Analog Revival Means Vinyl Will Outlive CD

An anonymous reader writes "In the age of the iPod, an unlikely revival is taking place — kids are turning to 7" vinyl to get their kicks. Sales of 7" singles are apparently through the roof. Bands like the White Stripes are releasing thousands of new singles on the format, and record purchases have risen by over a million units in the last year — back to 1998 levels. NME told CNET: "it's very possible that the CD might become obsolete in an age of download music but the vinyl record will survive,". The article explains how indie kids are drawn to vinyl because "the tactile joy of owning a physical object that represents your attachment to a band is infinitely more enjoyable than entering a credit card number into iTunes.""

How is that any different...

[jcarkeys]

... from purchasing a CD?

"the tactile joy of owning a physical object that represents your attachment to a band is infinitely more enjoyable than entering a credit card number into iTunes."

If it's not a law, it should be

[heinousjay]

The stupidity of consumers is directly proportional to the perceived cool factor of the product.

The Return of REAL Cover Art

[Picass0]

One thing I've missed with CDs is the smaller form factor has led to less inspired covers. Less Detail. Fewer painted covers. It's an art that faded away without nearly enough notice. Replacing cover art is most cases are vanity portraits of the artist or band, with poor photoshop work to tie into a marketing theme.

If vinyl makes a comeback, I hope new talent following the footsteop of Roger Dean take up this opportunity.

Re:How is that any different...

[brunascle]

How is that any different from purchasing a CD?

i dont understand it either, but i know what they're talking about. the punk scene has had a fetish with vinyl since the beginning, and i dont understand why. but because certain albums are only released on vinyl, i had to get a turntable. and, i have to say, there is an inexplicable feeling that comes from the ownership of a vinyl record, rather than a cd.

it probably has something to do with an elitist attitude.

Re:How is that any different...

[Nos.]

Well, you get your music on a medium that is less portable, bulkier, and is arguably easier to damage. Don't you see the benefits?

Re:Trendiness

[photozz]

I guess the one thing that never goes out of style is blinding stupidity.

Analog[u][e]

[crazyjeremy]

Absolutely insane. This isn't a comparison of apples to apples. The reason people want the vinyl has nothing to do with Analog[u][e] verses digital. It's just a "cool thing to do at the time". It's in now, but like all fads, it will go out again soon. We just live in a soceity big enough that whatever you're into, there is probably a following of someone else who is into it. The novelty of the fad can catch like wildfire, but in the end the only reason people will stay with a technology is because of ease of use, necessity or monetary gain. Vinyl isn't easier to use. It's harder to back up digitally and there simply aren't enough people big enough to carry around the vinyl record changer ipod. Thus, there's not enough long term money in this fad.

NME's Alex Needham is championing the format to supersede CD. "I think it's very possible that the CD might become obsolete in an age of download music but the vinyl record will survive,"

The format has already been "championed" then IT was superceded. I'll keep my cd's at home, then carry one digital music device that holds everything. Leave the vinyl for the novel enthusiasts. They will have their fun. Soon enough even they will start buying cd's, dvd audio, or whatever else comes around the block that's better.

Re:How is that any different...

[dolson]

Well, vinyl doesn't have DRM, and I don't see how it could possibly. I would welcome a return to vinyl, personally, although I think that this article is stupid, as you have certainly pointed out... That is not a reason to buy vinyl at all. People just do what other people do, and this all started with one kid showing his friends his grandparents' record player, and then they started buying it up. And everyone followed suit because people do that kind of thing. That's my theory.

This has already happened

[spyrochaete]

Vinyl has already outlived 8-tracks and cassettes. Why is it surprising that it will outlive CD?

Their opinions...

[M0bius]

Their opinions will change the momment they want to move out of their parent's house and have to carry boxes of vinyl up any number of flights of stairs.

Re:How is that any different...

[REBloomfield]

It's not, but a pretty coloured 7" or awesome artwork on a 12" picture disc is much much more interesting that just the shiny side of a CD..... Even the covers are better, Iron Maiden artwork was not meant to be squeezed onto a CD cover....

Copyright worries?

[erroneus]

See? Those RIAA people should have known that people still want to buy and own their media. The fact that MP3s are out there and are being passed about liberally is irrelevant to the fact that people want to buy and own. The reason for MP3 sharing, in my opinion, is partly convenience and partly to address the problem of scarcity and availability.

It's also nice to hear that the indy crowd is growing in force. It is about the only way, shy of legislation, to put the power back into the hands of the artists.

Re:How is that any different...

[thelost]

I live in a City of Vinyl, Bristol in the UK. The reason that vinyl is prevalent here is two-fold. Firstly we have a massive tradition of DJs in Bristol. Secondly we have a massive tradition of good music and people who are passionate about it.

Passionate music lovers do enjoy having a physical object that represents a link between them and the band they love. More than that there is a massive amount of street cred in owning and listening to vinyl, it's just cool. Also, a great many people feel that Vinyl just sounds better than CD. Finally, people enjoy the size of the cover art. Cover art died with the CD, a great many people believe that. The revival of Vinyl means the potential of new and great cover art.

Buying vinyl is massively different from buying a CD.

Re:Bah! Vinyl will never replace

[Otter]

In all seriousness -- where does a hipster idiot -- errr, sorry -- "indie kid" get a device on which to play these vinyl records? It's not like you can go into Best Buy and purchase one.

Thinking about that again -- that's a stupid question. We have an Internet nowadays...

Re:Bell bottom jeans are back!

[le0p]

Vinyl never really went anywhere. I'd been buying vinyl for the last 15 years. It's always been popular for the "underground" (how I hate that word) music culture. The only reason this is getting play at all is because the White Stripes, a former "underground" indie band, has hit it big and is just doing something that's always been done but is now in the public eye. No news here at all.

Re:How is that any different...

[miskatonic alumnus]

One thing that's different is the size. The cover art is larger and the lyrics/credits are easier to read.

A larger package also permits the inclusion of more goodies. How many of you remember the old Alice Cooper album "School's Out" that looked like a school desk? In the first few printings, the sleeve hinged open to reveal a picture of pencils, erasers, etc. It also had fold-out legs, and the record itself had a pair of panties stretched over it.

You cannot get that kind of coolness from a CD and a jewel box.

Re:Bell bottom jeans are back!

[Frymaster]

Vinyl never really went anywhere

mod parent up!

saying vinyl is 'dead' is like saying apple is 'dead'. just because it has a smaller market share limited to fanatics and afficianadoes instead of the top-40 masses doesn't mean vinyl ever went anywhere.

here's news for all you computer geeks: there are music geeks too, and they think pretty much the same way. just think of 7" records as the audiophile version of the command line.

That begs the question...

[cayenne8]

You know...my first thoughts on seeing this article were..."Where the hell can you get a good turntable and decent high end stylus?"

I've not seen those for years...and actually would like to get one to at some point, transfer a lot of my vinyl only stuff to digital.

Re:How is that any different...

[plague3106]

Vinyl, like cassettes, are damaged each time you use them, even if you're taking care of them. With CDs, you can play them all you want without damage. Why someone would say an old vinyl or tape sounds better than a CD is beyond me. Likely, they like the restro aspect of it, and think it makes them 'elite.' Kinda like someone wearing a transformers shirt (that the gap or whatever made this year).

Re:How is that any different...

[miskatonic alumnus]

Check this [cdmasteringservices.com] out.

Re:Vinyl was already immortal...

[Daishiman]

Wait a minute. The fact that vinyl has many disadvantages does not imply that it is a completely inferior format. Problem is, a lot of "audiophile" airheads have no idea what they're talking about because they don't understand anything except "I paid $2000 for this turntable, therefore it must be better". Subsonics is a big point for me. If you have a decent setup or truly high quality headphones this does not go unnoticed and gives a certain atmosphere to records which I have not, to date, been able to reproduce with CDs. This is notable in the Dark Side of the Moon LP, as well as any jazz record with contrabass. And while people go all around claiming that a vinyl record is unable to reproduce many shapes of frequencies, the PCM encoding used in CDs is unable to either (neither can reproduce a square or sawtooth wave), so we can call it a toss-up. What matters most to me is the fact that the mastering of the time of vinyl is of much, MUCH higher quality than today's. Despite the higher noise floor of the vinyl medium, audio engineers of today feel the need to compress an entire album to a range of a only a fraction of the potential of PCM. My god, there's CLIPPING in modern records, for God's sake. The loudness war on CDs is taking a toll on the quality of modern music. That being said, there is absolutely no reason for vinyl to come back. While it is my perception (this cannot be objectively measured) that vinyl sounds more pleasing to the ears, it is too much of a hassle to maintain it in a proper condition, and the inevitable degradation of the medium and the scratching make it too inconvenient, not to mention that if the mastering of a record is done digitally, the analog conversion loses any advantage it might have had. Conclusion: records from before the use of digital mastering == good. After that == waste of your time and money.

Re:Sliders

[aplusjimages]

I prefer it any day to pops and crackles. Also I'm tired of flipping that damn record over or having to get up to put on a new one on because the last one only held one song on each side. No one can hear the difference and after several play throughs the grooves become worn and you lose the quality on records.

Re:Sliders

[TheDefunctMunky]

Actually, CDs technically have a higher dynamic range than Vinyl, its just that the labels are in a constant competition to see who can make their CD the loudest...

Re:WTF is an "indie kid?"

[kernel_pat]

Indie used to be independant record labels, now it means you wear tight jeans, vintage clotes and have a mod haircut, whilst listening to sh*t like the jam, arctic monkeys, razorlite, the rakes, the paddingtons, the kooks and a variety of other sh*t.

Re:Sliders

[jesuscyborg]

He's referring to Audio Level Compression [wikipedia.org] which is the ACTUAL reason behind the mutilation of today's music quality. (But can also be a great tool if not abused) For example, pull up a Linkin Park song in Audacity. Notice how the waveform pretty much just fills the whole darn spectrum up with blue? That's compression :)

Re:Baloney

[Anonymous Coward]

There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding floating around of Nyquist's Theorem and the definition of "range of audible sound". There's also this apparent myth that recording engineers get to capture sound waves straight out of the air and spit them out of your stereo on a 1:1 basis when they use vinyl. It's a bit odd on a site that's as generally objective and science-minded as /.

Re:How is that any different...

[mrbooze]

Passionate music lovers do enjoy having a physical object that represents a link between them and the band they love. More than that there is a massive amount of street cred in owning and listening to vinyl, it's just cool.

The only way these statements could have less credibility is if they mentioned dilithium crystals. I'm a very passionate music lover. That means I love the *music*, not psycho-babble about physical attachments or "having street cred".

Seriously, if concerns over "Street cred" ever enter your mind for any reason, you are a poser, pure and simple.

Re:How is that any different...

[kidtwist]

Yeah, I remember the long boxes. You tore them open, removed the CD case (the same size as current ones) and threw the box away. The environmentalists were right.

Re:How is that any different...

[Gryffin]

The only way these statements could have less credibility is if they mentioned dilithium crystals. I'm a very passionate music lover. That means I love the *music*, not psycho-babble about physical attachments or "having street cred".

Seriously, if concerns over "Street cred" ever enter your mind for any reason, you are a poser, pure and simple.

Ever heard of "shared culture"?

Maybe for you, the concept of "music" begins and ends with the actual audio itself. But to a lot of other people it also includes the bands and personnel, fan clubs, live gigs, and the satisfaction of finding and knowing other people who share an interest in what you like.

Go turn on your radio, and tune it to a pop station. Hear that awful dreck? That right there should be sufficient to show that the actual audio itself has very little to do with the role of "music" in our society. Music is an much cultural as it is sonic. Always has been. Probably always will be.

Full-Circle

[Gamelore]

CD/DVDs introduced a problem. The ability to create perfect copies.

The RIAA/MPAA rely on consumers purchasing copies when theirs break. They don't want consumers to have the ability to make an exact copy of the data because this destroys their enforced rarity of the medium.

DRM in digital (lossless) media, such as in Blu-Ray, has progressed to the point that the BD-ROM is essentially analog -- Thanks to many artificial/legal restrictions, you "cannot" make a perfect copy of the data. I've consoled myself with such DRM by thinking, "Well, now it's like we're back to vinyl again. One copy, and if it breaks I need to buy a new one." This way of thinking has actually made DRM much easier to swallow.

The culmination of DRM is analog.

Re:Baloney

[Daishiman]

I cannot say that is entirely true. The reality falls somewhere in-between.

Any digital format will trounce analog as far as noise floor goes. That's a given. The question is whether that's the most important attribute you want in your music. After having owned a turntable for about 6 months and properly calibrating it, I claim it is not.

But, as I said previously, neither medium can effectively reproduce the entire frequency range. The PCM format on CDs need to recurr to several filters for effective reproduction of the music, and you still won't be able to draw a square wave. This is not to say vinyl is superior, but it's not a point that can be touted as an absolute advantage.

The problem with these comparisons is that they depend on your personal listening experience, and from there on everything from the brand of you stylus to record wear on LPs and the DAC quality of a CD player can affect sound.

In my case, whether it's an artifact or not I do not know, however the stereo separation in LPs seems a lot more realistic to me, and the presentation of the music too. My personal experience was with A "Ballads of the Beatles" LP, which featured "Yesterday". I can tell you that the vinyl version, in an ABX test with a friend, absolutely wiped the floor with the compared FLAC file from the corresponding CD rip.

Is that an absolute determination that vinyl is superior? Certainly not. But like Duke Ellington said, "If it sounds good, it IS good". If the stereo separation and the perceived higher fidelity of the guitars and citars in a Beatles album on LP is better than its other versions, it IS better. TO ME. That's the key.

But like I said, record wear and inconvenience don't cut it for new releases, so it's FLACs and CDs for me now.

Re:Sliders

[FuzzyDaddy]

In addition, if you sample at 44.1Khz and there is a signal with a frequency above that, it's not filtered out - it will get aliased down to 44.1Khz - freq. So you need the analog filtering before the sampling to prevent this. And analog filtering always has a rolloff, it is not infinitely sharp (a consequence of the Kramers-Kronig [wikipedia.org] relation - a step cutoff filter will respond to a unit impulse before it is applied.)

Re:Bell bottom jeans are back!

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe you meant that Vinyl prices have gone up due to the weakness of the dollar. Not its strength. If the dollar were strong, imported goods would be cheaper, not more expensive.

Re:How is that any different...

[Anonymous Coward]

Brainwashed consumers do enjoy having a physical object that represents a link between them and the band they love.

There, fixed that for ya.

Re:Baloney

[SeattleGameboy]

Spoken like a true ignorant.

Speaking of a double blind test, do one. Let me know how it goes. There is not a SINGLE scientific, peer-reviewed study that says humans can discern CD "distortions". Show me a single study that says ANY human can discern a sound from vinyl and a CD recording of that vinyl.

You experience means nothing. People will believe in all kinds of fantastical things that are not true. If it is so obvious, show me a test result.

Re:Baloney

[SeattleGameboy]

I also believe 100% that vinyl is inherently better-sounding than digital recordings.

Well, that's the whole point isn't it? What you BELIEVE is not necessarily true.

It makes perfect sense...

A lot of things makes perfect sense when you first hear it; world is flat, intelligent design, psychic abilities, etc... Just because it makes "sense" does not make it so. Otherwise, you would be able to demonstrate it in a repeatable test.

Waving your data around isn't going to change anyone's opinion,

If you ignore facts when it does not fit your "reality", then that is really YOUR problem, not his.

Vinyl is mystique...

[taharvey]

I am convinced that what people hear on vinyl described as: "dynamic", "warm", "alive" is the inherent distortion of the media, such as the inherent reverb added by the bouncing of the needle running over the tracks. Yes reverb adds a dynamic sound, but it is imaginary distortion, not clarity. If you want reverb, add reverb, but don't pretend your music source is better.

Vinyl is physically a limited format, and not any amount of romanticism is going to change that.

Re:Sliders

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got a nice green pen that will greatly improve the quality of your CDs. All you have do is color the edges or the cd. This absorbing the scattered red laser light and improves the sound quality.

Ha! Funny! Almost as good as the wooden volume knob that improves sound quality, or triphasers (some insanely over priced in-line transformers basically).

It's all that kind of thing that almost makes me ashamed to call my self an audiophile. Because there are so many people who call them selves that and have NO CLUE. I will admit that most audiophiles think they know a lot more than they acutally do, and buy into crazy ideas for products that will suposedly improve sound quality. I, on the other hand, am an audio purist. I want the shortest, cleanest, most technicaly correct signal path for my system. This means I despise EQ's and capacitors in my audio signal path! But alas, some times they are a necessary evil...

Do you also sell gold plated USB cables, to improve the sound quality of my MP3 files when I copy them to my portable? ;)