Is Vinyl Dead?

AudioSoul · « **on:** 26 Apr 2009, 11:27 pm »

You would think so, no one ever posts on this forum anymore!

whubbard · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 Apr 2009, 11:38 pm »

I would say no. Seem like all but one of the threads on the first page all have replies.

Plus, Vinyl's the best! Its never going to die

-West

2bigears · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 12:37 am »

no time,too busy cleaning records .....

doorman · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 02:27 am »

A friend of mine owns a "bricks & mortar", record store. New vinyl is keeping him going. More and more young folks are buying it. Says he, "ya can't down-load these albums"!
Don

JCC · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 02:55 am »

Vinyl has been on the way out for a long time. With the expense of high quality vinyl play back and the inconvenience, other media have an advantage. It only has continued to exist because of some outstanding sound to satisfy the audio-techno-bigots as well as some improvements in vinyl playback and because of old recordings that have never been remastered in high-quality for the digital crowd.

So, as other media continue to improve, vinyl will gradually move more and more to the fringe. It might die in a 100 years or so.

bunnyma357 · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 03:13 am »

Old used vinyl can be a lot more economical, you can buy an album for the price of 2 or 3 crappy rights managed downloaded songs from iTunes. For the price of 2 CD's, I can get 10 old albums. I've bought about 100 albums in the last few months, almost all were in excellent shape and I spent about $300.

Depending on what your tastes are, vinyl can be the best way to go, and for me it's more alive than ever.

Jim C

mjosef · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 03:19 am »

pretty much...made of extinct lifeforms...soon the buyers will be gone from this earth, no buyers, no market.

orthobiz · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 03:34 am »

Vinyl is not dead. I think all of us can post a bit more and bring more life to this forum. My daughter and I participated in International Record Store Day recently; it was a blast. Here's my vinyl update, mainly centered around the hardware:

I now have five turntables. I need to tweak four of them. I'll try to post as I go because I need to learn. I'm setting three of them up for my daughters and one for me.

I have a Marantz belt drive, a Denon direct drive, an ADC direct drive and John's HW-19 MkIII. And my old Linn Sondek.

I have a Grado Sonata Reference, two AT440's, a Grado Green, Shure M97 and an ADC XLM II on the way.

I need to match the cartridges to the tables in the near future. I have 10 pounds of modeling clay ready.

Paul

TONEPUB · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 05:01 am »

Considering about 35 million records got pressed last year, I'd say no.
Still pale in comparison to about 550 million CD's but enough to stay viable...

ecramer · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 09:54 am »

Quote from: mjosef on 27 Apr 2009, 03:19 am

pretty much...made of extinct lifeforms...soon the buyers will be gone from this earth, no buyers, no market.

There's more kids buying records at the brick and mortar store i hang at then anybody else, They seem to be informed about record label's reissues ect. and they are very ecliptic. May be hope yet for the audio world. If they are taking the time to listen to records

ED

chosenhandle · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 01:32 pm »

I can always tell when spring is here....posts in the forums drop dramatically!

As much as I love my stereo, warm weather makes me want to be outside and not spending mass amounts of time listening to music and playing on the computer.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 02:05 pm »

Notice the higher prices you see on used albums these days, say, next to last year or the year before?

That's the market telling you there is more demand than the supplies now....definitely not a sign of a dying market.

If anything, when more record pressing plants open again and the backorders of requests from major and indie labels is better filled, and music lovers have wider access to (new) titles on vinyl at good prices and consistent quality (quality on new albums is suspect, I think, mostly due to the existing record plants running long hours and with little competition, don't need to turn out hi-quality product)....I think we'll have a real revival in progress.

I know I listen less to music in the Spring thru Fall months...outdoor activities dominate my thoughts then. I don't imagine there's any snow left in the northern hemisphere outside of the Arctic Circle now

John

pardales · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 02:17 pm »

Vinyl buries all its undertakers

BobM · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 02:17 pm »

No vinyls death in my house. There's even an old fashioned record store in my town and he's been doing business for about 15 years now with no slowing down.

I definitely listen to the rig less during the warmer months.

Bob

JoshK · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 02:37 pm »

We have had some warm weekends the past two here in the NYC area. I worked on my speaker project (and TT too) outdoors! Best of both?

'Course it wasn't listening.

nathanm · « **Reply #15 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 06:15 pm »

Yes, it's official: Vinyl is dead. Nobody buys vinyl anymore, and most of the existing vinyl has been disposed of. Additionally, there are no longer any people around who like vinyl. Some people even think that vinyl may never have actually existed and people were merely being fooled by a media conspiracy. So when you see anyone claiming to own vinyl or listen to it, there's a good chance they are just having a joke at your expense. At best they are trying to pass off a CD that they simply ironed out and colored with black spray paint. Do not be fooled!

JackD201 · « **Reply #16 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 06:27 pm »

Our two largest local (Philippines) brick and mortar chains (Music One and AstroVision) began selling sealed and pre-owned vinyl this year. If vinyl is dead then it's doing a great job at haunting everybody

orthobiz · « **Reply #17 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 08:26 pm »

Quote from: chosenhandle on 27 Apr 2009, 01:32 pm

I can always tell when spring is here....posts in the forums drop dramatically!

As much as I love my stereo, warm weather makes me want to be outside and not spending mass amounts of time listening to music and playing on the computer.

And soon I'll be hanging out at 914world.com. My car comes out May 1!!!

Paul

Wayner · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 09:51 pm »

Well, Music Direct catalog has 11 full pages of brand new turntables. Acoustic Sounds has 7 pages of new turntables and Audio Advisor has 3 in it's "mini-catalog". For CD players, Music Direct has 5 pages, Acoustic Sounds has 2 pages and the Audio Advisor has 6 pages. Tho that is just a sampling, there certainly is a trend and retailers are very aware of whats hot and whats not, or they have a bad year.

Looks to me like vinyl is alive and very well, for the time being.

Wayner

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Apr 2009, 10:32 pm »

....let's not forget the very significant space that Absolute Sound now gives vinyl each issue.

From the dead...surely it has now risen. How long it will last is anybody's guess, but later, rather than sooner is probably most correct

John