Top Ten Reasons Why Vinyl Is Better than Digital....

Are you of the generation where going to the record store was a thing of beauty? A time when it was worth leaving the house for, and endless hours of scouting through stacks of LP's and singles in order to find the Holy Grail of recorded bliss that you thought you would never find.

Ooh, the days of actually finding that brilliant piece of vinyl, paying for it in cash, and then racing home with great gusto to slap it on the turn table and delicately place the needle at the start and waiting for the introduction of the crackle through the speakers.

If so, then you may find the website below that I came across recently giving 10 reasons as to why vinyl is better than digital, to your liking.

May I also add a number 11 to that list before you click on the link, even though It is slightly covered within the write up. Now is the time to actually go out and buy vinyl LP's and singles. Opportunity,charity and retro shops are abundant with some great finds. Just the feel of the LP cover in your hand and actually having something in your grasp to show what you bought for your money. To appreciate the art work of the cover and actually being able to read without having to wear glasses information and facts about a piece of work that you just don't get with a MP3 download.

The other day I returned home from a charity shop with the LP,'What's Going On', by Marvin Gaye, and 'Starsailor,' by Tim Buckley, tucked under my arm, for just five bucks. Now that's what I call a bargain.........Enjoy.

fasttopten.com...

Agreed! The sound quality of vinyl is just awesome as well. I've always believed that my record player has a much better quality sound than a stereo.

reply to post by davethebear


To each his own.... For me to get my jollies, finding an old hatchet head at a yard salefor five bucks makes me hum on the way home. --Come to think of it, it may have been something from Marvin gay!

Originally posted by BEAST1E
Agreed! The sound quality of vinyl is just awesome as well. I've always believed that my record player has a much better quality sound than a stereo.

Oh yes, my friend, it certainly does...........quite a turn on, but not in a dirty way........

reply to post by davethebear
Yes Vinyl rules.
However it took thousands for my system.
Convenience trumps quality is much of today's mindset.

Yes, vinyl has the best reproduction, true...but you can pack a whole lot more CDs in your bugout bag than you can records.



C'mon, this IS a conspiracy site, ya'know.

Okay I'll Bite

First Off - I have been DJing since the days of Vinyl and have only recently (last week/this week) accepted the modern tools and formats and have been converting to Digital DJing. I am embracing the digital realm because it adds a lot of convenience and saves a TON of time and money....especially when you live in a country with horrible vinyl selection (pretty much anywhere outside of New York or London it seems)

While many points in that article are good, I have something to say about each

#1 - NOT a SINGLE Vinyl I have ever bought came with a complementary Digital Download, this was '96-'05
#2 - This is nice and all, but those paper slip cases wear out and get torn after about 100+ times....and once your collection becomes so large that it fills your entire garage its all a bit ridiculous. I'd rather have a couple Hard Disk Drives and a Tape Backup in a fireproof vault.
#3 - True, it sucks that you only have 24 hours to download your digital purchase from Beatport before it dissapears into the ether....but as with any physical product, wear and tear are a big factor. With my Mp3s, if my HDD crashes I can just reload it from my backup.
#4 - HARDLY TRUE - $16 for 4 tracks of a 45rpm?? $20+ for new releases...$40 for a rare piece....the going internet price is around $1.50 per track
#5 - Music always brings people together no matter the context....though I admit that I was sad to find my local HMV Closed, due to high iPhone/iTunes penetration in the market
#6 - No idea what this one means - why wouldn't someone listen to mp3s in entirety?
#7 - Ask ANY Vinyl DJ and they will have a story about vinyl going missing from their crate at some stage or another. If they are referring only to Piracy....it's pretty clear nowadays that anything and everything in the computer realm gets pirated....not a good enough reason for Microsoft to stop business right? So why should music not go digital?
#8 - In the future you will find that Data will be an Heirloom too.....but I must say, it is pretty hard getting your favorite producer to sign your hard drive
#9 - Coming from an Audio Engineering background, I fully understand and agree with this. There is no real substitute for an analog waveform. But I feel like with HDTV, music will evolve and will come on better formats in the future.
#10 - Mastering Tracks is a complete nightmare for Audio Engineers....the basic goal is to make the music sound good on as many soundsystems as possible. Naturally, it will sound worse on some and better on others....IMO these discrepencies can be corrected with anyone wise enough to use a 31band EQ to make the digitally re-mastered product sound a lot better than the way the author describes.

The feeling and perception of depth and wholeness of a vinyl recording is unmatched by digital playback. Aside from the crackle & pops of vinyl, you have the actual vibrations being regenerated by the speakers from the etchings in the plastic. I have several instances where I have original vinyl records and the CD equivalents, and the CD sounds cold, empty and thin compared to the vinyl. It's an extreme differential too. It's really sad that we've lost that.

On the other hand, I in no way romanticize the experience of hunting for hard-to-find music. I wasted hours, days of my life desperately hunting down out-of-print and hard-to-find albums. It was pretty miserable really, and not thrilling, magical or any such thing. Many hours/days/weeks were wasted finding nothing I was searching for. I also do not miss using a magnifying glass to read through lists of records in Goldmine, looking for that "one". I am much happier now that I can find whatever I want pretty quickly. I am also happy that all the songs which I never knew the names of and spent sometimes years just trying to identify decades ago are now fully identified. No more mystery songs of the past.

Life has new mysteries to unfold besides hunting for elusive recordings now.

Originally posted by DesertDweller
reply to post by davethebear

 

Yes Vinyl rules.
However it took thousands for my system.
Convenience trumps quality is much of today's mindset.

Yes I agree, that is the way that a majority of the world think today.............what a crying shame though my friend...........boooooooooooooooooooooooo

not to be the badd guy here ..but

A needle for a record player costs over 100$ these days..

i know..i have one..

torents are free......weeeeee

Originally posted by Nick_X
Okay I'll Bite

First Off - I have been DJing since the days of Vinyl and have only recently (last week/this week) accepted the modern tools and formats and have been converting to Digital DJing. I am embracing the digital realm because it adds a lot of convenience and saves a TON of time and money....especially when you live in a country with horrible vinyl selection (pretty much anywhere outside of New York or London it seems)

While many points in that article are good, I have something to say about each

#1 - NOT a SINGLE Vinyl I have ever bought came with a complementary Digital Download, this was '96-'05
#2 - This is nice and all, but those paper slip cases wear out and get torn after about 100+ times....and once your collection becomes so large that it fills your entire garage its all a bit ridiculous. I'd rather have a couple Hard Disk Drives and a Tape Backup in a fireproof vault.
#3 - True, it sucks that you only have 24 hours to download your digital purchase from Beatport before it dissapears into the ether....but as with any physical product, wear and tear are a big factor. With my Mp3s, if my HDD crashes I can just reload it from my backup.
#4 - HARDLY TRUE - $16 for 4 tracks of a 45rpm?? $20+ for new releases...$40 for a rare piece....the going internet price is around $1.50 per track
#5 - Music always brings people together no matter the context....though I admit that I was sad to find my local HMV Closed, due to high iPhone/iTunes penetration in the market
#6 - No idea what this one means - why wouldn't someone listen to mp3s in entirety?
#7 - Ask ANY Vinyl DJ and they will have a story about vinyl going missing from their crate at some stage or another. If they are referring only to Piracy....it's pretty clear nowadays that anything and everything in the computer realm gets pirated....not a good enough reason for Microsoft to stop business right? So why should music not go digital?
#8 - In the future you will find that Data will be an Heirloom too.....but I must say, it is pretty hard getting your favorite producer to sign your hard drive
#9 - Coming from an Audio Engineering background, I fully understand and agree with this. There is no real substitute for an analog waveform. But I feel like with HDTV, music will evolve and will come on better formats in the future.
#10 - Mastering Tracks is a complete nightmare for Audio Engineers....the basic goal is to make the music sound good on as many soundsystems as possible. Naturally, it will sound worse on some and better on others....IMO these discrepencies can be corrected with anyone wise enough to use a 31band EQ to make the digitally re-mastered product sound a lot better than the way the author describes.

Thanks for great reply to my thread, much appreciated........

I do agree with you on a few of the examples you gave regarding the top ten...but one thing I still have problems with is something as simple as going to a wedding reception and finding the DJ playing tracks digitally rather than via vinyl, just doesn't seem right some how............and one more thing you mentioned regarding being able to pick up decent vinyl. As an Englishman/ex-London dweller, now living in Australia, the finding of great vinyl is a lot harder, especially regarding taste and the like. That is one of the reasons I am moving back to the UK very shortly, even though the shipping of vinyl back home is quite an expense one..........When does teleporting become invented?...haha

I think my old ears have been so battered over the last two decades I would have a hard time telinng the difference! Although I do think that for us general home users a decent digital system would give sound so good we couldn't fault it - or tell the difference between it and an LP.

reply to post by davethebear


i'm an old fart. youngest in my family, i still have Beatles vinyl left behind by my eldest sister. i love LPs. you could see the artwork, read the lyrics, enjoy the bonus pull-out booklet, decals or folded poster that came with some.

colored vinyl was delicious. remember J.Geil's Band "Bloodshot" in red vinyl? Jethro Tull's "Stand Up" with the pop-up insides? Split Enz lazer cut collectible LP? the imported photo records, they were awesome.

anyone worth their salt relished the ritual of wetting the brush and cleaning the album before play. helping your buddy who had the collection from hell do a twice yearly cleaning of every single freakin piece of vinyl! listening to B sides and rare cuts. vinyl is glorious.

enjoy your CDs all you want. sad truth is, at one time (for the very longest time) anything and everything was available on vinyl. 8 Track Tapes came along, not all albums made it to 8T. fewer still onto Cassette Tape. even less on CDs.

at my first full time job out of high school my co-worker / party buddy George S. picked up a huge honkin' stack of vinyl every payday. that man turned me onto all sorts of music. his buddy JJ had a record collection that would put most Radio Stations to shame even back then. these guys were of the Woodstock / Viet Nam generation and music was all-important to them.

i still have +/- 500 albums properly stored away. it took me searching here & there over 10 years to finally land me coveted original press Santana Abraxas album. God bless you Carlos!

every scratch, hiss & pop on my vinyl is directly linked to drunken / etcetera handling of the music while having very good times. albums were used also for different purposes way back when, cleaning this & that and flipping an album shut so things would remain unseen when need be. memories that can barely be remembered.

i thought albums were going the way of the dodo many years ago. my wife had to spend a lot of time locating a store that still sold vinyl when she knew i wanted Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop LP. last new record i got. "Two Rivers" was our wedding song. God bless you Jeff Beck!

thank you for letting me trip down a happy memory lane.

"..music is your only friend, until the end.." - Jim Morrison

Originally posted by LargeFries
reply to post by davethebear

 

i'm an old fart. youngest in my family, i still have Beatles vinyl left behind by my eldest sister. i love LPs. you could see the artwork, read the lyrics, enjoy the bonus pull-out booklet, decals or folded poster that came with some.

colored vinyl was delicious. remember J.Geil's Band "Bloodshot" in red vinyl? Jethro Tull's "Stand Up" with the pop-up insides? Split Enz lazer cut collectible LP? the imported photo records, they were awesome.

anyone worth their salt relished the ritual of wetting the brush and cleaning the album before play. helping your buddy who had the collection from hell do a twice yearly cleaning of every single freakin piece of vinyl! listening to B sides and rare cuts. vinyl is glorious.

enjoy your CDs all you want. sad truth is, at one time (for the very longest time) anything and everything was available on vinyl. 8 Track Tapes came along, not all albums made it to 8T. fewer still onto Cassette Tape. even less on CDs.

at my first full time job out of high school my co-worker / party buddy George S. picked up a huge honkin' stack of vinyl every payday. that man turned me onto all sorts of music. his buddy JJ had a record collection that would put most Radio Stations to shame even back then. these guys were of the Woodstock / Viet Nam generation and music was all-important to them.

i still have +/- 500 albums properly stored away. it took me searching here & there over 10 years to finally land me coveted original press Santana Abraxas album. God bless you Carlos!

every scratch, hiss & pop on my vinyl is directly linked to drunken / etcetera handling of the music while having very good times. albums were used also for different purposes way back when, cleaning this & that and flipping an album shut so things would remain unseen when need be. memories that can barely be remembered.

i thought albums were going the way of the dodo many years ago. my wife had to spend a lot of time locating a store that still sold vinyl when she knew i wanted Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop LP. last new record i got. "Two Rivers" was our wedding song. God bless you Jeff Beck!

thank you for letting me trip down a happy memory lane.

"..music is your only friend, until the end.." - Jim Morrison

Thanks my friend for your thoughts in your post.

I can honestly say that, well for me personally, whenever a LP is played I can more or less remember where it was first played and who I was with when I first played it. Like you, the memories do fade, depending what you were going through and what you were consuming at that moment in your life. But there is nothing like sitting round with your closest mates at the time, with a few beers and the like, just chillin and absorbing the vibe of that moment in time, a moment in time when nothing else really mattered.

Oh music, a friend and lover that will never let you down...........

I would like to add (to #6) that the digital and mp3 download era has killed what an album is (or should be). The new generation have a culture in which songs are all like singles now. Yes, you can buy a cd, but who does? Back in the day, as you stated, you had a large album cover, possibly that opens up, so there was much more emphasis on the artwork IMO. To go even further, there was a time when albums were evolving so that it wasn't just a bunch of songs the band happened to do at that time, but instead all songs on the album were related. They were called concept albums and they are some of my favorites. It would be difficult for bands to work that way now since most people are just going to download the radio hit they like and will less likely hear the other tracks.

The record companies have ceased facilitating great art and are just trying to turn a quick buck. They are not releasing music that will stand the test of time the way things of the past have. An example: Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon was on the album charts for 31 years. I doubt we will see that longevity with today's music. If the record companies would put the focus back on releasing works of art, then perhaps people would actually WANT to go and have the whole album and would not want to download a crappy compressed file that sounds "good enough".

Straying slightly off topic, but not much.

Digital = 0's and 1's.

Analogue = 0's and 1's and everything in between.

I cherish my collection and have been waiting for a decent cartridge to turn up on ebay to replace a busted Ortofon MC15 mk2. I wouldn't accept anything less than a reasonable Moving Coil type. Turntable has been rebuilt, homemade speakers rewired, amp cleaned.

I will soon be in heaven and will visit my old friends for a trip down memory lane. Do not disturb!

The appreciation of "The Black Stuff" is not something everyone can understand....until they get the chance to make a comparison.

Digital recordings are convenient but the art and feel of a 12" gatefold sleeve is something to behold. Easier to locate in a stack with a large spine, big enough to read the info without going blind, easy to skip to continue playing if there is a scratch unlike CD's or corrupt files, a pleasure to have lying around and memories of much better times my friends. Personal history in every record.

I'd rather have a crackle and a pop anyday. And the warmth......Mmmmmmm!

Originally posted by baddmove
not to be the badd guy here ..but

A needle for a record player costs over 100$ these days..

i know..i have one..

torents are free......weeeeee

And how simple or cost effective is it to fix a broken CD laser or how easy is it to revive lost music from a broken hard drive eh?

And you can't get a virus from a vinyl record.

2 Shure M35's, 2 Technics 1200 turntables, and any mixer you like.

Dubplates are warmer and have superior subharmonic reproduction.
Even compared to regular vinyls.

Originally posted by czygyny
Yes, vinyl has the best reproduction, true...but you can pack a whole lot more CDs in your bugout bag than you can records.

LOL yeah and even easier to pack batteries and a 10 gig ipod