Death of the iPod (Everyone's buying vinyl)

[A Lark Ascending]

Another day, another Guardian vinyl article. Islington homes must be full of the stuff:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/nov/04/best-vinyl-record-shops-uk-guardian-readers-tips

[GA Russell]

Here are two NBC pieces, one about vinyl and the second about cassettes.

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/why-millennials-are-buying-more-vinyl-records-n458806

http://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/17/cassettes-are-making-a-comeback.html

[A Lark Ascending]

Vinyl sales may be rising, but have you seen who’s buying it?

"The demographic of the average vinyl buyer is very clear. It’s a middle-aged man, possibly bearded (OK, definitely bearded); kids have probably left home, no longer on speaking terms with wife, spare bedroom has become a shrine to his teenage love: the Floyd (their album The Endless River was the best-selling vinyl LP in 2014). Essentially it’s me."

"Record shops might once have been the sole preserve for local teenagers, these days they are essentially creches for middle-aged men; a place where you can drop off your partner while you nip to Zara and Warehouse, safe in the knowledge that two hours later he won’t be sat in a ditch singing rebel songs with a bollard on his head. (On the downside, he may bring home yet another challenging Ornette Coleman LP.)"

Edited December 8, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[Scott Dolan]

Hahaha...

At least someone has come to terms with reality. 

[John L]

On 08/12/2015, 04:55:12, A Lark Ascending said:

Vinyl sales may be rising, but have you seen who’s buying it?

"The demographic of the average vinyl buyer is very clear. It’s a middle-aged man, possibly bearded (OK, definitely bearded); kids have probably left home, no longer on speaking terms with wife, spare bedroom has become a shrine to his teenage love: the Floyd (their album The Endless River was the best-selling vinyl LP in 2014). Essentially it’s me."

"Record shops might once have been the sole preserve for local teenagers, these days they are essentially creches for middle-aged men; a place where you can drop off your partner while you nip to Zara and Warehouse, safe in the knowledge that two hours later he won’t be sat in a ditch singing rebel songs with a bollard on his head. (On the downside, he may bring home yet another challenging Ornette Coleman LP.)"

I guess that middle-aged men these days are those who grew up with CDs and got into vinyl the way that we (older farts) might have been fascinated by 78s.

[A Lark Ascending]

Anyone hoping streaming would be a flash in the pan, soon to be replaced by the return of the cylinder disc, will not be pleased to see this: 

Fab Four’s full catalogue will make Christmas Eve debut on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play and Amazon Prime, ending long streaming site holdout

 

[Scott Dolan]

Hahaha…those cylinders had highly resolving warmth just OOZING from them!

I've never heard more crisp and round playback than what I got from my Edison Concrete Phonograph.

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

If the vinyl buying demographic is "middle aged men", they're likely under 50. Anyone older than that who actually had to buy all their music on vinyl is all too aware of its shortcomings. I dumped those things like hotcakes. Sure, I have a few hundred LPs these days but that is nothing compared to the thousands of CDs I have.

[paul secor]

2 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

If the vinyl buying demographic is "middle aged men", they're likely under 50. Anyone older than that who actually had to buy all their music on vinyl is all too aware of its shortcomings.

Not at all true for me and I'm over 50.

[Scott Dolan]

I didn't mean to imply that it's universal. Just that I think it would apply in a lot of cases. 

[JSngry]

What, are we saying that "middle-age" tops off at 50? Is that a statistic, an opinion, just what, exactly?

I see here http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa/life-expectancy-white-male

that my life expectancy is, at present, 75.63, so I got, statistically, another 15 or so years left. and yet I am not considered "old" by anything except my back and ankles. Then again, I know I'm not going to live to be 120, so...whose middle? What age? Nobody's expected to live to 100, yet some do. and yet again, most don't.

What I want to know is this - Huh? WTF? Smack dab?

[ArtSalt]

Those survey's don't mean 'nuffin. What you can deduce is that you have a 50/50 chance of expiring before you are 75.63 and a 50/50 chance of living beyond this. Not bad odds at all. Some of those life expectancy figures for the UK are shocking, a few inner city boroughs where expiring at 63/65/68 is considered a good innings. 

These days I am slow to plunge into new formats and technology, I only went to a HD television, Blu Ray and the delights Netflix relatively recently. The condensed sound of MP3 delivered via the iPod never really worked for me either. Great having 32 days worth of music, or whatever stored, but never really got out of it what I did from my old Aiwa walkmans back in the late 80s.

Same with computer Hifi with Flac and I recently purchased a dedicated CD ripper and storage device, but the software was a nightmare and I couldn't get it to download the metadata and then it would repeat the songs twice in the library and seemed to radomly play tracks and I couldn't set-up playlists. So the next day I took it all back and demanded a refund. The sound by the way was superb, couldn't fault it at all, it sounded at least equal, if not better than the Original CD's. So I've decided to take the plunge again and have ordered the Bluesound Vault 2. We shall see how I get on with that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2015 by ArtSalt

[Scott Dolan]

2 hours ago, ArtSalt said:

The condensed sound of MP3 delivered via the iPod never really worked for me either. Great having 32 days worth of music, or whatever stored, but never really got out of it what I did from my old Aiwa walkmans back in the late 80s.

Hahahaha...

If that's really true, then something went SERIOUSLY, and I mean SERIOUSLY wrong either with the format it was ripped to, or the equipment you were playing it back on. 

I'll rip anything you'd like to 256 AAC and play it back on an iPod with proper buds or phones, and it would absolutely crush any portable cassette and player you could produce. 

Because what you just essentially said is that peddling a toy car when you were a youngster was a superior experience to driving a Ferrari. Well, sure. I guess if the Ferrari had no wheels on it, and didn't start…OK.

Edited December 24, 2015 by Scott Dolan

[Jim Alfredson]

One major problem with the vinyl resurgence is the lack of quality pressing plants. I am personal friends with a guy that makes a LOT of money because he's one of the few (less than five) people in the country that knows how to repair and calibrate the lathes used to cut the masters. And then there's the pressing machines themselves; they are ancient and need maintenance, repair, new parts machined, etc. 

The predominant reason why I have not re-issued any of my back catalog on vinyl is because I do not trust the current pressing plants to make a great sounding record. Too many of the people who knew how to do so are gone and the machines need massive work. There is a real art and science to it. 

The other reason is because I don't think vinyl sounds good compared to modern uncompressed digital sources.

[ArtSalt]

A mucca of mine is in product testing in China and he was visited by one of the directors of one of the top-end audio equipment manufacturers who was purchasing some components from China and my friend asked him the question of our time: Which musical format delivers the optimum high quality sound? He answered "Of course, pristine and well pressed vinyl.....for the first four plays....." He then went on to explain that uncompressed digital media is the optimum for near perfect listening experience.

[Scott Dolan]

Nostalgia-based personal opinion. 

[A Lark Ascending]

More on streamin' Beatles:

The Beatles let it stream – showing that the format is the future

"Streaming, with its fraction-of-a-penny royalty rates for each play, has changed the economics of the record business. Even so, the Beatles would not have signed these deals unless they were absolutely sure there were going to be more than enough people putting in their money to make it worth their while."

[A Lark Ascending]

Just saw the funniest thing in WH Smiths in Worksop next to 'Trout Fisherman Monthly' and 'Crotchet World':

 https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collections/jazz-vinyl/?gclid=CPD-mpaJyMoCFaMSwwodYaINdQ

A part-work series based round vinyl copies of 'classic' jazz albums.  

The jazz revival is official. 

Edited January 26, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[Dmitry]

On 6/14/2015 at 1:51 AM, JSngry said:

 

I do not wear a watch, have not worn a watch since 1974, don't even own one now, and can still find a way to know what time it is when it matters. And if I ever do buy a watch, it's not gonna be from Apple

 

You know what else goes on your wrists? Handcuffs.

 

Speaking of which, I don't wear a wedding ring either, and have remained faithful for every day - and night - of my marriage. So when Apple comes out with their iCockring, I'll not be getting that either.

Lol, I also don't wear a watch, unless we're traveling where my cell phone won't work. Then I wear a Casio sports watch, purchased for that very reason. Timer and stopwatch functions really help, when needed.

Like you, I don't wear a wedding ring. Almost from the get go it got bent into an oval shape due to the nature of work that I do. Wife's got it somewhere, I'm sure.

She, otoh, can't go out of the house without a watch on, and has been wearing her wedding ring since day one...I think.

To get back on topic...I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I do have an Ipod, a thin one, with a screen, I think it's Ipod Nano? It's in the car, I think..but I don't use it at all. I should fill it up, I guess. What format should I use that doesn't take up a lot space, and sounds good?

 

[sidewinder]

12 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Just saw the funniest thing in WH Smiths in Worksop next to 'Trout Fisherman Monthly' and 'Crotchet World':

 https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collections/jazz-vinyl/?gclid=CPD-mpaJyMoCFaMSwwodYaINdQ

A part-work series based round vinyl copies of 'classic' jazz albums.  

The jazz revival is official. 

Saw a TV advert for that one on one of the obscure digital channels the other day.

[mjzee]

6 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Saw a TV advert for that one on one of the obscure digital channels the other day.

Took me awhile to understand this.  It's like a Book-of-the-Month club for jazz on vinyl, with explanatory materials...more like a wine of the month club.  It really seems like a good entry point for some consumers, prices seem OK, and at least they're not bootlegs (as they could have been with jazz of this vintage).  

[Jim Alfredson]

On 12/25/2015 at 4:07 AM, ArtSalt said:

Which musical format delivers the optimum high quality sound? He answered "Of course, pristine and well pressed vinyl.....for the first four plays....."

Except that it doesn't. Dynamic range, frequency response, signal to noise, stereo separation, wow & flutter, harmonic distortion, and sonic artifacts from the medium itself are all better with hi-res digital. Not to mention reliability (every play of a vinyl album deteriorates it) and damage (one bump of the turntable and your pristine record might have permanent scratch that affects playability).

I get the appeal as a child of the 80s who grew up listening to my father's esoteric LP collection. But in terms of raw quality of sound, there is no comparison.

[Chuck Nessa]

What Jim Said.

[Dmitry]

7 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

Except that it doesn't. Dynamic range, frequency response, signal to noise, stereo separation, wow & flutter, harmonic distortion, and sonic artifacts from the medium itself are all better with hi-res digital. Not to mention reliability (every play of a vinyl album deteriorates it) and damage (one bump of the turntable and your pristine record might have permanent scratch that affects playability).

I get the appeal as a child of the 80s who grew up listening to my father's esoteric LP collection. But in terms of raw quality of sound, there is no comparison.

Plus vinyl hunting is fun. I like the big covers too.

[mjzee]

Artists make more off vinyl sales than streaming services - NY Post