Before getting to the meat and bones of the topic, I must first explain that, by vinyl, I mean records, the things you put on turntables, and delicately position your stylus weilding tone arm over. It's pretty obvious that the download generation has been hitting the music industry hard, with CD sales being hit hardest. Why buy a CD when you can download and burn it yourself right? I was listening to the radio this week, and some old codger was trying to demonstrate that vinyl sounded better than cd. (The very fact he was trying to do this on FM radio and using a recording made in the 60's, blew his credibility for me) The idea is, that the industry is trying to persuade people to go back to vinyl, saying it sounds better. Am I being cynical for suggesting it's because you can't download and press vinyl in your own home? Anybody else think vinyl sounds better than cd? Thoughts? P.S. please have good reasons, as audio is my field.
My friend claims that as well. If you want ultra high quality, why not just buy and play HDCD's? Unless you are a DJ, vinyl seems pretty worthless, plus it takes more time to mess with and takes up too much space in storage. I never understood why the minidisc didn't catch on, I never used them, but it seemed like a cool idea
Ah, vinyl records! How well I remember! I have several cartons of vinyl records sitting in a closet; I can't play them because I have nothing to play them on. Andy, I think you might be right about the "vinyl is better" argument being used because we can't make our own vinyl records. I have no expertise in this area, but I have heard many people say that classical music sounds better ("warmer" and more "alive", whatever that means) on vinyl than on CD. My ears are not refined enough to tell the difference (and I don't know that this would be true for rock). Since vinyl records scratch and wear down so easily, they would soon start sounding worse than CDs anyway, even if they started out sounding better. Vinyl won't replace CDs for me, because of the breakability, the scratchability, and the large harder-to-store size. The only advantage vinyl has is that the large size is better for cover art, but that's not really a big deal. An aside: Ages ago (I'm talking about when my Mom was a kid), there were these booths in amusement parks -- you could put in your nickel, and record a few minutes of whatever you wanted -- and take a record home with you. On the "Honeymooners" TV show, Ed Norton had a home version of such a machine -- make your own records. So maybe we could be downloading and recording our own vinyl! Of course, records weren't made of vinyl back then -- maybe that's the difference (if you dropped an old record on the floor, it would shatter into a dozen pieces!)
Well, I happen to be of the "old school"... Back in the early 80's when I was a radio DJ ... I was actually sitting between two turntables, moving the records with my hands, not punching buttons on a panel as they do nowadays. It was much more of an "art" .... segueing two songs together at just the right appropriate 'riff'..... ah those days!! Honestly if I were to liston to digital vs. analog recording, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I do miss the album covers though! True works of art!
vinyl Truly I do not see how it would stop copying from vinyl through an analog to digital converter, and putting it on your own cd, or putting out on the internet. I have never tried but I have done something similar with some old tapes of mine, basicvally should be the same thing. Pearl Jam tried to do something like this years ago with their anthology album... It never caught on...
The new Velvet Revolver album, "Contraband" is copy-protected. This is one of three discs that BMG is releasing in the U.S. this summer. Labels to dampen CD burning
Two letters, one number: MP3. I can't tell the difference between vinyl and CD/MP3 music. I really can't. Even with Classical music. Then again, everything is always played loud these days. Besides, vinyl is so delicate, ... but at least it makes good frisbees ... hahaha, I guess you could say they're good for "airplay". Oh how I crack myself up.
"Copy Protected".. yeah, we've all heard that one before. Someone somewhere, will crack it within weeks. Cynical, Moi? :Angel:
Don't those old records work by making tiny holes into it, and when the needle "bumps" over it, the sound is created? That's not very accurate, compared to making tiny "burns" on the CD that are read, and then made into REAL sound. Well, I've never actually heard anything played on those old records, but I tell you, I'd rather carry around a CD and a CD player than a record and a record player. =/ PL
Andy I think the thought behind this is that in cds the sound is cropped of high and low fequencies and vinyl isnt. Myself I cant tell the difference and am busy copying my records to cd. Kick chick thanks very interesting article. How long before any system they use is hacked? or how about playing the cd into the computer via the soundcard and then copying to cd. If its done throught the audio in/out it would be an analogue signal and so bypass the protection. Just my thoughts. David
Quite the opposite, CD has a greater extension of High and Low frequency content, moreover as a format, it's capable of greater dynamic range. Technically, it's an arguement of digital reproduction of an analogue signal, vs analogue representation of an analogue signal (or various combinants). Bear in mind that sound is analogue both in it's creation and reproduction. A/D & D/A processing have been going onto both Vinyl and CD formats since the early 80's. (You really can't beat a vinyl triple album gatefold sleeve though)
Those that say vinyl records sound better than CD discs need to bear in mind a point I forgot to bring up with regards to LPs. And someone correct me if I'm wrong here but I do believe that during the 80's most recordings were in fact done digitally. They were done on 24 track digital machines, mixed and mastered in the digital domain and then released on vinyl as well as on CD so you really can't say that vinyl sounds any better than CDs.
The best way to hear a recording, is in the studio, as close to source as you can get. The amplifier, speaker system and especially the room you listen to them in all change the result. Funny thing the human ear though. You listen to something on your super duper Hi Fi, then get in your car and hear the same thing on the cruddy in-car system, and before you've driven far, you've tuned in to it, and forget.
I used to collect Picture Disks and Coloured Vinyl Disks. Got a couple that are even worth more than what I paid for them. However, I cannot believe that Analog sounds better quality than Digital. Cheers.
OK, here's one for the oldies.... Who had a Mono (came before stereo) all in one gramaphone, where you could stack 3 or 4 seven inch records, and they'd drop an play one after the other? Oh, and did they sound better than CD's ?
Me me me! I used to stack up LPs on it too! As for sounding better - it all sounds iffy with THESE goosed ears
