Does anyone still play records?

Haven't for years, but Rabbits on The Run which is released in 30 minutes and was recorded by Vanessa Carlton on tape as opposed to digital is being released on vinyl,as well as the usual cd, iTunes so will be buying it on vinyl, thankfully I didn't throw out my record player

Kensington wrote: »

Don't really understand the attraction of vinyl at all (although I've grown up in the "digital generation").

It doesn't have better quality than a well mastered CD - CD's don't have that very annoying crackling.
A well looked after CD will play for years - every time you play vinyl it wears it out slightly.
A CD you can stick on the iPod, back it up on the PC, back it up on the internet *ahem* - one scratch or heavy knock to vinyl and you're snookered.

Firstly, everything I listen to now is MP3 - iPhone in car, iTunes on PCs, Squeezebox in kitchen, Xbox media server in sitting room. I do have lots of vinyl, but haven't owned a player in around 10 years. I like technological progression, but..... Vinyl is better quality than any digital format - that's not subjective - it's a fact.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm

I personally don't like the hiss & crackle off a record or tape either - but that does become inaudible when the music starts; especially on vinyl - cassettes are muck.... but the music on vinyl does capture more sound frequencies during the recording process, so the part in bold above is actually wrong.

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Only real DJ's only use vinyl.

If anyone turns up at a gig with just a laptop they are not a DJ.

Yeah, because being a DJ is really hard to begin with... :rolleyes:

Yeah, it takes awesome skillz to play someone else's music. Wow - look at him take that record out of it's sleeve & put it on the turntable - what talent!

Found a few records in my nan's house a few year ago, the likes of Blondie, Brendan Grace and the Pope's visit in 1979. Threw them on a record player and fell in love with the novelty, the warmth of the sound and the physical "feel" of them!

Recently pulled an old hi-fi from going to the dump and was given Daft Punk's "Discovery" by a friend (without the sleeve), which he found in college accommodation. One of my favourite possessions and hangs on my bedroom wall!

Also, the DJing with vinyl argument is nonsense, would love to be able to afford a collection and a nice pair of technics, but the MIDI route is much more viable..

cml387 wrote: »

I think of all the bullsh!t about consumer electronics,nothing beat audiophiles of the 1970's/80's.
We had the valve freaks, who believed that valve powered (look it up kids) amplifiers were better than their transistor powered equivalents.
We had a serious audio magazine which reviewed records by recording the sound on a graph and showing the results.
I only qualified in electronic engineering in 1981,but believe me it took no expertise to recognise voodoo nonsense when you saw it.

Records have no advantages over digital/cd (and I still have a Pioneer turntable stored away as a collectors item).
The crackles and pops might be atmospheric,but don't much add to the
listening experience.Most pop records were badly manufactured on inferior vinyl which wore out after two or three plays (and don't even mention K Tel records).

Kids, you missed nothing.

Old guy, you've missed something.

Maybe the old Top of the Pops albums you have from 30 years ago may have all the crackles and pops and be made out of poor quality plastic or it may have been the rusty steel nail you had as a stylus but this is not the case nowadays. I have about 2 to 2.5 thousand records and the oldest being maybe 15 years old. I'm not going to squabble about analogue vs. digital recordings as it is done to death and people just have different experiences and preferences, but I don't want people to read your post and think that vinyl serves no purpose and doesn't exist anymore. It certainly has its fans. Lots of electronic music, rap, r'n'b, soul, rock, metal, and lots in between is still released on vinyl and will continue to be for some time.

Kensington wrote: »

I wouldn't accept a HSW article as fact
Nyquist-Shannon's theorem on digital sampling, on the other hand, is fact (and just so happens to completely strip the above article of any credibility).

You're going on what vinyl can theoretically do, but realistically, most commercial vinyl pressings are muck (or questionable) quality and unless you've taken out a mortgage for a turntable and cartridge, you haven't a hope of reproducing these ultrasonic frequencies even if they did exist on the vinyl (and most production is done in the digital domain at some stage, but at far higher spec than audio CD).

I can see one upside of vinyl possibly, and that's the package design and artwork that comes with a vinyl album. But sound quality wise, nah, digital is best particularly for the most accurate reproduction of the sound.

I did say I preferred digital. I was just pointing out that analogue can capture more frequencies than digital - it may be boll*cks though:

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/audio-designline-blog/4033509/Vinyl-vs-CD-myths-refuse-to-die

Lumbo wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Clueless or should I turn on my sarcasm radar?

Neither.

Why don't you just explain how it takes skill to take a record or CD out of a case and play it?
I'm not referring to proper DJs who can scratch & mix - that actually takes skill (when they can actually do it well, which most can't) - but 99% of DJs just play song after song - that takes no skill at all. It's not even their own stuff - they just bought it.

For example, I saw this guy play a few years ago: he has skills, because he actually composes, scratches & mixes his own stuff, mixed with other records & samples:
http://www.djkormac.com/listen-watch/

Most "DJs" don't & can't do this. They just buy a record & play it, followed by another... 99% of DJs fall into this category. And don't try to claim "feeling the vibe of the people" is a skill. It just takes basic cop on how to bring people up & down with the intensity of music - every single band does this with their set-list construction - the main difference being they write the own sh*t...

Ficheall wrote: »

Getting new styli seems to be next to impossible.

This crowd are based in Las Vegas, I've bought from them once or twice and they're very goodL

http://www.lpgear.com/

Forget those turnables you see in Aldl and Maplins....sheer rubbish and the styli will probably damage your vinyl.

I still play vinyl and have a big collection (400+ lps) .

I needed to slim down recently due to storage problems and was amazed that I was able to sell over a hundred of them on for about 4 euros each to a secondhand shop in town.

These date from late 70's to early 90's , when I switched to CDs.