Did the DJ's save the vinyl medium?

.... Oh, sod it, your CD player is shite.

Tony.

Seems my earlier post didn't come across well. I attempted to say that the argument of vinyl being an annoying ritual/cult thing is silly, and even sillier when represented as a neutered list of steps. I don't care whether someone walks 5 minutes to hike or drives 5 hours to hike. If THEY like it, that's really all that matters. If someone who drives 5 hours says the 5-minute-walker is missing the point, or vice versa, that's what irks me. We all like hiking, why the f^%$ does it matter how we enjoy it?

M

Here's MY opinion--please take the "rant" with a grain of salt--guess I'm feeling my caffeine this morning...

When we ask "did DJ's save vinyl" I think the key point has to do with what kept the vinyl pressing plants going during the *dark days* of the early to mid-1990s. Historically there is NO QUESTION that DJ's and HIP HOP IN PARTICULAR kept the vinyl pressing plants going. Look back at your Chad Kassem catalogs from the mid-1990's and count how many vinyl pressings were available. Then count how many 12 inch dj pressings and hip hop albums were being made. Did music-loving vinyl spinners keep buying albums? Sure! But did *we* buy enough to keep the factories open? I don't think so. Not when 9,973 out of every 10,000 titles pressed was either (1) a 12 inch pressing for the DJ/club crowd or (2) a hip-hop album. And YES I know that Nirvana and Neil Young and REM and a bunch of other rock bands released their titles on vinyl in the 90's.

Now that vinyl is experiencing a broad-based resurgence, now that a wider spectrum of albums are available we can all breath easier. But give credit to where credit is due...

The other day I was in the local record shop (Vintage Vinyl, here in St. Louis). I was both surprised and delighted to hear one kid telling his buddy how superior vinyl sounded to cd. Actually, he was kind of ragging on him as they walked around the store...

End of rant,
Thanks for your patience,
Peace to those with different opinions. This is just mine.

Yours affectionately, in vinyl-spinning enthusiasm but Naim-cd-playing appreciations,

Markus

Sorry guys. I was in the mood to be provocative last week, and this seemed like a good thread to do it. Ultimately, we're talking about our hobby, and hobbies rarely make "sense" in a substantive manner. Go ahead and prefer vinyl; there's nothing wrong with that. If it makes you happy, then your hobby has achieved its goal.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Amen to that

Hmm. Mmmm


P

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nigel Cavendish:
The so-called revival in vinyl is down to a cynical exploitation by record companies of those people who are daft/wealthy/pretentious enough to want to pay premium prices for a bit of plastic to impress their equally gullible fellow travellers.

---

Well that's a load of BS for starters - you can get X-Press2's Muzikizum on double vinyl for £7 in FOPP - the CD (last time I looked) was a tenner. This is repeated time and time again in there - Nitin Sawhney's Prophecy on double vinyl in there was only a fiver...

If a double vinyl set is only a quid more than the silver beermat version - I'll go for the double vinyl. It feels like you're getting FAR FAR better value. Plus while you're playing the vinyl you can rest the sleeve against the rack - instant piece of art

Cueing up records can be a pain in the bum (being partially sighted this is particularly true for me) but the whole "ritual" is kind of cool.

And I didn't get my first turntable until 1991 - the very same day I got a CD player (it was all part of my olde worlde Sony midi system). A friend of mine had given me this battered live Elton John album (don't laugh) - some ropey old MFP pressing to boot. Well, the first few bars of this LP, despite the crackle, on the fairly shoddy Sony convinced me right away that vinyl sounded better. I have a fair few CDs that I've upgraded with the second hand vinyl - and the vinyl is just more musical to me - even early 90s pressings like REM's Out of time are ludicrously superior on vinyl - and this is on my el cheapo Rega 3/RB300/Ortofon 540...

Back in college, I cued up Rio by Duran Duran on vinyl and CD - and the mates I had round were all instantly convinced about the vinyl...

The only thing that does pee me off with vinyl - despite them being our saviour - is the number of times someone will ask "oh, you have vinyl - are you a DJ?"... They go a bit odd when they find out I just listen to records

The real big gripe I have with vinyl is end of side wear - some of the records I've acquired have been played on those AWFUL automatic decks = ground down outer groove walls towards end of side; that plus standard end of side tracking error = ouch! Not having 3k for a Rega P9 (I won't give houseroom to an LP12) I'll just have to live with it...

Oh - and a damaged record will still play up to a point - try doing that with a CD with a scratch through the TOC... And I have had CDs that have oxidised - none of my vinyl's gone "off".

Perfect sound forever my arse...

And yeah, I do have more CDs than vinyl... Unfortunately. I don't subscribe to LPs taking up more space than CDs either - if you work out the area versus depth of CD cases compared to the vinyl - I reckon they break roughly even per disc...

When the music's over turn out the lights