I’ve recently returned to vinyl with a vengeance after losing interest in music somewhat over the past 10 years or so. After getting a turntable and some vintage stereo equipment, I got out some old LPs I had and realized that the difference in sound is huge over CDs and over the highly compressed digital music that is typical these days. Digital music has it’s place and the larger file sizes of the higher quality recordings is becoming less of a problem everyday. But I’m still not sure most people will get over the “How many songs does it hold?” mentality that ties most people to listening to music that is inferior to the artists’ vision and execution.
I’m now over 100 LPs (thanks to a couple $1 per LP sources I’ve found!) and I’m discovering that the rituals of LPs are almost as much a draw as the quality of the music itself. The carbon fiber brush; cueing the tonearm; getting up to flip the records over. It’s all a nice ritual that makes serious listening to music a real activity again. I’m surprised at how much I’m finding myself listening to the music now and not having it be background noise while I do other things.
I’m sure the resurgence of vinyl has its outer boundaries. And we’ll never see it be the primary music format again, but I think it’ll have its place for sometime to come. And those 1.88 million units sold are only a drop in the bucket compared to the used LP market that is growing by leaps and bounds via online sellers and local shops that sell a blend of used LPs and new music. College towns, in particular, have remained places for used record stores to flourish. Atlanta has several good used record stores and my last trip to a couple of them a few weeks ago found them busy and doing lots of business. It’s a great way to build a music library with many used records costing far less than $10 each!
Richard

Richard, your description of the whole process of listening to the CD reminds me of why I like drinking loose tea, LOL. The whole process is part of the experience. It’s relaxing and helps you focus on the task at hand. I can see why listening to an LP would be the same. There’s a difference between just listening to a song and hearing music.
I have a bunch of LPs in my attic that my husband wants to get rid of, and I won’t let him. I don’t listen to them but I just can’t let them go. I listen to almost nothing digital. I don’t have an iPod and rarely listen to music on the computer. I like CDs. I like reading the liner notes, checking out the artwork, following along with the lyrics.
Thanks for the great feedback!
Joanne
host of the GS blog

My dad has a couple of turntables/stereo systems and about 9000+ records. He buys/sells/trades/listens to them all of the time. He also keeps them in really good shape. The one thing that bothers me the most is that he isn’t too keen on resale value and has let PLENTY of rare and expensive records sell for $1 or $2 ea. i.e. Elvis, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc…
He has a good collection though and there is always something worth listening to in it.
Steve

Joanne,
Assuming you do not have a temperature controlled attic, please go get the albums before they melt. Then you may want to keep them but also have them converted to CD so you can continue to enjoy them.
Wayne

Wayne, thanks for the advice. I actually put them in the attic after my husband had put them in the basement. He wants to throw them out. I’ll have to find a good place for them in a spare bedroom or something.
Thanks!!!
Joanne
host of the GS blog

Ok, I am agreeing that vinyl records are coming in our midst. I see lot so of them on music store selves and basically it will really make a dent on the sales of other records like CDs and DVDs.