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I've noticed that this vinyl boom has made used records more difficult to find and more expensive. That has driven me to get CDs, since I can get 3-10x the numb

I've noticed that this vinyl boom has made used records more difficult to find and more expensive. That has driven me to get CDs, since I can get 3-10x the number of albums for the same price. Since it felt appropriate to buy albums originally released on CDs, the whole vinyl resurgence has counterintuitively gotten me much more into 90s/2000s music and I kind of love it.

worrycue 4y ago
If you want the best sound quality, CDs are definitely the way to go - they are better than vinyl and compressed digital audio files; although it's perceptually hard to tell the difference from the latter 99.9% of the time. Given another 10 or 20 years and there might be a CD boom as nostalgia kicks in and a new generation of hipsters come of age.
- siva7 4y ago
  doubtful. there is nothing romantic about a CD
  - samtho 4y ago
    Same could be said about most things just past their prime.
    - cromka 4y ago
      I think it’s important to question whether the nostalgia comes from CDs and vinyls merely being a thing of the past or, rather, the analog nature of vinyl, including the process of putting on a record. I’d argue that its the latter.
      - rjh29 4y ago
        2000-era pocket cameras as experiencing a resurgence as 'vintage'. But that relies on their quality being inherently lower than modern cameras. CDs have the same exact sound quality as downloadable MP3s or Spotify, so I don't see them being popular again.
      - flipthefrog 4y ago
        My 13 year old wanted a cd player for christmas, and now she wants a cd burner. She wants to own music, but thinks vinyl is too expensive and snobby
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    Nor is there anything romantic about cassette tapes but somehow (Techmoan?) the cassette came back.
    - rjh29 4y ago
      They are romantic? The tape player adds flavour to the sound output, they need to be rewinded manually, you can't just jump to any song easily, they have awesome graphics on the sides, they have two sides... there are lots of quirks to them.
      - crtasm 4y ago
        Also see: every movie/TV show where someone makes a mixtape for someone they fancy.
    - nightfly 4y ago
      1. They play even while fairly damaged 2. Super cheap to get decent equipment from a thrift store. Took me two visits to get a really nice dual cassette deck 3. Recording your own cassettes is easy and fun. My wife and I have been dubbing podcasts onto them for her and my BIL, for the fun of it 4. Super cheap to get cassettes. Last yard sale we wanted to a get a few blank tapes out of a box someone was selling and they wouldn't let us leave without taking the whole box
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - twelfthnight 4y ago
    :shrug: it is to me. What's romantic isn't the sound, since it's equivalent to a download. Instead it's the process of going to used record stores, looking at your collection everyday, the joy of find a cool, obscure album. And honestly, I wonder if it's just too recent right now. Maybe eventually it will be retro enough to have a boom like vinyl.
- chongli 4y ago
  If you want the best sound quality, CDs are definitely the way to go - they are better than vinyl and compressed digital audio files Only if they’re mastered with the intention of producing the best quality. There are tons of CDs out there that were mastered for other purposes [1]. These are a big factor in the vinyl boom because the latter versions (of the same album) tend not to have the same flaw. Of course, there were also vinyl records and cassettes mastered in this crappy way, but I suspect those won’t be so popular today. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
  - worrycue 4y ago
    Vinyls have one other weakness though, wear and tear. The more you play it the worse the sound quality gets.
    - Cthulhu_ 4y ago
      There are players that use lasers instead of a physical needle I believe, but then you probably end up with CD quality since they basically sample the physical structure of the album. But personally, I'll stick to digital for listening to music; vinyl is for collecting. I've got a handful of vinyl albums but not even a player, lol.
      - brokenmachine 4y ago
        >you probably end up with CD quality There is absolutely zero chance of getting CD quality off a physical record, even using a laser. People don't seem to understand how good CD quality actually is. 96dB dynamic range is not to be sniffed at.
      - worrycue 4y ago
        > then you probably end up with CD quality since they basically sample the physical structure of the album. Not quite. Vinyl if I'm right physically represents the audio wave forms - and there might be limits to how accurately it can do so due to the limitations of the material. CDs sample the audio waveform at 44.1Khz (44,100 samples per second) and quantized the input to 16 bits (2^16 different levels) then using the magic of math it reproduces almost the exact same waveform it sampled during playback - with any errors (from quantization if I'm right) pushed to frequencies we can't heard.
- sneak 4y ago
  Anyone serious downloads lossless or 320kbps mp3s which are indistinguishable in all cases by humans from lossless/uncompressed. The distinction is irrelevant. CDs are inconvenient low density storage.
  - twelfthnight 4y ago
    Totally true. And I'm not a serious audiophile. For me, having CDs is more about collecting and physically browsing when picking out what I want to listen to. Not for everybody!

worrycue 4y ago

If you want the best sound quality, CDs are definitely the way to go - they are better than vinyl and compressed digital audio files; although it's perceptually hard to tell the difference from the latter 99.9% of the time. Given another 10 or 20 years and there might be a CD boom as nostalgia kicks in and a new generation of hipsters come of age.

siva7 4y ago
doubtful. there is nothing romantic about a CD
- samtho 4y ago
  Same could be said about most things just past their prime.
  - cromka 4y ago
    I think it’s important to question whether the nostalgia comes from CDs and vinyls merely being a thing of the past or, rather, the analog nature of vinyl, including the process of putting on a record. I’d argue that its the latter.
    - rjh29 4y ago
      2000-era pocket cameras as experiencing a resurgence as 'vintage'. But that relies on their quality being inherently lower than modern cameras. CDs have the same exact sound quality as downloadable MP3s or Spotify, so I don't see them being popular again.
    - flipthefrog 4y ago
      My 13 year old wanted a cd player for christmas, and now she wants a cd burner. She wants to own music, but thinks vinyl is too expensive and snobby
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Nor is there anything romantic about cassette tapes but somehow (Techmoan?) the cassette came back.
  - rjh29 4y ago
    They are romantic? The tape player adds flavour to the sound output, they need to be rewinded manually, you can't just jump to any song easily, they have awesome graphics on the sides, they have two sides... there are lots of quirks to them.
    - crtasm 4y ago
      Also see: every movie/TV show where someone makes a mixtape for someone they fancy.
  - nightfly 4y ago
    1. They play even while fairly damaged 2. Super cheap to get decent equipment from a thrift store. Took me two visits to get a really nice dual cassette deck 3. Recording your own cassettes is easy and fun. My wife and I have been dubbing podcasts onto them for her and my BIL, for the fun of it 4. Super cheap to get cassettes. Last yard sale we wanted to a get a few blank tapes out of a box someone was selling and they wouldn't let us leave without taking the whole box
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- twelfthnight 4y ago
  :shrug: it is to me. What's romantic isn't the sound, since it's equivalent to a download. Instead it's the process of going to used record stores, looking at your collection everyday, the joy of find a cool, obscure album. And honestly, I wonder if it's just too recent right now. Maybe eventually it will be retro enough to have a boom like vinyl.
chongli 4y ago
If you want the best sound quality, CDs are definitely the way to go - they are better than vinyl and compressed digital audio files Only if they’re mastered with the intention of producing the best quality. There are tons of CDs out there that were mastered for other purposes [1]. These are a big factor in the vinyl boom because the latter versions (of the same album) tend not to have the same flaw. Of course, there were also vinyl records and cassettes mastered in this crappy way, but I suspect those won’t be so popular today. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
- worrycue 4y ago
  Vinyls have one other weakness though, wear and tear. The more you play it the worse the sound quality gets.
  - Cthulhu_ 4y ago
    There are players that use lasers instead of a physical needle I believe, but then you probably end up with CD quality since they basically sample the physical structure of the album. But personally, I'll stick to digital for listening to music; vinyl is for collecting. I've got a handful of vinyl albums but not even a player, lol.
    - brokenmachine 4y ago
      >you probably end up with CD quality There is absolutely zero chance of getting CD quality off a physical record, even using a laser. People don't seem to understand how good CD quality actually is. 96dB dynamic range is not to be sniffed at.
    - worrycue 4y ago
      > then you probably end up with CD quality since they basically sample the physical structure of the album. Not quite. Vinyl if I'm right physically represents the audio wave forms - and there might be limits to how accurately it can do so due to the limitations of the material. CDs sample the audio waveform at 44.1Khz (44,100 samples per second) and quantized the input to 16 bits (2^16 different levels) then using the magic of math it reproduces almost the exact same waveform it sampled during playback - with any errors (from quantization if I'm right) pushed to frequencies we can't heard.
sneak 4y ago
Anyone serious downloads lossless or 320kbps mp3s which are indistinguishable in all cases by humans from lossless/uncompressed. The distinction is irrelevant. CDs are inconvenient low density storage.
- twelfthnight 4y ago
  Totally true. And I'm not a serious audiophile. For me, having CDs is more about collecting and physically browsing when picking out what I want to listen to. Not for everybody!