Will Vinyl Outlast CD's?
Discussion
From a vinyl junkies point of view I think so. Most people I know that really care about their 'physical' music want it on vinyl. IMO people (including me) who buy cd's arn't really interested in crackles, artwork or collectability, they tend to just download straight onto i-Tunes anyway.....discuss. 
Quite possibly - it depends what you want.
MP3s represent the ultimate in convenience, and for most people on most setups a decent mp3 will do. If you want "objectively better" (i.e. closer to the sound of the original recording) downloads of CD quality and higher are possible. CDs do produce a closer sound to the original, but ultimately if people who want a physical thing prefer the whole experience of vinyl, that's what they'll buy. There's also a self-reinforcment - CDs and vinyls are designed to sound different, with a CD highly compressed to work better as background noise and in noisy environments (e.g. in cars), and, some cynics would say, overcompressed to sell more, and vinyls given an audiophile-friendly mix with more dynamic range. Having a technically better medium doesn't matter much if what's on it is crap.
Personally I like CDs and hope they're here to stay in at least some respects.
MP3s represent the ultimate in convenience, and for most people on most setups a decent mp3 will do. If you want "objectively better" (i.e. closer to the sound of the original recording) downloads of CD quality and higher are possible. CDs do produce a closer sound to the original, but ultimately if people who want a physical thing prefer the whole experience of vinyl, that's what they'll buy. There's also a self-reinforcment - CDs and vinyls are designed to sound different, with a CD highly compressed to work better as background noise and in noisy environments (e.g. in cars), and, some cynics would say, overcompressed to sell more, and vinyls given an audiophile-friendly mix with more dynamic range. Having a technically better medium doesn't matter much if what's on it is crap.
Personally I like CDs and hope they're here to stay in at least some respects.
Vinyl certainly has for me (from a DJing point of view anyway). I started out buying mostly CDs (albums & singles) with a few tracks on vinyl when I found them (vinyl was already getting harder to find by this point), but I gradually realised that all of the new stuff coming out is now more easily (and cheaply) obtained as MP3s from Amazon etc.
The upshot of this is that the money I now save getting most of my new music as digital rather than on CD, gets spent getting hold of all my favourites/classics on vinyl. So I now have a flightcase of around 40 or so classic trance tunes on CD-single, and an entire bookcase full of classic house/trance/happy hardcore on vinyl.
To me, vinyl has considerably more collectors appeal, and I find it infinitely more fun to DJ with than CDs/MP3s. CDs have neither the tactile feel of use that vinyl has, nor the low cost, convinience & availability of digital.
Saying that, that is purely with a DJ hat on. I do also have a 150 or so rock/indie albums on CD (including a lot of classics) that I would never part with- and for these I think the convinience of CDs- whether it's sticking in it a stereo, or playing it in my car- makes them more appealing to me than if they were vinyl.
These may or may not also be alphabetised...
The upshot of this is that the money I now save getting most of my new music as digital rather than on CD, gets spent getting hold of all my favourites/classics on vinyl. So I now have a flightcase of around 40 or so classic trance tunes on CD-single, and an entire bookcase full of classic house/trance/happy hardcore on vinyl.
To me, vinyl has considerably more collectors appeal, and I find it infinitely more fun to DJ with than CDs/MP3s. CDs have neither the tactile feel of use that vinyl has, nor the low cost, convinience & availability of digital.
Saying that, that is purely with a DJ hat on. I do also have a 150 or so rock/indie albums on CD (including a lot of classics) that I would never part with- and for these I think the convinience of CDs- whether it's sticking in it a stereo, or playing it in my car- makes them more appealing to me than if they were vinyl.
These may or may not also be alphabetised...
I have a strong interest in music, always have and always will. But I am not a listening fanatic searching for recorded playback of the very highest quality. C.Ds for me are absolutely the perfect medium for listening enjoyment. My equipment is by no means anywhere near top end but I am looking to improve that, the CD offers robustness and easy storage. I see vinyl as a very niche market aimed at collectors and perfectionists (nothing wrong with that at all) which is surely the tiniest of music sales markets. I hope that both systems will continue to be available for years to come, but fear commercial pressures will force both into oblivion.
paranoid airbag said:
Having a technically better medium doesn't matter much if what's on it is crap.
Indeed. CD have superior dynamic range to vinyl, but the loudness wars mean everything is compressed into the top 10% most of the time.I have a CD somewhere that has a note on the disc stating "this has been mastered properly, if you want it loud, turn it up".
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