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Is there a physical and ritual connection with the analog LP?

Us humans are very much creatures of habit/rituals and physical and emotional connections.  There are obvious reasons to discuss analog vs. digital which have been much discussed.  My ritual and process of playing an LP has many aspects...the handling, the cleaning, the turntable setup and isolation....and you could add many to this list.  Playing a CD/SACD/DVD-A  involves less of a ritual and, perhaps, more of a disconnect.  

I have, as you all do, thoughts about the sonic merits of all formats.  But in my lifetime the ritual involved with everything to do with vinyl/LPs is without a doubt more involved and that meaning I actually have to be more involved to get the best sonic results compared to the digital disks.  Does any of this make sense to you?
whatjd

Showing 3 responses by mijostyn

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Not at all geoff. Ugly women are much easier to ignore. You don't have to deal with the erection.....if you are younger than 50. 
Most of this is probably a fondness for tradition a tradition that younger folks born after 1985 or so do not have unless their parents were heavily into vinyl. Then again my kids are heavily into music but they could care less about records. Like the entire generation all their music is on their phones. The biggest differences from a usability perspective is that you have to get up and flip or change the music every 20 minutes (Love my auto lift!) and you can't make playlists. Some people go way over the top and do stuff like machine clean the record before every play. Others have no yet figured out how to manage their records in terms of static and dust and remain overwhelmed by that problem. As far as I am concerned playing a record is not a whole lot more time consuming than playing a CD. I think I might even waste more time waiting for the CD drawer to open than I do loading a record.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
My post got pulled. I did not think it was all that controversial but someone must have had a problem with the word "erection."
I am married to the most beautiful woman and my problem is that she does not ignore me enough. You can only take so much Viagra:) 
whatjd, I would say cheaper and less reliable. I can't predict what a Ferrari will do but I sure can predict what my wife will do. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Playing music is playing music by any means. Sometime vinyl sounds better, sometimes digital but there is a tradition with vinyl that is missing with digital and that is flipping through thousands of discs at a big store pulling a disc because it is an artist you read about elsewhere or a cover that speaks to you like Transatlanticism (Death Cab). Spending hours and coming up with perhaps 10 records you are dying to hear. Warm up the tubes! Handling a record is special. A CD not. A file not. I just got all four Kate Bush Remastered in Vinyl box sets. Gorgeous artwork, great pressings, fabulous mastering and of course Kate. I never get this rush buying files on line. Don't get me wrong I like the music it is the experience you have buying it that is missing with digital. 
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