[Miney]

Nice vinylphool press here...



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/nyregion/07vinyl.html

[jsaliga]

Maybe...but I saw iPods, iTunes, and computers mentioned too many times in such a short piece that was supposed to be about analog.  And I think Andre Sam is way off base when he said that video games had something to do with the resurgence of vinyl.

--Jerome

[dB Cooper]

Apart from a little nostalgia buzz for a few customers that was probably over by the time they got home, and a little notoriety for Best Buy, I wouldn't get your hopes up. 


A year or so ago I saw an article stating that vinyl sales worldwide added up to about a million copies (the equivalent of one gold record). This year it's two million (the equivalent of two gold records). At this rate, vinyl will be back on top in only 135 years.

Ironically, the CD, once seen as the salvation of the music industry as we have known it, probably was the major factor in the dire straits the business finds itself in today. Digital pressing was so esoteric and costly when CDs were introduced, it never occurred to most people in the business that before too long, any pimply-faced kid would be able to make bit-perfect copies on his computer for 15 cents apiece (or let his friends rip copies for free) due to the absence of any type of copy protection or encryption in the format.

[Stu Pitt]

Ironically, the CD, once seen as the salvation of the music industry as we have known it, probably was the major factor in the dire straits the business finds itself in today. Digital pressing was so esoteric and costly when CDs were introduced, it never occurred to most people in the business that before too long, any pimply-faced kid would be able to make bit-perfect copies on his computer for 15 cents apiece (or let his friends rip copies for free) due to the absence of any type of copy protection or encryption in the format.

Copying vinyl to casette was pretty easy.  So was recording from the radio to casette.  Neither one had any type of copy protection and could be pulled off by any pimple faced kid for pennies on the dollar, yet the music industry didn't have the problems they have now.

While unrelated, I think a big part of the problem is that there hasn't really been a band or group that came around and changed everything.  The last ones to do anything like it were Nirvana and Pearl Jam.  Add in that MTV doesn't play music anymore, and the younger generation doesn't have much to spend on in new music.  Just my opinions.  I'm sure many would disagree.

[dB Cooper]

Ironically, the CD, once seen as the salvation of the music industry as we have known it, probably was the major factor in the dire straits the business finds itself in today. Digital pressing was so esoteric and costly when CDs were introduced, it never occurred to most people in the business that before too long, any pimply-faced kid would be able to make bit-perfect copies on his computer for 15 cents apiece (or let his friends rip copies for free) due to the absence of any type of copy protection or encryption in the format.

Copying vinyl to casette was pretty easy.  So was recording from the radio to casette.  Neither one had any type of copy protection and could be pulled off by any pimple faced kid for pennies on the dollar, yet the music industry didn't have the problems they have now.

Yes, I did plenty of both. My point didn't have to do with how easy it is do do it. The difference is that the snowballing quality loss with each analog generation was an incentive to go to the record store and buy the originals of the music you heard on the radio or at your friends' houses. That incentive isn't there anymore with digital duplication. Today, kid A can rip a perfect copy of a CD and give it to kid B, who can then rip a bit-perfect copy of the copy and give it to kid C, who can... you get the idea.

[dmckean]

The music industry should have saw this coming from the start. CDs were marketed as perfect sound forever and salesman told us we'd never have to buy our music over again.

[kenreau]

Maybe...but I saw iPods, iTunes, and computers mentioned too many times in such a short piece that was supposed to be about analog.  And I think Andre Sam is way off base when he said that video games had something to do with the resurgence of vinyl.

--Jerome

{sorry, it's late, I'm exhausted and I'm probably off on a tangent, plus I did not read the article, but}
I think a lot (majority?) of teens, at least boys, hear rock music for the first time on video games, especially Guitar Hero.  My son is 14 and has 3 good buddies who all got GH games last year.  I'm frequently playing classic rock (and jazz) on weekends and many-many times the boys will be visiting and say when they hear my music "hey, I know that song from GH" or similar Rock Star game.  Funny thing is they almost all listen to the classic 60~70s rock.  Other than a few heavy metal like bands (Metalica, Wolfmother, QOTSA) they rarely listen to current top bands, what ever those are now?

As was mentioned below, with MTV basically a neutered reality tv show now and rock radio stations a ghost of the past, the video gaming industry has a huge presence in most kids recreational/entertainment life now.  The sounds tracks with the video games get a lot of play.

I do recall seeing a video clip trailer/commercial recently of (I think) Jack Black's Guitar video game "Brutal Legend" and he is in a room admiring a bunch of vinyl.  {possibly related to the vinyl interest?}  The video game has a bunch of the heavy metal heroes in it and touts "Possibly the Heaviest Metal Soundtrack Ever".  When kids look back and dig the classic rock / retro music, there has to be some connection to the big black vinyl cds I would think.

[Stu Pitt]

[quote author=dB Cooper link=topic=74879.msg704153#msg704153
Yes, I did plenty of both. My point didn't have to do with how easy it is do do it. The difference is that the snowballing quality loss with each analog generation was an incentive to go to the record store and buy the originals of the music you heard on the radio or at your friends' houses. That incentive isn't there anymore with digital duplication. Today, kid A can rip a perfect copy of a CD and give it to kid B, who can then rip a bit-perfect copy of the copy and give it to kid C, who can... you get the idea.
[/quote]

I undertsand what you're saying, and I think we're pretty much on the same page.  But keep in mind that the majority of today's youth aren't that interested in sound quality.  Being able to rip bit-perfect isn't the reason for the decline IMO.  They don't give each other bit-perfect copies, the "share" compressed files that they compress further.  I was in college during the Napster years.  Most of us (even non-audiophile types) knew it sounded like absolute crap, yet very few cared enough to buy the music.  It was the why buy it when I can get it for free mentality.  I always bought what I liked and only used Napster for the songs that I didn't mean much to me.  I was the exception though.