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Exactly Why Vinyl Isn't The Future of Audiophilia

Actually vinyl is an excellent format:

It wears out and is easily damaged.
Vinyl cannot create a perfect copy nor can different turntable/cartridge/tone arm combinations sound the same, and vinyl is time consuming to copy.
Pretty good stuff if you are trying to make a living hyping the same old stuff reissued and maybe remastered, even though the new version may be inferior to the orginal.

These days the problem is that the music industry could make the masters available way too easily, in which case they will be quickly copied and shared making them worthless.

Therefore the real issue is finding a workable business plan.

Maybe something like the Endowment for the Arts should just find a way to monitor how popular different works are and pay the artists directly for their contribution, but I suppose bias would set in so that possibly just classical music might get most of the grants.
Never-the-less, it might be a more efficient use of tax money then say public education. (Did I just get myself into trouble?) :nono:
 
Record labels aka media conglomerates, are not going to save the vinyl, audio enthusiasts are. Imagine if you had a device you could use to
"press" your own 180 gram album using a copy of a digital master recording or FLAC files? Or you place an order on-line or at a local record store
and they press you a copy "on demand" so to speak. Using newly developed 3D printer technology that idea is in the works. The sound quality isn't
there yet but with time and development it can happen. How it will be marketed remains to be seen but Amazon already has a "disc on demand"
service like this where they burn a "new" copy of an out of print CD, print out the cover art, wrap it up and ship it out. I have three CD's that
were made this way. Once the technology is there I see no reason they couldn't do this with vinyl as well.

See and listen to 3D printed vinyl here
http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Record/

http://www.almostreal.me/2012/12/21/a-3d-printed-record-turning-digital-files-into-physical-albums/
 
Heavy_Sixer said:
...Amazon already has a "disc on demand"
service like this where they burn a "new" copy of an out of print CD, print out the cover art, wrap it up and ship it out. I have three CD's that
were made this way.
Click to expand...

I have a few as well, all classical. For purposes of collecting it's not ideal, but that's picking nits and probably not a concern anyway to all the other wack jobs like me who refuse to give up their CDs.
 
Heavy_Sixer said:
Imagine if you had a device you could use to
"press" your own 180 gram album using a copy of a digital master recording or FLAC files?
Click to expand...

Would there be a sonic advantage to a digital file copied on a phonograph record rather than copied to another digital form? Or not copied again at all?
 
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And they were worried about selling use blank cassettes... I know, even the money grubbing greediest of the music industry could not have stopped digital technology but, I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts, they wish they could go back to the pure analog days! From a mass market viewpoint Vinyl would save their asses, and is anything but dead! Hell, an Lp buyer is the industries best friend. Copyable high-res files are a mass market industry nightmare IMO.

:beatnik:
 
Mr. Lin said:
Right, that's what they said a couple generations ago. :scratch2:
Click to expand...

Absolutely true!
However today those loyal afficionados are now dying off ...increasingly rapidly I might add. What happens in 10/15 years ?
Dance nite DJ's will be the only ones left standing with vinyl records.. assuming there any such DJ's left.
 
Heavy_Sixer said:
Record labels aka media conglomerates, are not going to save the vinyl, audio enthusiasts are. Imagine if you had a device you could use to "press" your own 180 gram album using a copy of a digital master recording or FLAC files? Or you place an order on-line or at a local record store and they press you a copy "on demand" so to speak. Using newly developed 3D printer technology that idea is in the works... ...Once the technology is there I see no reason they couldn't do this with vinyl as well.
Click to expand...
I don't think that tech is reaching the level of precision needed anytime soon, but let's assume it is; I have no desire to own an album that was essentially released as FLAC files on vinyl. Don't get me wrong, I think it's neat, but I own thousands of vinyl records in large part because they are a document of what was actually originally released. What you're describing is basically "we have these music files and these images, and you can either have perfect copies of them, or we can print you out a copy". Either way, the files are there. It doesn't matter anymore at that point, and I'll take the audio files and image files, please. I can always have them printed out later.

Yes, it's a minor distinction between a digitally-recorded and digitally-mastered album released today with a limited run of vinyl (I buy vinyl like that fairly often), yet it's a big difference to me. I would instantly lose interest in new vinyl if that happened. No big loss, though. I'd continue to enjoy new music in other formats, and continue to enjoy collecting old vinyl.

On the other hand, the turntablist DJs, if any left, would have a whole new kind of dubplate to play with, and I am sure they'd use the crap out of it.

P.S. There is an entirely different problem with this hypothetical tech, btw: mastering vinyl that will play well requires careful attention to keep dynamic range, stereo separation, and phase alignment of bass sounds within the limits of the format. You can't just cut (or "print") any old file someone mixed in GarageBand and count on it working.
 
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bare said:
Absolutely true!
However today those loyal afficionados are now dying off ...increasingly rapidly I might add. What happens in 10/15 years ?
Dance nite DJ's will be the only ones left standing with vinyl records.. assuming there any such DJ's left.
Click to expand...

Why do people keep repeating this incredibly inaccurate and easily disproved bunk?
 
Rod Beauvex said:
While it is nice to have a physical object to own, formats are next to meaningless.

Mastering is everything.
Click to expand...

Not to minimize the importance of mastering, but I think you're wrong about that. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation to begin with.
 
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ra7c7er said:
I find it funny that people consider good or great digital to be closer to analog sounding. Lets face it a couple generations from now people won't even remember what great analog sound sounded like. DAC is probably the future and I highly doubt any physical media will be there with it.

To all the hipsters that keep saying vynil is coming back. You guys are silly. When Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc. start carrying records they will be back untill then it's a hobby that has found a resurgence.
Click to expand...

I find it silly that one would venture into the digital realm (rat's nest) without a reference, and without expecting it to meet or exceed an existing hallmark of fidelity. This just is not our first rodeo, many of us have been in high-end Hifi since pre-digital times... hell, I been in it since stereo was introduced as a "new" format and transistor started to replace valves and loudspeakers became shoe boxes. I don't think you will find much argument here that digital has come a long way since the first (horrific) CD's that were introduced as "the perfect forever". Many of my modern day vinyl pressing favorites are mastered and transferred in DSD and are the epitome of high fidelity, and I could not be happier. But to say vinyl (in the true high-end) is passe, is a not only misinformed, but ignorant in my opinion. Now if you want to frame the conversation on pure volume of sales, you are on the wrong blog, and you would then negate the entire audiophile community for our focus because, we will always be a fringe element with fanatical expectations for a higher standard of audio reproduction. Everyone gets to decide where they want in, high-end consumer or supplier/manufacturer, but I would rather be part of this community and its eccentricities, than concern myself with what walmart will have on their shelves for the undiscerning masses. In many ways it's a far more mixed bag though than most of the opinion extremes of format wars would have explained, and the release of high-rez, easily copied data, may be further away than you think as it strips working capitol from artists, the recording industry, and distributors alike, even walmart. And if they can't make a living, we will just wind up not seeing (or hearing) the music at all. I feel it would also be a shame if the future (average) music lover does not have vinyl as a touchstone of true fidelity, in that we live in a very interesting time of changes, and the digital realm is still getting better and better. I would contend, because it has vinyl as a quality comparator and competitor and year over year, vinyl doubles in sales as digital sales dwindle. Vinyl is but a fraction of today's music industries revenue, but I think that its very rebirth and existence speaks volumes.

Happy Listening!:beatnik:
 
Heavy_Sixer said:
Record labels aka media conglomerates, are not going to save the vinyl, audio enthusiasts are. Imagine if you had a device you could use to
"press" your own 180 gram album using a copy of a digital master recording or FLAC files? Or you place an order on-line or at a local record store
and they press you a copy "on demand" so to speak. Using newly developed 3D printer technology that idea is in the works. The sound quality isn't
there yet but with time and development it can happen. How it will be marketed remains to be seen but Amazon already has a "disc on demand"
service like this where they burn a "new" copy of an out of print CD, print out the cover art, wrap it up and ship it out. I have three CD's that
were made this way. Once the technology is there I see no reason they couldn't do this with vinyl as well.

See and listen to 3D printed vinyl here
http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Record/

http://www.almostreal.me/2012/12/21/a-3d-printed-record-turning-digital-files-into-physical-albums/
Click to expand...

Most interesting thing I've read all day, cheers!:thmbsp:

Never thought about 3D printing for that... Everytime I read an article about 3D printing it seems like it's some dude trying to make a gun.
 
I know I have to be covering ground that many here have covered already but the idea that "vinyl wears out" is specious. Is there wear? With the right gear, technically yes. But it's asymptotically small in real World terms as long as you're not treating your vinyl like the "American Tourister" Gorilla would. My big issue these days is that making GOOD LPs (or Music to go on them) is difficult and expensive. I think the idea of skepticism of a Musically literate future (or gear with which to explore Musical Literacy even within any broad terms EXCLUSIVE of "organized sound") as the baseline for entry in a profit motive obsessed culture is a worthy topic for debate. I also think the entire "baby" is in process of being thrown out with the "format vs. download" bathwater. This, since the dumbest, cheapest thing that can be copied and pasted together for fractions of a cent (either from a labor or IP perspective) sells in terms of "orders of magnitude" better than anything that will be released by any of the World's greatest Symphony Orchestras or Jazz Ensembles. Physical format vs. DL is not insignificant. It's just a gnat on the back of the camel whose back is in the process of being broken. Everybody's mileage varies, so it's just my opinion-but I made my living in the Music business. Both as a performer and as a Teacher. Electronics and Audio were my avocations, although I did study it for a little over a year in the mid-'80s, just for "fun" between gigs. Like Audio, in my experience, the "learning curve" in Music is (and ought to be) both steep and endless in time duration. Like Maynard said about playing Trumpet: "It's Endless".
 
??
If it's digital data, why does it matter, where the data resides or where it comes from? Isn't a case of whats the more convenient way to make audio out of your speakers and into your ears.
Technically streamed music is not owned by you, you are just renting it for that session.
If you own the music, you can put it on any device you own.
I guess what is good about releasing new material on LP, is that album art is now Vogue again.
 
I've never heard anyone claim "Vinyl Is The Future of Audiophilia". Not even the most-delusional person.

It is a niche' though that many people still like. The younger generation has warmed up to physical media too. There's something about being able to hold an album in your hand and read the notes and enjoy the artwork while listening to it and only having to pay once to listen to it as many times as you want for as long as you want. Downloads don't really have the same effect. It's not necessarily that physical media sounds better. In many cases it doesn't, especially when you compare a 1st edition vinyl record or CD to a newly remastered high-def digital version.

It's a lot like printed media. I still prefer physical magazines and newspapers to online material. A lot of people do but not enough to make printed media "The Future of Reading Material".
 
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