Vinyl----do you still buy it? And did you ever?

Off-Topic
#1

My best friend and I don’t normally exchange gifts at Christmas. Maybe a card with a gift card inside. But this year is different as he and his wife have gone above-and-beyond for me and my wife. So I wanted to give him something more personal, meaningful. I asked him for suggestions (-we’re not kids anymore and he can really get himself anything he wants so he really doesn’t need anything) and he made two: good bourbon and old vinyl.

I grew up with vinyl. (I’m 64.) But I haven’t had a turntable in over 20 years, maybe longer.
So I haven’t bought vinyl (even used vinyl) in a long, long time. (I used to get a lot of it for free when I was a record reviewer but that was nearly 40 years ago!)

My first record player looked like this:
image
It was a hand-me-down from my big sister that passed through my older brother and on to me.
Played 45s on it mostly.
The first 45 I bought was “The Letter” by The Box Tops.
When I hit my teens, it was on to albums.

What’s your story with vinyl?

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#2

I’ve never bought any myself, but my parents exposed me to tons of music on vinyl when I was a child (I’m 43), and I inherited about 100 or so records when my dad passed. I’ve got to get a proper record player one of these days! The earliest things I can recall listening to were Glassworks (Philip Glass), Peter and the Wolf (with David Bowie narrating), and Let’s Dance (Bowie again), but there were so many… lots of fond memories.

There is something about the process of listening to music on vinyl I find appealing - the ritual behind it. The lack of immediacy that you get with streaming music. It makes it more special to me in a strange way.

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#3

Yup - I still buy vinyl and have always done so!

I love it - the form factor, artwork, lyrics e.t.c. it’s the perfect size for that.

The lack of immediate random access, just listening to one side in order is great.

There was a trend of multiple disks per album that made it a real pain to swap over 4 or 6 sides per album listening, but that’s going away again - thank the lord!

My mate runs a record store - lots of second hand stuff, the 70’s stuff is really great, pure analogue production and super smooth!

It’s purely objective as to sound quality - I prefer it, can be much smoother sounding.

it’s a “thing” y’know - getting a great deck, cartridge, speakers, amp, headphones that all work together and sound good - it’s part of the “hobby” - much like guitar+amp+fx.

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#4

My experience with vinyl is similar to that of @Riffdiculous. My dad had tons of what I always just called “records”. The first time I heard many of my favorite rock artists were listening to these:

  • Led Zeppelin
  • The Beatles
  • The Stones (I don’t like them nearly as much as I used to)
  • The Doors (I also don’t like them nearly as much as I used to)

I guess more than anything this got me interested in music, especially rock as a genre. Also, the first classical guitarist I ever heard was on one of these vinyl recordings - a Christopher Parkening record. He’ll always be my absolute favorite classical guitarist. Other than that, I have a lot of childhood memories of “Christmas music” that were also played on vinyl. So, nice family memories.

I occasionally still buy records, usually just if I’m in some sort of cheapo bargain/antique store that my wife drags me to and something catches my eye ( or hers ). I see them out in Target and Walmart, current recordings, but on vinyl. I’ll probably never buy one those lol!

There is something nice about hearing that “scratch” before the first track begins. Probably more nostalgia than anything for me, across the board.

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#5

man i wish i had one of those no electrical plug required players, my life would be complete.

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#6

Vinyl was way over when I was younger and I’m not old enough to have enough disposible income to go for it now!

I have often wondered whether its not really the vinyl that makes the difference, but the production of the track itself that makes more of a difference especially older pre-digital era where records where less compressed and generally warmer.

My father-in-law had a Joe Bonamassa vinyl and we played it back to back with the CD and other than a little bit of crackle (which I have to admit I like :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:) there wasn’t any real difference to my deaf ears. I do love the ritual, the care needed and the album art so totally get why people love it.

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#7

One thing I’ve discovered over time is the durability of vinyl. I remember when CDs were new. The claim was they NEVER wore out, so buy one once and you have it for life. Maybe, but I can’t be the only one who has a bunch of guitar instructional DVDs with sticks and skips in them. :man_facepalming:
I prefer downloading audio and not getting CDs with guitar books.
Before CDs, there were cassettes with some guitar books. Cassettes may be the least durable form of popular music: the tape slips, the speed changes, ocassionally your tape player eats one. Don’t miss that at all. (8-tracks had their problems too but I never had too many of those.)

Nowadays one can buy 180 gram vinyl versions of classic albums. (Audiophile vinyl.) Some people swear by them. I haven’t heard them.

I wouldn’t go to the mat arguing that vinyl sounds better. Technically, I doubt it does. But it can sometimes feel better (warmer, richer, fuller). Certainly, cover art and liner notes are more appealing on an album cover than a CD cover.

And not everything has made its way to CD. If you like old blues and R&B and early rock, some of it isn’t available on CD. This is why Keith Richards still has a jukebox for old. obscure 45s. ;o)

#8

I don’t buy vinyl anymore, it’s nice to have the liner notes and stuff, I miss that but I don’t miss warping, ticking, skipping, or the weight and storage issues. I also don’t miss having to have a big stereo to play them on and a turntable with expensive needles and cartridges. I still buy CD’s when I can and I just rip them to my devices and store them away in case I need them. I buy downloads if I have to, but only if they are drm free, and I prefer some lossless format rather than mp3.

It’s cool if people want to have that experience though, it’s definitely a thing with a unique vibe and it sounds good on a proper system. I’d be wary of the mastering these days, the companies don’t really care like they used to so 180 gram vinyl may be a great mastering, or a terrible one.

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