwork is incredible and is often used to help give you a "visual cue" or theme of the music you are listening to; it tells a story. It truly can enhance the experience. Sometimes even the artwork on a CD is not the same as the vinyl version. Try listening to a good album and look at the artwork. You may be surprised at the results.

Sure, some records/bands do not utilize this concept as much as others, especially single LP's with no gatefolds, but the sleeves can talk as well to make up for it.

Edited by rsholtis
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1 hour ago, rsholtis said:

The music is only part of the story. As a Graphic Designer, the artwork is the other part of the story for me.

Sure, CD's generally have some booklet with the art, but it is quite small. For 20 or 30 bucks, you are not only buying the music and usually the MP3 dowload code, but the beautiful artwork the accompanies the record, specifically gatefolds. Some of that artwork is incredible and is often used to help give you a "visual cue" or theme of the music you are listening to; it tells a store. It truly can enhance the experience. Sometimes even the artwork on a CD is not the same as the vinyl version. Try listening to a good album and look at the artwork. You may be surprised at the results.

Sure, some records/bands do not utilize this concept as much as others, especially single LP's with no gatefolds, but the sleeves can talk as well to make up for it.

Cover art  in general hasn't been as good during my lifetime as it was back in the good old days of vinyl.

 

I've gotten bunches of CDs where the art was like...well we had to put something there, and that's from artists I absolutely love, MC Chris I'm looking at you.

 

And there've been times when I got the album after getting MP3s or whatever and saw how much cooler the cover art was, Quiet Hollers, I'm looking at you.

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On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2012 at 5:03 PM, capsized said:

For us, a shelf full of records is the shrine we build to pay homage to the music we like. Something that we can turn to in order to find some inner piece. And good music. :D

I can relate to this.  I like having a physical copy, as it's more sentimental, than downloading and playing it on my phone.  I am torn, as I'm spending a ton more money on the vinyl, exchange rates, and shipping to Canada usually means double the vinyl cost, or sometimes even more than it.  But it's the hobby aspect for me.  I love music, and by collecting, it just peaks my interest more, and makes me find my inner peace.

I don't relate to the sound aspect that vinyl sounds more warm than CD/MP3, probably cause I don't have a great sound system.

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34 minutes ago, chicomak said:

I can relate to this.  I like having a physical copy, as it's more sentimental, than downloading and playing it on my phone.  I am torn, as I'm spending a ton more money on the vinyl, exchange rates, and shipping to Canada usually means double the vinyl cost, or sometimes even more than it.  But it's the hobby aspect for me.  I love music, and by collecting, it just peaks my interest more, and makes me find my inner peace.

I don't relate to the sound aspect that vinyl sounds more warm than CD/MP3, probably cause I don't have a great sound system.

Once I upgraded my speakers, added a preamp, and stopped using small modern speakers...

 

The sound difference was vast, especially changing from listening via my PC's speakers, which is most of my listening. More often than not, listening to a vinyl album sounds like a whole other experience than the MP3s, etc.

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It's purely mastering differences for myself.  I end up digitizing everything I listen to frequently.

Once you hear a pop/rock/metal record closer to it's original studio recording mix... astounding.  For many releases this is worth the price of entry.

 

I've also found the imperfection of vinyl very annoying at times.  But the mechanical nature of the sound reproduction is so endearing that you forgive it.

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