I'm an old guy who purchased a lot of music on LP over the years. I am not about to try to replace it all with digital at this point. Besides, I have some titles on both LP and CD, and usually the LP is the better sounding copy.
I'm sure there are digital files available that sound better than most of my CD's but, until I move into that realm, my LP's are staying right where they are!
It's part of my life. I have spent more time in my life looking for and buying vinyl since jr. high. Today I listened to an album I have owned for over 40 years and it still sounded pretty good. I listen to CD'S to and own quite a few and yes today's CD'S are neck and neck in sound but now with my phono stage I can make digital copies of my vinyl through my computer and not have to purchase duplicates for travel.
I listen to vinyl because... it sounds different than digital. To my ears, some of it actually sounds better so these end up being very special albums. With some other titles, CD's may sound better so when I am in the mood for that music, I will play a CD.
Finally, I am a listener and not a collector. So its fun looking for the best sounding copy of an album on vinyl I can find as not all pressings sound the same. They do on CD though.
I bought The Monkees in mono in 196? and have been playing vinyl since. If it's not broke don't fix it. I tried CD - it was definitely broke. . 30 years later CD got fixed. But too late for me. I have a long history love affair with vinyl.
- Then there's the cartoon showing two well-dressed older men, drinks in hand, standing in front of a very impressive audio system. One says, "The first things that attracted me to vinyl were the inconvenience and the expense."
Because I like an oboe to sound like an oboe and a piano to sound like a piano, and a tenor sax to sound like a tenor sax, and a human voice to have a personality.
Easy ... I don't (any longer because I dumped all of my vinyl and table when the amazing new-fangled CD appeared and was tricked into preferring them and now I could kick myself for ridding my life of my vinyl and table ... arghhhh!!!!!)
All good answers, especially Czarivey's. But I'm reminded of the answer bank robber Willie Sutton gave when asked why he robbed banks: Because that's where the money is. I bought LP's for over twenty years before ever seeing a CD (in '87), and didn't join those who got rid of them and replaced them with the 5" silver discs. I had about 5,000 LP's by then, and wasn't about to do that, especially as I wasn't sold on CD's. I kept buying LP's for as long as record companies made them, which one-by-one they stopped doing, releasing new albums on CD only. My answer to the question is because that's where the (my) music is.
Some of it, anyway. I didn't stop buying new music when LP's stopped being made, and joined the rest of music consumers, starting my second collection. Being the Indi CD buyer at a Tower store (the only record store chain with buyers in each store, buying for that store only) for awhile enabled me to amass quite a music library for literally nothing. Buyers are given a copy of just about every new release (including reissues of old albums), and my music room was eventually over-flowing with somewhere around 10,000 of the damn things! I now pay for new CD's by trading in some of those promos at Amoeba Records, an incredible 3-store mini-chain here in California. The trade-in product manager at the Hollywood store is one of my former sales reps, and some of my trade-ins are promos he gave me as his Tower buyer!
If you don't listen to LPs they just sit there. You can look at them of course, and, unfortunately, people make them into bowls (really ugly and sad bowlsÂ…saw 'em at a craft fair) or coasters. If the LP is extremely damaged I suppose a coaster is OKÂ…stillÂ…sadÂ…
I play vinyl because it sounds better, so much so that the designer of the best digital system I've heard once said to me 'Digital has such a long way to go...".
The best LPs push similar dynamic range and nearly all LPs have greater bandwidth than digital. I run an LP mastering operation BTW.
I do not listen to vinyl at all... Dropped format in 1985 when I was young. Now I Am old, and still do not suffer from Ann (Audiophilic Nostalgia Nervosa). Fact is that Am happy as a lark with marvellous music flowing from my silvery ones.
because, I bought a turntable, spent a lot of money and time going out to used events and stores finding awesome vinyl records. Then I had to get a cartridge then another one then another one. Bought a Phono preamp, stylus brush, cleaner and a record washer, plastic covers and sleeves a whole new shelving system to store vinyl....its a wonder I have a wife! (I need to go order some flowers)
because i started with Vinyl back in 1970. I have owned 8 tracks, cassettes,cd and mp3, but i still have the first album i purchased and still play it. i know a lot of people complain about clicks and pops but i have kept my records clean and all of my own purchased new vinyl is very quiet. so, why listen, answer, i always have listened to vinyl. It a habit
... when I play vinyl, they scatter in fright at sudden musical sounds, then peer out from beneath the sofa - tails fluffed - searching for those scary instruments that have invaded their room.
... when I play a digital source, no matter how loudly or what instruments are supposedly being portrayed, they sleep straight through it.
My dog is very much in tune with the digital when I play it. His ears twitch to the subtle nuances in the music. He does vinyl as well although pops and clicks or other forms of noise when present seem to bother him. It all gets his attention which tells me I must be doing something right.
When I had cats and was playing vinyl they would sit in the listening chair (if I didn't get there first) and look to where the images in the soundstage were coming from. When I put on digital they would leave the room.
"When I put on digital they would leave the room. "
Cat's and dogs can both hear higher frequencies than humans I believe so a cat or dog not digging the sound is probably a good sign something is not right at higher frequencies that might be subtle or not noticeable to human.
My dog is afraid of loud noises like thunder etc. If I played a well recorded thunderstorm sound effect through my system he would not like it.
He likes most soothing types of music though and I can trick him playing animal noise sound effects, etc. 9all digital) if I try.
If it sound good to both people and pets then there is likely good karma all around.
My parrot does not sing when CD or music server is playing, but he sings when record is playing tho. Obviously I don't give a slight fluke about parrot or cow listening to the records or CDs, I just care about the music I want to listen and I'm kinda selfish on that department.
For me it's a simple answer, a lot of the esoteric jazz I listen to never came out on CD, or if it did, sounded terrible. I've been collecting jazz vinyl for 35 years, now it's cool and on trend to do so. It really wasn't back then.
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