Hard to believe its been 30 years

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/30-years-ago-cd-started-digital-music-revolution-6167906

yeah, and now it's illegal to download "free" mp3's, but legal to listen to it over the airwaves........

gotta love that greed....

As far as the marvel of digital music, wonder what will be next? How much more technology can we see in the next 10 years? boggles the mind....

Because every time we listen on the air, the radio station pays a royalty to the recording company...

What I find even more interesting is the thought that vinyl albums will mostly likely still be produced (tho in small numbers) even after the CD is long gone.

Vinyl is making a comeback, some say!

http://www.kvia.com/news/As-the-com...ack/-/391068/16806274/-/140x8saz/-/index.html

My son agrees....

Ha, do I feel old now. I have a two part funny story.

When we bought our house it had a big console record player in the dining room. We actually went out and bought more records for a few months. A few days after the house purchase the neighbors next door came over to say hello and get a quick tour. Their daughter who was probably 10 at the time had no idea what a record was, yet alone a console record player. That thing had giant bass speakers that pointed to the floor for that "stereophonic" sound. It was very cool though.

Fast forward later about 6 years the record player was in the way and we decided it needed to go to someone who would appreciate it. I posted an ad on the local Freecycle as Craigslist was not really out yet. A few days late we get a call from a woman who had one years ago and it was ruined. So she and her husband come pick it up and I help load the thing. The husband told me that her uncle had come over to their home one night intoxicated, lifted the lid and pi$$ed into the console thinking it was the toilet. I do miss the player from time to time. I did keep the records though.

For the same reason that any other past technology hangs around, nostalgia. We collect antique cars, tractors, chainsaws (ahem... ), computers, video games, guitars, whatever. I doubt that anybody would say vinyl produces better sound or is easier to use than the digital tech that's around now but it's fun to use every once in awhile, kind of like a 2 man cross-cut saw.

I still have my LP collection of 300+,minus a half dozen or so traded in High School.And the then- top of the line Pioneer turntable to go with.....Listen to one every once in a while.Last one I bought new was in 1990.At that time BestBuy was the only local store still selling them,just a handful in stock at the end.Things have gone full circle pretty much,several small independent record stores opened back up here in past few years,mostly used but lots new also.

Actually, in the Audiophile community vinyl, on a GOOD (read $$$) setup is considered to be the better sounding format than CD. The real 'creme de la creme being a totally analog setup running on good old fashion vacuum tubes (yeah, those nutballs). For most folks its been so long that all we remember is old dirty scratched records on a cheap record player with a worn out stylus. You might be very suprised listening to a high end setup. I have what I'd call mid range gear but I have some higher end and very clean records and Ive had folks over who didn't know they were listening to vinyl till I showed them.

vinyl vs. SACD or DVD-A is more of a tossup but neither of those formats really took off.

Vinyl is never going to sell like it did 40 years ago. Or anywhere as much as CD did at its high. No doubting that. But all along as the mainstream consumer went to CDs; the audiophile community, DJs, and album collectors stayed with vinyl. Long after the mainstream going online, those communities are likely to stay on physical media and it looks like vinyl is it.

Then as you noted there is the retro/nostalgia factor. There is something about sitting down, waiting for the tubes to warm up, reading the 12 inch liner notes and listening to an entire album side in a sitting that you just don't get with mp3s.


-Jeremy

BTW, even more arcane factoid - there are still factories actively producing reel to reel tape.

You can buy brand new vinyl at Amazon. How is that for new meets old?

And they make that scritchityscratch sound for some good hick-hop.

I have lot of vinyl, just for liner notes and album cover art...I have no turntable that works anymore. I minored in sound recording tech and learned on a couple different sizes of tape...I like that tape makes you pay attention at all times because its not easy to go back and fix things like you can in digital. You have to have a plan from the get go. Gone also are the days of "live recording"...getting the whole band in the studio together and just going for it. Sad times of auto tunes, and pitch correction....and too much reverb.

Yup I seen that for a few years now.

Probably why a lot of music just feels "manufactured" these days and artists pop up and fade away just as quickly.

When my partner returned from okinawa, he brought back a sansui 90?? Reciever reeltr pioneer ttable 4 hpm 100 and a reverb.
Zenyatta Mandata played so loud in a 12x14 room. U had to sit perfectly still or the needle bounced(old house). PPPass.