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I don’t think so. I’m probably of the ‘current generation’, but tubes and vinyl and tape etc. do have a certain undeniable and pleasant analogue warmth. Digital

I don’t think so. I’m probably of the ‘current generation’, but tubes and vinyl and tape etc. do have a certain undeniable and pleasant analogue warmth. Digital artifacts have no such quality; they just happen to induce some nostalgia amongst those of us who (in my case just about) remember when they were a necessity. No one’s going to be converting their music library to old-fashioned low bitrate MP3s, whereas vinyl is more popular than ever. (Okay, maybe not ever, but it’s actually growing again.)

dylan604 3y ago
> whereas vinyl is more popular than ever. (Okay, maybe not ever, but it’s actually growing gain.) let's not confuse "the only format available at the time" with popular by choice. each time a new format was created, it was adopted to the point of vinyl nearly becoming obsolete. what is old is new again is part of vinyl's resurrection. it's doubtful most hipsters buying vinyl today even have sound systems other than bookshelf speakers to hear a difference in any format.
- xanderlewis 3y ago
  I’m not confusing those; by popular I simply meant… well, popular. It was what everyone used because it’s what there was. My point was that vinyl, as well as being (1) pleasingly retro and (2) physical rather than existing in the cloud somewhere, also has (3) fundamentally desirable traits as an audio format — ‘analogue warmth’, etc. Bad lossy digital compression has (1) but not (2) or (3). You’re right about vinyl’s current popularity not having much to do with that though: it’s mainly (1) and (2) I think.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    I always thought an interesting format would have been the plastic disc with a physical track similar to vinyl, but read optically so that it could be a disc that was compact like that other digital format. The loss in fidelity would naturally cause the format to have a charm of its own. Sort of like those old films with an optical audio track that have a distinctive sound.
    - userbinator 3y ago
      Optical turntables exist.
      - dylan604 3y ago
        not compact as a disc. that's just someone retrofitting an optical reader for existing vinyl. that's not even close to what i'm suggesting
    - lmz 3y ago
      Laserdisc is analog optical, but not so compact.
      - happycube 3y ago
        Analog audio was first, and video was always analog, but most of the time laserdisc audio playback is literally CD Audio (not merely 16bit/44.1khz but the same intermediate data/error correction/scrambling... even CD-G was recycled into LD-G) That said, assuming a pilot signal was added one could probably put two to three hours of PAL-frequency analog audio (which completely went away with digital sound) onto a CD.

dylan604 3y ago

> whereas vinyl is more popular than ever. (Okay, maybe not ever, but it’s actually growing gain.) let's not confuse "the only format available at the time" with popular by choice. each time a new format was created, it was adopted to the point of vinyl nearly becoming obsolete. what is old is new again is part of vinyl's resurrection. it's doubtful most hipsters buying vinyl today even have sound systems other than bookshelf speakers to hear a difference in any format.

xanderlewis 3y ago
I’m not confusing those; by popular I simply meant… well, popular. It was what everyone used because it’s what there was. My point was that vinyl, as well as being (1) pleasingly retro and (2) physical rather than existing in the cloud somewhere, also has (3) fundamentally desirable traits as an audio format — ‘analogue warmth’, etc. Bad lossy digital compression has (1) but not (2) or (3). You’re right about vinyl’s current popularity not having much to do with that though: it’s mainly (1) and (2) I think.
- dylan604 3y ago
  I always thought an interesting format would have been the plastic disc with a physical track similar to vinyl, but read optically so that it could be a disc that was compact like that other digital format. The loss in fidelity would naturally cause the format to have a charm of its own. Sort of like those old films with an optical audio track that have a distinctive sound.
  - userbinator 3y ago
    Optical turntables exist.
    - dylan604 3y ago
      not compact as a disc. that's just someone retrofitting an optical reader for existing vinyl. that's not even close to what i'm suggesting
  - lmz 3y ago
    Laserdisc is analog optical, but not so compact.
    - happycube 3y ago
      Analog audio was first, and video was always analog, but most of the time laserdisc audio playback is literally CD Audio (not merely 16bit/44.1khz but the same intermediate data/error correction/scrambling... even CD-G was recycled into LD-G) That said, assuming a pilot signal was added one could probably put two to three hours of PAL-frequency analog audio (which completely went away with digital sound) onto a CD.