[Closed] Digital or Vinyl?

Vinyl FTW. Much prefer listening to my records than mp3s ala ipod.
MP3 = convenience.
Vinyl = connosieur.

edit- 28yrs, it just sounds better, there is the ritual of cueing it up as well that is enjoyable.

digital - just converted and replaced all my old (80-90s) vinyl for £2-£5 an album.

I used to love vinyl but the convenience of wifi music is making me enjoy music a lot more.

Vinyl. It sounds better and I like the process and interaction.

I don't smoke anymore, but as a very wise man once said, 'You can't skin up up on a download'.

as much as I fondly remember vinyl, digital all the way. Spotify rocks my world

I would just like to add that I've just discovered a massive scratch across one of my limited edition INXS 12"'s..... you don't get that with digital 🙄 🙁

If you grew up listening to vinyl ,it's hard to beat the cueing up sound.Hairs on the back of your neck an all that,but the choice ( and convenience )of digital music is amazing .

Can't imagine my kids getting anything out of listening to it,they gave me some funny looks when I showed them all the mix tapes I made for their mum 😆

Digital. Most of my old vinyl has been degraded to some degree by the huge amounts of hairspray I used in my youth 🙁

Both. If I'm properly listening to music, I'll get myself a nice brew and go up to the spare room (which is more of a library / music room), spend a while browsing my vinyl then just sit and listen through a decent hifi and enjoy it.

If we have folk round, or I'm cooking, or washing up, or doing work, or cleaning my bike, or, y'know, whatever, I'll either stick 6Music on or cue up a bunch of stuff on the MP3 player, then I know I can have uninterrupted music until I've finished whatever it is I'm doing.

Both are ace 😀

I would just like to add that I've just discovered a massive scratch across one of my limited edition INXS 12"'s..... you don't get that with digital

Nah, your HD can die and you can lose your whole record shelf

CD all the way converted to MP3 for the ipod/car

Vinyl sounds better, yes whatever 🙄

I love the sense of ownership with vinyl. Even with CDs I feel like I'm not getting the full package. That said my days of sitting and properly listening to music are on hold whilst I play Dad, so for me the convenience, portability and massive choice of digital music are winning me over.

Case in point? I'm sat typing this whilst listening to Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman on Spotify. I [i]could[/i] go and get the vinyl from the lounge and put it on the deck behind me, but I'd be getting up every 15 minutes to change sides.

When the kids have left home I'm buying one of these and getting the hi fi set up "properly" like in the old days...

[img] [/img]

I've used CD's since they first came out-kept hold of my turntable (logic Tempo + Ortofon MC10 super)Now ripping all my CD's to flac to a NAS drive with Squeezebox. Sounds superb & mega convenient-still can't bring myself to part with my turntable even though I rarely actually use it. The day of reckoning is coming though as you just don't need a cabinet full of Hi-Fi these days. Vinyl sounds good still but with no cabinet where the heck do you put the turntable!!
Could put a couple of shelves up I suppose but that defeats the declutter objective.

Stilltortoise-you are a Baaad man-the engineer in me has just got me drooling over that!

Vinyl. It sounds better and I like the process and interaction.

That's its strength and its weakness. I do prefer the sound, but unless you have time to listen properly, digital is so much more convenient.

I still play Vinyl at home, that is, when I have my home to myself.

Still nice feeling though when you do find a decent bit of vinyl from the past in a shop and its in good condition, I think its more a collecting thing now though for me as I have everything on digital media as well.

😆

I've wanted one for years, and if it wasn't for the expensive hobbies of biking, climbing and skiing I might have bought one by now.

Clue in my forum name 😉

Both, but I'll never give up my vinyl. In fact I've just put up a couple of extra shelves (church pews!) and got a couple more boxes out of the loft.

I still DJ with a pair of 1210s too 🙂

Digital. I thInk I own maybe 40? CDs most of my stuff sits on my iTunes. Could never see how vinyl is "better" the music is more important to me rather than what it's played on

Both, for exactly the reasons flyingmonkeycorps gave.

That turntable is lovely.

I'm remembering the "getting up every 15-20 mins to turn the record over" bit now & it is stopping me getting any work done.

Still love the whole vinyl thing but yes, digital is more convenient if i'm being honest.

Digital, couple of reasons, I never kept cds good, I hated the things, flung them all out around 2000 or so. So good knows what I'd be like with records. And secondly, digital stuff is free, what's not to like! 😀

Next quetsion that makes sense to me is downloading or streaming? streaming is better imo than everything, they just need to get their business models up to scratch.

34yo btw.

The "vinyl is better" argument is pretty simple really, if the music was mastered, mixed etc. analoguely, then the groove on the vinyl gives you an analogue of the sound the musicians made in the studio.

It's like the difference between having an original painting / drawing or a print. Yes, your print could be a very high quality reproduction, but it's not the same thing.

Or, think about a simple diagonal line drawn on a piece of paper, and the same simple line drawn in MS Paint on your PC - if you zoom in far enough on the digital version and see the pixels, it'll not look like a diagonal line, it'll look like a set of stairs. The hand drawn line will still look like a line when magnified. A slide guitar lick will be the same - it's a slide on vinyl, it's ultimately a coded set of downwards steps in digital.

However, for reasons of practicality and having lost all my vinyl a few years ago for reasons too convoluted and dull to go into, I'm now an exclusively digital consumer. Damn.

Digital. 30000 tracks on my iPod that I can carry around, play in the car, on the bike, in bed, anywhere!

I still have all my vinyl going back to T Rex albums from '73.
Still have a load of minidiscs (which was the BEST format for copying and editing stuff - eg. recording radio shows and keeping the tracks you want.)
Still have all my CDs and still buy CDs cos I do like to have the "object" sometimes and I can't play digital in the lounge yet without turning on a computer..
Not anal about perfect sound quality, if its good music it can be a crackly old 7" single or a 128kb mp3.

I am in my late 40s (and OBSESSED with music!)

Myself I prefer vinyl for listening to at home

which is why you've just dug your turntable out after a decade 🙂

There are lots of qualities surrounding vinyl that are easy to get nostalgic about. What cyber-video-kids-of-the-throwaway-age (people under 30, like Emsz, the forum home-help) won't remember is music used to be something you had to hunt for. I have a 12" that Don Christie's tracked down for me, they knew there was a copy sitting in someone's garage in Nottingham - had to wait weeks and weeks for it to be passed from person to person til if finally got to me. All that for a track that I'd heard about, but never heard. All that wait and a fiver to then sit on the bus with it still unable to hear it til I got home.

Then if you liked it - you couldn't play to to often because you'd wear it out, so you had to ration your enjoyment.

Theres no such delayed gratification with spotify 🙂

but digital media has changed the way I consume music and vinyl rarely fits into how and when I listen to stuff now. I did start to digitise some vinyl stuff as there are some odds and ends that have never made it into the digital sphere, but I stopped. I'd rather save it for high days and holidays.

The "vinyl is better" argument is pretty simple really, if the music was mastered, mixed etc. analoguely, then the groove on the vinyl gives you an analogue of the sound the musicians made in the studio.

It's like the difference between having an original painting / drawing or a print. Yes, your print could be a very high quality reproduction, but it's not the same thing.

Or, think about a simple diagonal line drawn on a piece of paper, and the same simple line drawn in MS Paint on your PC - if you zoom in far enough on the digital version and see the pixels, it'll not look like a diagonal line, it'll look like a set of stairs. The hand drawn line will still look like a line when magnified. A slide guitar lick will be the same - it's a slide on vinyl, it's ultimately a coded set of downwards steps in digital.

However, for reasons of practicality and having lost all my vinyl a few years ago for reasons too convoluted and dull to go into, I'm now an exclusively digital consumer. Damn.

The perfect philosophical appreciation, delicate and easily lost when considering the technicalities.
Dobedoooo

Vinyl. You don't get an album cover to look at on a download.

I don't get the obsession with vinyl.

I was at Camp Bestival last year, and one of the events they had was a vinyl listening provided by "Classic Album Sundays."

In a cosy stone-built room, a dozen of us assembled to listen to Dark Side of the Moon on a state-of-the art HiFi turntable and assorted electrickery. I've had cheap turntables in the past but nothing remotely high end so I was looking forward to it.

They played the album after a bit of preamble and we sat and listened. In and of itself I wholeheartedly agree that people should listen, actually [i]listen [/i]to albums more. The album sounded warm and rich, granted, and I appreciated that. But it also sounded, on the quieter passages of this classic album on their multi-thousand pound stereo system, like someone was in the next room frying chips.

I get that vinyl is a "nice" thing; it's a large tangible media with glossy artwork, and putting on an album is a bit of a ritual as you wipe it down, cue it up. I'm right there with you on the 'needle hitting the deck' thing. I have a Laserdisc player which has a similar appeal, those large shiny discs are just beautiful things.[/i]

What I just don't get is the fervent claims that vinyl sounds better. I know some people like the imperfections inherent in the medium, perhaps arguing that it adds character or soul or something, but that's not "better," it's simply a personal preference for "worse." You're not a connoisseur, just nostalgic. Which is fine of course.

You could compare an old black & white movie to a modern Imax extravaganza, perhaps. The B&W films have a lot of appeal, shot in styles that we just don't get any more. But does it look and sound better? Really?

I should add,

The auditioning was awesome, and I'd love to go to another, maybe even regularly. I just don't agree that it should be exclusively "vinyl only."

Forum home help??

Vinyl for me all the way, I am a little biased as I run a record label that is exclusivley vinyl, but they are just beautifull things. A lot of the points on this thread are valid, I like them as a purely tangible object with the full artwork as intended and their collectability. As for if they sound better? That is surely in the eye of the beholder, you do find that certain acts or certain types of music DO sound better via this particular medium, it lends the sound more of an organic feel and a truer representation of the orginal performance (if a live act) wheras MP3 will inevitably sound better when it comes to dance/eelctronic music, being as the orignial source was born from the digital realm to start with. I buy vinyl to spend quality time listening to an ALBUM (as opposed to playlists or just random tracks) and I use MP3 as a pre-screener before I buy the vinyl or for on the move. Personally though nothing beats vinyl.

emsz - Member
Digital. I thInk I own maybe 40? CDs most of my stuff sits on my iTunes. Could never see how vinyl is "better" the music is more important to me rather than what it's played on

Totally. The music IS the most important bit, be it on MP3, tape, vinyl, 8 track, whatever. But like others have said, there's something about the physicality of vinyl, the ritual of getting up and flipping it over, the crackle when you drop the needle that I just don't get from a digital download.

It's a bit like reading books - I'll always prefer an actual real paper book to a digital equivalent, and I'll always print copies of my photographs (digital AND film) to frame and put on the wall.

But each to their own and all that innit. I'm sure it's an age thing, I remember listening to John Peel of an evening then scouring local record shops and mail order places trying to find obscure records... And I'm only 32!

Oh yeah and I am 29

Amen to the John Peel reference! I suspect that is what turned me onto vinyl in the first place as well...

Also, vinyl artwork can be AMAZING. Check out the sleeves for In Bocca Al Lupo by Murder by Death or Un Jour Sans Lendemain by Mihai Edrisch...

Well said Cougar. (Although the last thing in this world I would do is sit in a darkened room with other people listening to Pink bloody Floyd!)

Its not just about the music or what it's played on. With an LP it's abot the whole experience. Album artwork can look great on a big 12" sleeve. It looks shite on flimsy paper in a jewel case and is non existent with a download.

Spotify for casual listening and vinyl for when Ive got time to sit down with a botlle of wine and the feet up.

To truly appreciate vinyl you need to hear a decent setup. A midi system with a built in record player is always going to sound worse than a cd player.

DezB - Member
Well said Cougar. (Although the last thing in this world I would do is [s]sit in a darkened room with other people [/s]listen[s]ing[/s] to Pink bloody Floyd!)

FTFY 😉

That too 🙂

[i]time to sit down with a botlle of wine and the feet up.[/i]

And just when you've relaxed, you have to get up again and turn the damn thing over 😉

time to sit down with a botlle of wine and the feet up.

And just when you've relaxed, you have to get up again and turn the damn thing over

Actually, it's a particular problem with modern music - studio albums are no longer edited to fit on a single LP, so you end up with a double, complete with 2 or 3 tracks per side, and an enormous run-out groove.

That Stewart Lee clip is a perfect example of how sound quality can be lost in the digital medium 😉

I just like music, the format that it's presented to me on is largely irrelevant.

I had vinyl and cassettes in my youth, then dabbled with minidisc for recording and portability but I largely settled on CDs for many years.

While most of my listening these days is of MP3s or Spotify style streaming (for convenience), I much prefer to buy the CD and rip it as there's some comfort or intangible satisfaction in owning a physical item.

I've sometimes considered running my speaker-out through a distortion pedal in order to give my MP3s that genuine warm vinyl sound. Hi-fi buffs, should I go with the classic Boss DS-1?

Obviously I will use a gold directional patch cable 😉

I've sometimes considered running my speaker-out through a distortion pedal in order to give my MP3s that genuine warm vinyl sound. Hi-fi buffs, should I go with the classic Boss DS-1?

Ibanez Tube Screamer FTW.

Sold mine for £150 a few years back 😯

Reading about Cougars 'Classic Album Sundays' I think the real point of those is that you listen to a whole album from start to finish. In the time of tape and vinyl I knew what track was coming next on all of my albums but I mostly have playlists and shuffle now.

I remember, as a teenager there was always a great feeling to be had from walking down the street carrying your brand new copy of (for example) The Rolling Stones, 'Sticky Fingers' for all to see. You don't get that with CD's.

And there was always the inevitably crap quality yet much prized, vinyl bootleg LP.

Ah the Digital v Analogue debate, isn't it great. Well I run a Michell Orbe with SME V and a Koetsu Black cart for those in the know so I think you can guess which I prefer. I also now have Naim CDX2 which is a stunning CD player but just doesn't satisfy me like the Orbe.
The convenience thing is there I guess but it's a small price to pay for a superior sound and with Digital and MP3 stuff you just skip tracks too quick instead of giving the albums a proper listening too. As for scratches on vinyl get a decent amp and the sound spikes are reduced to virtually nothing, they aren't made worse by better amps - that's just a load of crap.

And may I add, anyone who is taking the whole digital or vinyl thing even remotely seriously should get their arse off the sofa and go hear some live music to remind them how trivial the debate is.

The Faces 'Ooh La La' is the best vinyl album cover ever. You dont get that with frickin ipodtunes, do you?

I love the idea that you can't do a proper listening experience unless it's vinyl. Lol that's such crap.

I think the real point of those is that you listen to a whole album from start to finish.

Absolutely. Many times I'll hear a song finish on the radio / wherever and my brain starts into the next track, because it [i]should be there.[/i]

These days, listing to the radio I'm more plagued with mentally doing the associated Rock Band fingering.

And may I add, anyone who is taking the whole digital or vinyl thing even remotely seriously should get their arse off the sofa and go hear some live music to remind them how trivial the debate is.

I was at the MEN last night watching Rammstein.

(Ironically, I thought the audio mix could've been better, it took them most of the set to sort it out)

Vinyl. It sounds better and I like the process and interaction.

I don't smoke anymore, but as a very wise man once said, 'You can't skin up up on a download'.

True, you can't skin up but your don't have to get up 20 minutes after you've smoked it to flip the disc. You can just enjoy your stupor and not move.

Currently saving to replace my Ariston Q deck with a rega planar 3(desperately trawling ebay for a bargain!)

And may I add, anyone who is taking the whole digital or vinyl thing even remotely seriously should get their arse off the sofa and go hear some live music to remind them how trivial the debate is

I've never got this argument for amplified music. I like lots of music that sounds pretty awful live, whether that's the quality of the performance, the kit, the mixing or just the acoustics of the room (or all of those of course). Do I want to recreate that out of tune singing and muffled lyrics in my own front room? No thanks 😆

Rubber_Buccaneer - Member

In the time of tape and vinyl I knew what track was coming next on all of my albums but I mostly have playlists and shuffle now.

But you know what this is- you've been offered a new feature and you're choosing to use it. You can still play an album front-to-back if you choose... I do.

Always find it a bit odd when people resent a choice they're making themselves, especially an ongoing choice.

I love the idea that you can't do a proper listening experience unless it's vinyl. Lol that's such crap.

Not at all. Depends how good your ears are, how good your stereo is, how well it was originally mastered, but most of all, whether or not you're sat listening to the music, rather than pottering about doing something else with music on in the background. Lol.

I prefer vinyl. i like the covers, the liner notes, the fact that you tend to sit down and enjoy the whole album rather than shuffling through tracks or only listening to snippets before moving on to something else. Personally I have a Technics 1200 (bought during my hip hop phase)

Maybe I just tend to romanticize it a bit and while I love my ipod, i really miss tapes most of all. Making a mixtape for your obsession of the month was a pleasure and a challenge at the same time.

There are rules

Vinyl for me - just turned 53 so not a surprise really.

I have an mp3 player but it sounds so flat and only half the music being there. A lot of emotion in vocals is missed in mp3 format.

MP3 and Spotify is convenient for listening to stuff on camping trips/fixing bike or to try before I buy but if I have the little woman round and a nice bottle of plonk then vinyl (or cd) is preferred.

Even Mrs B who is deaf enough to have a hearing aid can tell the difference in quality in an instant.

(Linn LP12 / Avondale Arcam Alpha 5 CD / Naim 72/140 and Credo for those who give a toss)

I sat and listened to a selection of vinyls this afternoon with a couple of lovely beers (Renaissance Stonecutter). I love my vinyl. I back to backed with Flac and very different, noticeable.

Most of my music is digital however I still buy Vinyl if I can get it and the album is good enough. I like both and I expect I couldn't tell the difference in quality between a good D/L and a record. I do like these sorts of things though.[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Not really anything to do with music though, are they?

I mean this:
[i]Ah the Digital v Analogue debate, isn't it great. Well I run a Michell Orbe with SME V and a Koetsu Black cart for those in the know so I think you can guess which I prefer. I also now have Naim CDX2 which is a stunning CD player but just doesn't satisfy me like the Orbe.
The convenience thing is there I guess but it's a small price to pay for a superior sound and with Digital and MP3 stuff you just skip tracks too quick instead of giving the albums a proper listening too. As for scratches on vinyl get a decent amp and the sound spikes are reduced to virtually nothing, they aren't made worse by better amps - that's just a load of crap.[/i]

Has nothing to do with music. Just an obsession with hi-fi equipment. It's hardly even related.

I've been listening to a lot of vinyl lately, since my CD went on the blink.

I do think it sounds better and I certainly enjoy the "ritual" more, but I find it awkward to play my records in the car or on the bus so I'm also open to the benefits of digital music.

Has nothing to do with music. Just an obsession with hi-fi equipment.

I do wonder if that's part of it, or at least, makes for unfair comparisons. "I've spent the GDP of a small African country on a record player and you know what, when I compare it to a twenty quid mp3 player from ASDA it's [i]just not the same,[/i] mp3 is far inferior."

I reckon if I made a lossless mp3 copy of a record and played it to someone, the vast vast majority of vinyl advocates wouldn't notice the difference. Especially as most of them are old gimmers and their hearing's going. (-:

I'm sitting on my sofa it's raining outside and I'm listening to some old Nina Simone on Vinyl. It's really only about the music for me but this does seem to sound nicer than the CD..

"The Faces 'Ooh La La' is the best vinyl album cover ever. You dont get that with frickin ipodtunes, do you?"

I've got that one 8) Should have seen my other halfs face when I told her how much it cost. She tends to buy 99p records from charity shops though. I'll occasionally buy vinyl and occasionally have an evening where I just play vinyl. I use Spotify to check out stuff before I buy it. I still mostly buy CD's as they are generally cheaper than downloads. I'll only buy downloads if the music is only avaliable in that format or if I've been given some vouchers for iTunes.

I haven't listened to vinyl in years nor have I processed and printed film in years but there is no doubt that both involve a process that doesn't exist when you go digital and which is very enjoyable in it's own right.

edlong - Member
The "vinyl is better" argument is pretty simple really, if the music was mastered, mixed etc. analoguely, then the groove on the vinyl gives you an analogue of the sound the musicians made in the studio.

It's like the difference between having an original painting / drawing or a print. Yes, your print could be a very high quality reproduction, but it's not the same thing.

Or, think about a simple diagonal line drawn on a piece of paper, and the same simple line drawn in MS Paint on your PC - if you zoom in far enough on the digital version and see the pixels, it'll not look like a diagonal line, it'll look like a set of stairs. The hand drawn line will still look like a line when magnified. A slide guitar lick will be the same - it's a slide on vinyl, it's ultimately a coded set of downwards steps in digital.

However, for reasons of practicality and having lost all my vinyl a few years ago for reasons too convoluted and dull to go into, I'm now an exclusively digital consumer. Damn.

This seems like a good thread to ask....

I have aquired a MASSIVE collection of 90s hip hop and 80s pop on vinyl but have no way to play it.
Can anyone suggest a sub £350 hifi for me and where I can get one?
At present I only have an Ipod docking station.

klunky, you lucky boy. what you inherited?

What do kids skin up on these days? Try rolling a good joint on a iPod, no chance.

One of my mates is a DJ and wanted to clear out his old stuff that he doesnt play out.
He has given it to me for free. The hiphop stuff is so vast I cant even start to list it. The pop stuff is is only a couple of boxes of 7" but the hip hop has to be in the region of 500 to 700 records with a mix of albums and singles. Its got some more current stuff too but its mainly 80s and 90s.

Nothing to play it on though...

Klunky try Richer Sounds.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/turntables/project/essential/proj-essential-blk
http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/onkyo/a9155/onky-a9155-blk
And plenty of speakers avaliable for around £100. Worth asking to listen to different speakers so you get something you like. You'll also need to get some speaker cable and possibly some speaker stands.

"I love the idea that you can't do a proper listening experience unless it's vinyl. Lol that's such crap. "

Are you old enough to have used VHS videos?

If so, it might help to explain things to you.

This thread is about digital or vinyl. You are coming from a slightly different direction... which is MP3 or vinyl. MP3 is quite low quality digital.

Do you know the bitrate of the MP3s that you usually listen to?

Do you usually listen to music with very cheap headphones that came with your MP3 player, or perhaps PC speakers?

These factors might all go towards explaining why you have little understanding of audio quality.

If I had a substantial enough vinyl collection and a deck like the one stilltortoise linked to...

[img] [/img]
/p>

...then it'd be vinyl all day and night long.

I have hundreds of CD's and therefore I have a CD player, which to my ears outperforms any comparable record spinner at the price, and still always buy CD's and always will as long as they are being manufactured and sold. Just can't beat that tactile sensory perception IMO.

Digital downloads, to me at least, it feels like I don't actually own the music, if you know what I mean.

is that one ofthose stupid things where you have to take it apart to change the speed?
impractical, anal, and again, nothing to do with good music.

digital for convenience

vinyl for experience

too much vinyl to purchase it all on digital (about 9 feet of shelf space), plus some of my stuff is only available on vinyl even now.

I'm 43.

[b]edited to add:[/b]

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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickw3216/6952477169/ ]1987, what the ****'s going on![/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/nickw3216/ ]nick3216[/url], on Flickr

a deck like the one still tortoise linked to...

you would probably want a better arm though, or a modified version of the rega, like one of these:

[img] [/img]

http://www.audiomods.co.uk/completearms.html