Deseret News | Reader comments: Sales of vinyl records scratching back

Reader comments
Sales of vinyl records scratching back

utah rose | 7:37 a.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I still have 45's, albums made in the 50's and 60's, some are a little scratched buy playable.

My husband has a collection of classical music.

Its amazing though some are "reissued" they are not the same as the original. For example, Paul Anka did a "reissue" of his hits and jazzed them up as they would be sung in a night club,

I would stick to the originals any day!

mo | 8:30 a.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I play my records every morning.(My husband then knows what kind of mood i am in.jazz, Classical, folk, movie themes etc)..With such a variety from the local thrift shops where i can pick them up for 25 cents each i have managed to get some completely unused or slightly used records to enjoy.It is not only the records i enjoy have you seen some of the wonderful covers, you can't find those on CD's.I have introduced my family to all different kinds of music through my 4,000 record collection ,and if i want to take it abroad i just copy it onto a CD.Nothing beats good old vinyl.

Z | 9:14 a.m. Oct. 20, 2008

With vinyl only holding 1% of the market, it doesn't take much of an increase to go up 36%. Sure, you may see some interest for the nostalgia factor, but vinyl is a technology whose time is long past.

Comments continue below

Ema | 9:36 a.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I just purchased some record frames this weekend to display some of my husbands old records--The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, and Van Halen are the ones he picked to hang up. We do actually listen to some of his other records on occasion, too. :)

Mom | 9:37 a.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I have a scrapbook/craft room and that is where my
record player is and thats what I listen to while
I craft. I too have collected 100's of records and
bunches of the old Readers Digest albums. This is great music.
My son (32) came over the other day and wanted to
know where the record was that I used to play him
when he was little. He wanted to hear it again. I used to play him records and talk to him about them.
The one he was talking about was the Grand Canyon Suite. We would talk about the sun rise, the donkeys on the trail, the rain, the sun set. He just sat in my craft room and listened to the whole
thing. Great remembering!

LOST IN THE 50'S | 9:39 a.m. Oct. 20, 2008

Everything seems to come around full circle.clothing,bicicles,motorcycles,toys etc,etc.now if we could only get gasoline down to the 50's era. 29.9 per gal.

John | 11:48 a.m. Oct. 20, 2008

Vinyl records are analog. CD's are digital. Analog is pure sound, CDs are not. No matter how hard you try, an analog recording is going to sound better than a digital one. Digital can cannot create smooth sine waves, and a good ear, can pick up on the difference very easily.

Digital is a poor excuse for music replication, compared to records.

J.R.M. | 12:46 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I'm in my very early thirties. I grew up with records, and didn't stop buying them when CDs came out. My friends didn't either - it was sort of a hipster thing for music lovers in the late 80s / early '90s that never really died out. Part of the same "trend" was/is using actual film to take pictures and make movies. At this point, my huge record collection is no big deal, it's the Super 8 camera and projector (along with my insistence on taking pictures with real film - the pictures just look warmer, more real, and you get great effects with light/shadows) that really impresses my guests.

Ray Bishop | 12:46 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

As a former 50's, 60's & 70's radio station DJ (KBYU-FM, KOVO, KEYY, KFTN, KSRR, FM-100), I have a super large collection of 78's, LP's and 45's. I own 8 turntables & a couple of old Newcomb and Bogen tube type portable mono blasters.
I get continual requests for old music from my active collection of over 12,000 lp's and 25,000 45's. And I agree that vinyl analog is better. The sound is warmer and more natural. I am happy to see vinyl use increasing. And with the internet, it is easy to get turntables, cartridges and styli for each. Clean 'em and play 'em and enjoy!!!

Manti Man | 1:48 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

The first vinyl record I bought was Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery". I picked it up at Grand Central in Orem and still have it to this day. Actually, on that particular day I had wanted to purchase Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" but my mom wouldn't let me because Carly was noticeably bra-less on the cover photo.

After a few days of listening to Emerson Lake & Palmer blast from my bedroom. I think she wished she'd let me get the Carly album.

Sean | 1:49 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

The popularity of Hip-hop has done wonders for the vinyl medium as well. Better highs and lows for sure. My collection is almost exculively DI and Savers, baby (SSShhhhh. Don't tell anybody).

C.W. | 2:36 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I too began collecting records in the 60's so I remember how we used to look forward with anticipation to the new "Beatles" album or whatever. The main reason I didn't start buying cd's though was as soon as they came out they were TWICE THE PRICE of vinyl. Some of you may remember those first simultaneous releases of cd's, vinyl, and cass. The cd's were 15.99 and the vinyl and cass. were still 8.99. Part of the "pitch" to switch to cd's was "they would be cheaper" i.e. less production costs for cd's than vinyl.

My 7 year old brought a vinyl album to me one day several years ago and said "what are these plates for"?

Makes me remember my TRUE AGE, rather than the 16 year old that I want to be!

Anonymous | 3:18 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I bought my first LP in 7th grade... Led Zeppelin III.
Still have it and I will on occasion play it.
It's true that the human voice, any string instrument drums... pretty much anything not digitally created sounds MUCH better from vinyl!

And some albums were true works of art! not to mention the extras that were tucked inside! posters, cut-outs, pop-up, stickers, 3d glasses, colored vinyl!

AWESOME!!

To Z | 3:59 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

I am a local dj and actually vinyl's warmer and truer sound has always been preferred among djs. Why do you think professional turntable decks, even when used, still sell for hundreds of dollars a piece? Analog sounds better over a live system than digital any day.

Also, as a dj it is making a lot more sense for me to buy in vinyl format these days, since much of the music I play is released in a package comes with mp3 downloads or a cd along with the lp. So you get the best of both worlds, and a lot more bang for your buck.

Plus, mixing on vinyl is much more appealing than mixing on cds. Just ask the ladies...

bilbo | 8:17 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

as a traditional, old country, Gospel and bluegrass lover, I started collecting LP 33s around 15 years ago.
I now have approx 5,500 vinyl LPs.
I gave my cousin approx 1,500 45rpm vinyl a few years ago.
He restores vintage juke boxes.
He can now stock them with old Hank, Lefty, Ray Price, BoDiddly, Hank Snow, Carl Smith, Slim???, Bill Monroe,Flatt & Scruggs, Stanley Brothers and much more.
I received a digital USB turntable for my birthday and am saving thousands of songs to my MP3.
I, too, have multiple turntables...SEVEN of them.

TucsonUte | 9:29 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

Sure glad I kept all my old LPs. There are some that have never been released MP3s or CDs.

Vinyl is better? | 10:35 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

All of the sudden, I'm hearing from more than one location that vinyl is better than all digital, sounds better. I am 36, and remember my parents large selection of vinyl records, which I listened to as a child. When my dad got his first Sony CD player, receiver, and nice speakers on a Christmas in the mid 80's (I think), suffice it to say I was blown away. I thought that the CD was much better sounding than the vinyl, much more crisp and smooth (I don't know any audio terms). I also remember that every house had a record player back then, and I remember preferring to listen to CD's and even tapes when I was at other people's homes where both media were available for listening. I never remember "feeling" the sound or immersing myself in the audio of a vinyl record. I can do that even with MP3s off my computer with, granted, great speakers. Can someone please educate me on how it is that vinyl is superior and if so, how is it that it all but disappeared?

Music Lover | 10:57 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

Come on! Records are charming for about the first five seconds of a song, or longer, if your speakers are crappy or you've got in cranked up loud and don't care about all the pops and other foreign sounds that aren't intended to be part of the music. Records are no match for CDs played on a nice stereo system. While I agree that, all things being equal, analog is better sounding than digital--warmer, fatter--all things are not equal when you compare records to CDs!

The good old days. | 11:28 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

John | 11:48 a.m. You fail to mention the nose analog picks up and amplifies. The old rule was you lost ten percent of your high notes the first time you ran a needle over vinyl. A stylist mechanically favors one side of the grove. Add in dust, wrapping and pressing imperfections and it's mental. The largest problem are acoustics and the human ear. You don't have an acoustically perfect room. You can limited by the range of sound you can hear.

I can record music with digital and get quality you had to have thousands of dollars in tape equipment to record. Then, I can edit the digital sound file like an sound engineer on a PC.

There are people who tell me carburetors, drum brakes and brass radiators were better too. They seem to forget sticking automatic chokes, flooding out on cold mornings and engines that fell apart at 80,000 miles. They forget headliners tearing and knobs falling off too.

hipster | 11:40 p.m. Oct. 20, 2008

ooooh yeah go analog baby, while your at it get your fix gear ride to the local coffee shop cause local coffee is waaaaay better, and listen to the cracks and pops of your limited edition elvis costello record. your so post modern

vinylfanatics.com | 7:54 p.m. Nov. 1, 2008

We're naturally delighted to see such an interest continue in vinyl. Long may it continue!! :)

Johnny five | 6:02 p.m. Jan. 10, 2009

I was born in 1977, old enough to grow up on vinyl records. Started with book & record sets, then to singles, finally albums. My collection spans 1982 to 1995, final year I could still find singles. It's a shame too, because my kids won't be able to grow up on my vinyl records, like their father, grandfather, greatgrandfather all did. They don't produce nearly the number of albums on vinyl like they did during the 1980's. I now look back, and I'm very glad I'm a child of the 1980's- apparently the final decade vinyl records were still mainstream!

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