Vinyl outstrips digital music sales in UK

[bob_32_116]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-08/vi...uk/8102792

You need to read the article carefully, Consumers are spending more MONEY on vinyl purchases than on digital purchases, for the first time in many years, but there are still more digital units being sold. That's due to the simple fact that a digital download is much cheaper than a vinyl record.

I would have liked to know the figure for CDs, but it's not mentioned. I suspect they are still in front in terms of revenue generated.

Also interesting is the fact that about seven percent of vinyl customers do not own a turntable. Isn't that kind of silly? I mean, I can understand people buying vinyl because they think it's a better listening experience (though I'm not sure I agree), but to buy it without ever being able to listen to it? Is it just to have the artwork?

The science writer Douglas Hofstadter wrote a semi-serious short story about a character who was a "record collector". He did not listen to the records; he mounted them on the wall and looked at them, like you would paintings. He particularly liked Beethoven's Fifth, the way it shimmered in the light. He defended his habits by saying that he had bought a product that was generated by an artist, it now belonged to him and he was free to appreciate it in any way he chose: by playing it on a turntable, by framing it like a picture, by licking and tasting it, or whatever.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

vinyl is on the way back here also bob_32...

JB Hifi at Carousel have quite a large range now and I know this for a fact, that one store sells between 100 and 150 vinyl albums every week on average.

back to the UK,
vinyl never really went too far out of fashion over there when everyone switched (or were forced to move to cd),
a lot of well established artists continued to release vinyl versions of their albums/singles as a matter of course for their older fans to keep
their music on vinyl,
that doesn't mean they released unlimited vinyls, they were usually issued in small quantities of say 10,000 - 20,000, same goes for their single releases also

I have all of Paul Weller's solo releases on vinyl (albums,singles and 'ep's), they are still factory sealed to keep as a "mint condition" collection,

whether cd or vinyl sounds better is a matter of opinion, I prefer my 1950s-70s albums on vinyl on the whole, they have a warmth to the music that for some reason
is lacking on the cd transfers IMO, I guess that's a part of the analogue/mono to digital thingy.

[bob_32_116]

whether cd or vinyl sounds better is a matter of opinion, I prefer my 1950s-70s albums on vinyl on the whole, they have a warmth to the music that for some reason
is lacking on the cd transfers IMO, I guess that's a part of the analogue/mono to digital thingy.

My opinion, and one that I think is shared by many audiophiles, is that:
(a) A NEW vinyl record, on first playing, sounds slightly better than a new CD;
(b) It only takes a few plays for the quality to deteriorate due to wear and tear, which does not happen with a CD or any other digital product. After a few listens the quality of the vinyl will be lower.

As for the nostalgia thing of liking all those clicks and pops, people are entitled to listen to whatever works for them, but I'd rather a clean sound.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

fortunately, most of my old vinyls have been kept in superb condition, very few of them are scratchy, clicky or muffled, but yes b0b_32, I hear what youre saying mate.

for me, the main bonus of cds are that its easy to skip tracks without the possibility of scratching the product, and yes, on occasion I get nostalgic and pull out the old vinyl singles and albums to give them a whirl even though I probably have the albums, or the majority of tracks on cd.

as a final footnote, my 27 year old daughter is heavily into her music like I am and she buys more vinyls than cds, retro is the "in thing" amongst people of her age apparently,

[Ruby]

In my experience, there is a lot to be said for a decent turntable. Records just sound so much better on a high-end piece of equipment, or at least something of superior manufacturing quality! Yes, the other components count as well, but there’s a huge difference between a plastic Aiwa and a Rega, for example (except auto return, lol! But there’s an aesthetic reason for that, which is fair enough).

I only ever buy second-hand records, just love them – there are some fabulous finds out there and the covers are a big drawcard. I’ll collect to complete in respect of selected artists, and aside from that quite like finding obscure stuff. Seldom buy anything I won’t listen to though, unless it’s a ridiculous bargain and hugely collectible. If you have ‘em, spin ‘em is my view. Also buy new CD’s and am seriously behind the times with digital downloads.

There seems to be a new pattern in listening. People hardly ever sit through an entire album these days, and kids can’t even manage a whole song a lot of the time.

Has anyone seen/heard this latest creation??

http://thevinylfactory.com/news/levitati...lev-audio/

[Jerome]

Interesting article Ruby. BTW - for those of you that might want a physical CD of an artist who is only selling digital downloads there is now a service called 'Disc on Demand' that is being trialled (sp?) by Amazon. Apparently in certain countries you can now select a digital download and Amazon will turn it into a physical disc with basic artwork and ship it to you. Not sure how big the catalogue is yet or how many releases/artists it covers. I think this is still in beta stage at the moment but seems to be catching on in certain places. Time will tell.

As far as the whole LP/CD/Download thing is concerned I probably have about 60 or 70 albums on digital download - mainly stuff I already own in CD format but which I listen to on my travels. It's so cheap that it's easier to just buy them rather than rip all the existing CD's. A lot less hassle. I only have a handful of vinyl left - mainly Floyd stuff. A couple of collectors sets as well. The rest are all CD which now must number about 5000 or so. I still prefer the big album covers to the CD versions (for artwork) but I can do without the crackle of vinyl. The beauty of CD's is that they either play flawlessly or not at all. Yes some skip from time to time but not very often.

One thing that definitely makes a difference is the old valve amps - they bring out the best in the music. Digital amps just do not reproduce the low end like the old behemoth Pioneer amps of old. I have an old Onkyo amp which has been with me for many years and nothing I have bought to date measures up to it. Anything I play through it just sounds bloody marvellous.

[bob_32_116]

In my entire collection of CDs, much smaller than Jerome's but still numbering maybe a couple of hundred, there is only one CD that exhibits skipping or any other kind of flaw.
It happens to be "The Pretender" by Jackson Browne - bought new, like most of my CDs.

I also have his album "Lives In the Balance", which I bought secondhand for $2 at an outdoor jumble sale. It plays perfectly.

There's a moral in there somewhere.