Why vinyl?

[mameeshkamowskwoz]

But aside from the audio quality I def agree with the whole tangible form thing.

It is more ritual when playing records and it engages you... You don't just passively listen.

You don't skip songs on a whim, it preserves the album as a work of art... not just individual tracks.

And as far as album art goes, comparing CDs and LPs is like comparing a Polaroid to a painting.

There are so many LPs whose cover art is reduced to a quadrant of it on the cd cover (Rage Against the Machine's self titled for example)

[toxicity]

Echoing what others have said, I like the active nature of listening to records. Since I've started collecting, I've found myself sitting and reading liner notes and admiring the artwork as I listen to the music, something I haven't really done since high school.

And there's the collectible nature of it all. I've had a lot of fun rummaging through record stores for old gems, tracking down rare albums online, and trying to get in on preorders for albums I consider to be classics. It's more fun (and again, active) than just going to Best Buy and buying a CD or downloading something off iTunes.

Bottom line: It's a hobby, and it's one that I enjoy. Someone else wants to piss on that to make themselves feel better, let them. It's not detracting from my enjoyment one bit.

[burnthealbum]

What can survive an EMP shockwave? If it can survive, then I'll listen to it.

Exactly, pull out my grandma's victrola and we are in business. I enjoy the process of playing vinyl. And for the albums recorded analog, and live(I don't mean a concert recording) it sounds like they are right there in your house.

[sethwoolley]

I also think the engineering aspect of it is fascinating. The way they are made, the way the the needle reacts with the grooves to make the sound. I find it really cool how something as basic as a needle vribrating with grooves can create such amazing sounds

[daniel]

I agree with kurtz. A lot of my favorite music is primarily or only released on vinyl. As such, I'm invested in the format, so when something new I like comes out on CD and vinyl, I buy it on vinyl as well.

[simonldt]

A mixture of everything for me. Nice large scale artwork, more enjoyable to listen to, having that tangible item, etc.

Also, with cd's being so horribly brickwalled these days the vinyl usually 99% of the time sounds MUCH better with less compression.

I really don't like paying £20 for an album though, compared to under £10 for most CD's. I expect to pay more of course, but not double, unless it has special packaging that makes it worth the price. I do feel that with this vinyl 'comeback' labels (or it could be the pressing plants charging more) are really inflating prices.

I basically buy depending on what is available. I have big collections of both CD and Vinyl.

[SecretAgentP]

So I can be better than everyone else.

[mot]

Cause I can't flip cd's.

[deafmx]

if it's a dual disc, you can!

[firefoxUSSR]

if it's a dual disc, you can!

LOLz flip those into the trash bin... they don't play on half of the CD players.

I buy for the closer-to-studio-sound they produce over out-dated (CD) and terrible (mp3) sound formats. I know there's many arguments against that, and in honesty it varies with your hearing and the recording you're listening to. For a transparent difference try -

M.I.A - Kala

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Elliott Smith - XO

Pixies - Doolittle

Brand New - Daisy

Aloe Blacc - Good Things

Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony is a Dead Scene

Glassjaw - Worship and Tribute

or a bout any album with heavy use of sampling

Whilst I do appreciate sitting down to a record now and then, if I like an album a lot I'll simply make a 24 bit archive of it. If you're crafty you can make a 24-bit version for the newer iPods. Ace sound quality on the go.

[toxicity]

I also think the engineering aspect of it is fascinating. The way they are made, the way the the needle reacts with the grooves to make the sound. I find it really cool how something as basic as a needle vribrating with grooves can create such amazing sounds

Also, this!

[longgoneloser]

I wrote this for CNN once when I was asked this same question...

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-476825

[dflanny]

I used to buy CDs all the time because I like looking at the artwork and reading the liner notes. Then I ripped it to my iPod. I realized at some stage that vinyl is so much superior in regards to the artwork.

[nickmango]

"The reason people still buy vinyl is because they either want help remembering the past, are trying not to forget the present, or want something to reflect on in the future."

http://ilivesweat.tumblr.com/post/10771739680/digital-and-vinyl-serve-two-different-purposes

At least this is the way I see it. I've been collecting for a long time and it's always been about the memories.

[kidamnesiac]

That article is bogus. CDs are better than vinyl because he says so? He gave no proof of anything.

The truth is that standard CDs are limited to 16 Bit/44.1 kHz. Vinyl is capable of an almost infinitely wide sonic spectrum, but most records are audible to at least 24 Bit/192 kHz.

[clagstein]

I also think the engineering aspect of it is fascinating. The way they are made, the way the the needle reacts with the grooves to make the sound. I find it really cool how something as basic as a needle vribrating with grooves can create such amazing sounds

This is one of the big reasons for me also. It's amazing! That's not to say that CD's aren't amazing in that aspect, but record players (in many styles and incarnations) have been around for eons before the digital age! I get stoked on the pressing of a record too. And being a label guy also lends to it all.

I like to have to sit down and liten to a record, or take it in while I am cooking dinner.

[slinch]

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.

[nothingnatural]

I collect limited edition vinylzZz for the hobby. Plus all the pretty colors look so darn cute on my walls. My vinyl are also my investments! I love the hobby!

[nothingnatural]

In all seriousness, I've been listening to records my whole life. When I was a kid (and a teen) I used to love how much cheaper I could get records for over CDs. Obviously record prices have since surpassed CD prices but records have remained my preferred format. There's many things I love about records but the main thing is that they have been a part of my whole life and I will always buy them.

[Guest]

i buy vinyl because i am a dumbass who likes to throw money away on limited variants of albums i already own on CD. Also, i am a hypocrite who goes against his beliefs about the environment to buy vinyl in plastic wrap via mail-order. i should switch to MP3s.

[cymbalism15]

Thanks to all of the people who gave serious responses in this thread. I think that for a lot of people it isn't about the sound quality but the experience. I think I'm going to continue my habit of only getting my favorites on vinyl/FLAC and having everything else at 320kbps

[mameeshkamowskwoz]

That article is bogus. CDs are better than vinyl because he says so? He gave no proof of anything.

The truth is that standard CDs are limited to 16 Bit/44.1 kHz. Vinyl is capable of an almost infinitely wide sonic spectrum, but most records are audible to at least 24 Bit/192 kHz.

Vinyl is audible beyond 24/192.

That's just the best you can do when you rip a record digitally.

That's another plus with vinyl; you can't just rip it and have an equivalent substitute.

[mameeshkamowskwoz]

i buy vinyl because i am a dumbass who likes to throw money away on limited variants of albums i already own on CD. Also, i am a hypocrite who goes against his beliefs about the environment to buy vinyl in plastic wrap via mail-order. i should switch to MP3s.

Ugh... Thanks for bringing that up.

I too have that internal moral dilemma of consuming less and having a lower carbon footprint with wanting a physical LP instead of digital files that do not necessarily require all the resources that LPs require to make.

Record Store Day is always the same day as every Earth Day celebration so it's a nice little reminder that I'm a hypocrite!

I can't really give this up though and I like to think that I make more than my share of sacrifices for sustainability.

To quote Professor Farnsworth, I guess mother Earth can take one more for the team.

[droptheneedle]

When I was younger and pretty broke I would go to punk shows back in 1995/96 and vinyl was always the cheapest way to get the music. I liked the artwork, sound, colors that were done with each record. Most bands would custom do their record sleeves, so it felt more personal than a CD. I mainly listened to skate punk and Fat Wreck bands. I started buying Fat pressings back in the day because I really enjoyed their bands. I found out later that the color pressings were limited and it made me feel happy that I owned a piece of music that only 200/300 other people had too. It feels like I own a piece of punk history with vinyl. I never bought my records with the idea of making money but it seems like that is all the hype now. Record collecting seems more shitty now with the price hikes, 10 different pressings, 6 month wait pre-orders, flippers.

[bybombasticbomb]

When I was 18 I found a crate of old records in my parents basement. I took the crate with me when I moved out to go to college as a curiosity. I had always seen old, tattered records at thrift stores and started to hear about vinyl being this new "cool" format (Ironic eh?) that had better quality and all the things that have been mentioned throughout this thread. So I was interested. It kind of started as a way to connect to my distant parents as well as to something that was "cool".

As I've been drawn more and more into it, it's taken on a much more important aspect to me. Artistically speaking, I think that good bands/singers/etc. make albums, not songs. In our fast paced world of 3 1/2 minute sounds, it's so refreshing to put on The Thursday/Envy split or a Godspeed! record and hear all the sounds mold together into one giant picture. It's the difference between reading the blurb on the back of a book and the whole thing, or watching a trailer of a film and the film itself. If the digital age of music was to take over, bands would just release singles, not albums, and the "experience" of a work of art would be compressed from a novel to a blog.

And of course there is the collecting aspect and being apart of something that is different and fun. It is really cool to have something that's pressed out of 200 or 500 or whatever. There is a connection to the music and the other people who own it that can't be said for some easy downloaded file or CD bought at Best Buy.

Vinyl has become very important to me over the years, and I'm excited for my kid(s) to find my crates of records and become inspired like I have.