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vinyl vs cd releases


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well it seems like the days are over where i can just skim and pick up whatever comes out on vinyl and not bother with whatever the labels don't release... cuz at this point, there are very few labels that are putting out vinyl albums at all it seems! which is a real shame (for me)...

 

so what do you, the consumer, think of it all? do you break out your abacus and realize how much more money the labels make by going the cd-only route? as a listener as opposed to collector do you simply not care whatsoever? any other fans lamenting the loss...

 

if i cared about whether i become outdated i think i'd be a lot more pissed off! but then again i wouldn't have any ties to the old world... i'd just plunge right in.

 

anyhow, respect goes out to yaniv @ hadshot for keepin it real.

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i understand that it is a shame for djs and collectors that most albums aren't released on vinyl anymore. but for myself it's not that bad. i don't like albums on vinyl because then i always have to turn around the lps or put the second one on the turntable. that's very disturbing if i want to read a book or playing videogames. i buy only 12" vinyl for djing and albums for homelistening because of that. or if i get the money together i will also buy cdjs then i can combine the two...

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Guest Damian Sliver

I'm interested to know why you guys prefer buying vinyl?

Has Vinyl a longer life?

Does it sound better than CD?

 

I have been wondering whether I should be buying my releases on Vinyl as well...

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As a dj it annoys me no end.

As a consumer it doesn't really bother me, except that there's next to no chance of stomping around to certain (cd only) tracks played through big systems at parties because everyone over here uses vinyl.

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All my old stuff is on vinyl, and I love everything about it like ths sound and feel and that... matsuri used to release everything cut on huge fat vinyl yummm. But I think I am coming round to CD, for a while there was a situation where some stuff would get a CD only release, some stuff would get a vinyl only release. Now though the availability of stuff on CD has got to be the way forward - the vinyl resurrection of recent years on the back of the dance / dj fad just ripped everybody off I think...

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Guest [tom jaimz]

Releases come out on vinyl purely out of tradtion, rather than anything else. DJs started playing with vinyl, as due to the non-digital nature of the vinyl medium it was a lot easier to produce pitchable turntables than pitchable CD players. CDJ units have only been available to the average consumer for the last, what, five, six years? And certainly the CDJ market has increased in this time - more and more DJs play off CD these days.

 

The vinyl DJ situation is more of a loop. Releases come out on vinyl because it's what the vinyl DJs want, so they sell, and up-and-coming DJs choose to spin vinyl because the tracks are released on vinyl.

 

Vinyl is certainly not a better medium than CD. It wears down after repetitive listens, losing a lot of the fragile high frequency ranges. There is not enough space in the grooves for stereo bass, and thus the low frequencies are usually compressed to mono. It's heavier than CDs, and can't be reproduced easily.

 

I will say, tho [and I'm, if you haven't guessed, primarily a CD DJ], that vinyl does have the edge in accuracy of mixing. Because CDs are digital, there are some BPMs that simply cannot be accurately matched - the margin of error is low, and the CDJ-1000s have helped to reduce this further, but it will still remain the weakness of the CDJ's digital pitch control.

 

The main reason I'd discourage any up-and-coming DJ away from vinyl is that it limits your range. Spinning vinyl, you're limited only to vinyl. With CDs, you can play CDs, and you can buy vinyl and burn it to CD. This fact alone, the reproductive factor, is what really makes the CD the superior medium.

 

All written purely in my ever so humble opinion.

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I mainly buy vinyl, l prefer the meduim due to the accuracy of mixing and the warmer tones it produces. As for lose of tones due to the wearing out of the medium, this really is not a problem. Before a needle ever touches your record the high peaks and lows are greater than that of a CD. The vinyl concentrates frequencies at the ends. The sounds is amplified literally thousands of times before it comes out of the speakers making records wear purely a myth of abuse.

 

I only buy CD's when i literally have no other option to own the music. I understand the cost structure but some record labels have taken this to another degree. the most annoying release ever was the new Delta album. It was released on CD ffor around 17 US dollars. The vinyl release was put on three seperate twelves and sold individually!! what the F!@K!! As a consumer i found this appaling. That to own the vinyl i would have to pay twice as much. It situations like this that make me consider CD's. Otherwise i'd be screwed.

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tatsu - i agree, it isnt the most convenient to have to get up and change it if home listening is the plan... and of course the vinyl + cd deck setup is probably the optimal situation, especially now.

 

raider - it's a good thing too :) if people aren't buying, they aren't making it!

 

damian - not an easy question to answer. logically, it could easily be said that buying vinyl is foolish. but human beings don't run solely on logic, much to mr spock's dismay. you'll have to ask different collectors, fans, djs, and vinyl freaks what their take on it all is, but for me... i just like the collection aspect and the rarities. CDs can be copied over and over again and its probably much easier to find a rare old CD than it is to find a rare old vinyl. so in that sense, one can build a very personal collection, much like a set of cards, coins, bank notes, stamps, etc... you'd have to ask WHY people collect anything at all to find out part of the appeal of vinyl :) another great aspect is the cover sizes - they're probably around four times as large as a CD and often quite beautiful [though not so much in recent times]. i also appreciate that i can find all kinds of music that is essentially "unreleased" - i.e., never made it to CD [and in most cases - MP3]. there are downsides of course... they're heavy, not as convenient, etc - but this is a hobby, not a trip to mcdonalds i say! sound quality? debatable. i happen to like the "vinyl sound" if it has one [debatable]. longer life? i'd tend to say "perhaps"... if they're kept in good condition, why not? CDs get scratched too.

 

akira - a big reason why i put this topic up was due to logic bomb's track "mental poison" (available on orebro freak factory i believe). i realized that there is a LOT of new music that i really dig that i will never get to play out anywhere... the situation kinda saddens me. the solution? buy a few CDs i suppose... i may have to. something inside of me revolts against paying 12 pounds or whatever for a CD when i know a vinyl costs so much more to make... it basically feels like i'm getting ripped off when i buy a CD cuz i know how much it costs to make the things (not much!)... of course the artists probably get more money out of CD sales (proportionatly) so there's good points to it as well.

 

dam10n - i tend to agree... but if you're selling old vinyl i'd still be interested ;)

 

tom jaimz - the reproductive aspect is also a downside in relation to collectability... and that is part of music purchasing as well :) to the person who just wants to get music to the crowd and FAST then cds are probably the way to go...

 

mark - totally agree! i think the new habit that labels have of releasing SAMPLER EPS and 3-part sets instead of albums is TOTAL TRASH... i don't like the pick and choose mentality. order odonata 6 was a fine new compilation but instead of samplers or a full LP release they've just been peeling single tracks off, sticking an extra basically similar tune on the flipside, and releasing that. pretty good setup for them i'd say - CD buyers can get one item and have the whole ticket - vinyl buyers have to purchase 5+ pieces of wax and then they still dont have all the songs... ah well! crap on them. dragonfly is still putting out a high VOLUME of records though so i give them respect for that... i just wonder what happened to the albums? one of the worst offenders, however, is tip.world... i'm rather sick of their poorly represented vinyl releases. with such colourful cd cases, why put out these bland black + 1 colour things that have shitty glue and no inside cover? and only samplers, still? absolum released a wicked album and they only put 2 songs out on vinyl... the album of the year (possibly) is put out and again, 2 track sampler [without the logic bomb, GRR!]... well, vent vent vent :)

 

 

i have a VERY small collection of CDs, solely for the albums that are never released on vinyl... here they are:

 

jaia - blue synergy

power source - cosmic waves

mfg - project genesis

pleiadians - family of light

v/a - eclipse: a journey...

v/a - trancesonicdesertbeats

 

buncha classics and good stuff there :)

 

now i need them decks. argh, money!!! so expensive this hobby is.

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basilisk, i agree with you completely. It just gets frustrating sometimes. There are some labels i like that still support vinyl. i'm a big fan of Hadshot, lately i've been liking baluns also, they released all of the tracks on the otherwise comp on wax.

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I totally agree that vinyl consumers are being scammed big time by the labels and I don't understand why. People that listen to vinyl MUST buy it, unlike people who listen to cds. I know a lot of cd listeners with cd burners who either burn mp3s or trade their cds with other people. I think that a lot of the labels are really screwing themselves over in the long run. I know that I just can't afford to pay 30 dollars canadian (plus tax) for a 4 track sampler on vinyl when the cd version has 9 tracks.

 

It's one of the reasons why my goa buying habit has died down, and I spend just about all of my money now on IDM/techno/ambient/experimental stuff. The labels (Musik Aus Strom, Schematic, Warp, Skam, Djak up Bitch, Din, Shitkatapult, Sender, Ernst, Sonig, Chain Reaction, Kompakt and related, etc.) spend a lot more effort on design/graphics and their releases cost waaaaay less.

 

Tim

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