4 ms·

well, I enjoy album art and browsing for music and remembering where I got it - all the reasons cited for buying vinyl. So, it's not just the pure functionality

well, I enjoy album art and browsing for music and remembering where I got it - all the reasons cited for buying vinyl. So, it's not just the pure functionality for me, either. But you can get all those same things with CDs as well. So, I do find the vinyl fashion perplexing.

coldpie 11y ago
I've been thinking about your question. I suppose one appeal for me is that I understand how vinyl works. Putting a CD in isn't that much different from hitting Play on your MP3 player: you queue up your song, hit play, and music just happens behind the scenes, you can't watch it. But with vinyl, you can see it in action. I occasionally just sit there and watch the needle and cartridge and tone arm move across the surface of the record, imagining how the tiny vibrations of the needle are transformed into electrical amplitude, increased by the amp and played out of speakers. It's fun and, today, novel to be able to understand a whole system like that and observe each part doing its task.
- vasilipupkin 11y ago
  I see. Does that account though for the dramatic growth in LP sales. I mean is that why most people buy LPs nowadays?
teh_klev 11y ago
I think you need to find someone who has a decent vinyl collection with a nice listening setup and go visit them for an evening, have a few glasses of wine or a beer and listen, handle and chill with the records...then you might understand. If you still don't get it then you probably also don't get why people run vintage/classic cars (why bother when - to paraphrase - you can get the same things as running a modern compact saloon as well - both get you from A to B, the modern compact probably more reliably so) or operate steam engines or collect stamps. In my home office I have a fully working refurbished GPO model 746 rotary dial telephone [0][1], I use it all the time if I'm sitting at my desk. Sure I have a DECT and VOIP handsets that do many more and very clever things but I enjoy using that old phone. I like "dialing" numbers on the rotary dialer, I like the sound of its ring, I like the clunk as I replace the handset, I like the faint click it makes when you lift the handset. It's also ergonomically better than most modern phones because the handset part fits better around my neck and chin so I can talk away and have both hands on my keyboard. I'm mostly a functionalist (to quote coldtea) but there are little things in life I enjoy for their aesthetic (as I perceive it) and nostalgic pleasures, in particular electronics and audio kit from the 70's (I was born in the late 60's :) ) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#Type_746 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#Type_746 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#/media/File:GPO_746_telephone_in_two_tone_grey.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#/media/File:GPO...
- vasilipupkin 11y ago
  No, I totally get why people would collect vintage cars, or vintage LPs. I don't get why people buy newly released LPs that are not vintage.
  - VINYLkiller 11y ago
    You've answered your own question: because you get to remember where/when you got it, you get to search for it in a store, you get to carry it home, you get to physically feel/remove/examine/play it, you get to see the 12x12 art (not some 300x300 png), you might even get a cool colored record. There's way more to record buying and collecting than just vintage
    - vasilipupkin 11y ago
      You can do all those things you mentioned with a CD, no? So why use an inferior format like Vinyl ? I am not talking about vintage vinyl. I am talking about buying brand new vinyl.
      - marrusl 11y ago
        CDs can be nicely packaged, but LPs are larger and seem to get more interesting and elaborate packaging. For example, a gatefold 2xLP is just a nicer object to me than the standard 2xCD case (and many double LPs are single CDs to boot). So on average, a nicer object. They usually come with a download card nowadays so you get the digital version too. Another reason for me at least is that a lot of the vinyl I buy is directly from bands at their shows. In that case I'm getting the souvenir and I'm giving back something directly to the artists. It might just be gas money to get to the next town, but it's more than they'll ever see from Spotify.

coldpie 11y ago

I've been thinking about your question. I suppose one appeal for me is that I understand how vinyl works. Putting a CD in isn't that much different from hitting Play on your MP3 player: you queue up your song, hit play, and music just happens behind the scenes, you can't watch it. But with vinyl, you can see it in action. I occasionally just sit there and watch the needle and cartridge and tone arm move across the surface of the record, imagining how the tiny vibrations of the needle are transformed into electrical amplitude, increased by the amp and played out of speakers. It's fun and, today, novel to be able to understand a whole system like that and observe each part doing its task.

vasilipupkin 11y ago
I see. Does that account though for the dramatic growth in LP sales. I mean is that why most people buy LPs nowadays?

teh_klev 11y ago

I think you need to find someone who has a decent vinyl collection with a nice listening setup and go visit them for an evening, have a few glasses of wine or a beer and listen, handle and chill with the records...then you might understand. If you still don't get it then you probably also don't get why people run vintage/classic cars (why bother when - to paraphrase - you can get the same things as running a modern compact saloon as well - both get you from A to B, the modern compact probably more reliably so) or operate steam engines or collect stamps. In my home office I have a fully working refurbished GPO model 746 rotary dial telephone [0][1], I use it all the time if I'm sitting at my desk. Sure I have a DECT and VOIP handsets that do many more and very clever things but I enjoy using that old phone. I like "dialing" numbers on the rotary dialer, I like the sound of its ring, I like the clunk as I replace the handset, I like the faint click it makes when you lift the handset. It's also ergonomically better than most modern phones because the handset part fits better around my neck and chin so I can talk away and have both hands on my keyboard. I'm mostly a functionalist (to quote coldtea) but there are little things in life I enjoy for their aesthetic (as I perceive it) and nostalgic pleasures, in particular electronics and audio kit from the 70's (I was born in the late 60's :) ) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#Type_746 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#Type_746 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#/media/File:GPO_746_telephone_in_two_tone_grey.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPO_telephones#/media/File:GPO...

vasilipupkin 11y ago
No, I totally get why people would collect vintage cars, or vintage LPs. I don't get why people buy newly released LPs that are not vintage.
- VINYLkiller 11y ago
  You've answered your own question: because you get to remember where/when you got it, you get to search for it in a store, you get to carry it home, you get to physically feel/remove/examine/play it, you get to see the 12x12 art (not some 300x300 png), you might even get a cool colored record. There's way more to record buying and collecting than just vintage
  - vasilipupkin 11y ago
    You can do all those things you mentioned with a CD, no? So why use an inferior format like Vinyl ? I am not talking about vintage vinyl. I am talking about buying brand new vinyl.
    - marrusl 11y ago
      CDs can be nicely packaged, but LPs are larger and seem to get more interesting and elaborate packaging. For example, a gatefold 2xLP is just a nicer object to me than the standard 2xCD case (and many double LPs are single CDs to boot). So on average, a nicer object. They usually come with a download card nowadays so you get the digital version too. Another reason for me at least is that a lot of the vinyl I buy is directly from bands at their shows. In that case I'm getting the souvenir and I'm giving back something directly to the artists. It might just be gas money to get to the next town, but it's more than they'll ever see from Spotify.