Sunday, July 29, 2012

Music on Vinyl

I recently discovered that music is still being released on vinyl record when a new album comes out on CD.  After seeing that record players come mostly in USB format these days and a direct drive player can be had for $40 I pulled mine out of the closet and have hooked it back up to the stereo. Also, I have been doing a little research on the different formats of music that is released these days and here it what I've found:

1. Mp3 - digital download format is the most popular at this time and the cheapest format.  as many of us that have downloaded music know, it is compressed and loses the lower and higher frequency bands of the original recording.

2. CD - digital audio compact disc format is the second most popular having lost some ground since its inception in 1985. a CD can be purchased anywhere from $10 to $20 average and contains a compressed format of the recording that retains most of the frequency bands from the orignal recording but still some of the lower and higher frequencies are removed due to the compression methods.

3. Vinyl Record - analog stereo format that has been around for well over a hundred years. this format is the most expensive with new albums selling anywhere from $30 to over $140 for a two album compilation! however it is interesting to note that there is no compression in the recording or better yet, printing, of a record and the audio retains all frequency bands of the original recording. can anyone say lossless?

With that said the winning format is Vinyl for audio quality and I think I am going to bring it back.
Amazon.com has the largest Vinyl record selection of anywhere online with music from all genres and 1000's of artist to choose from.

My (very small) wish list of albums that I can't seem to find the CD of here at the house, so I now would like to aquire the Vinyl are:

Kanye West - Late Registration
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Dr. Dre - 2001
Foo Fighters - Colour & The Shape
Neil Young - Americana
and a great classic but is going for $145 on Amazon.com currently Neil Young - Decade

Check out the links above and tell me, what do you think of vinyl records?

4 comments:

  1. Kelly, I think I have Decade on vinyl, maybe two copies!!!Dad

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  2. I know you have a copy, if you have two I would be interested in obtaining one from you if you would be willing to part with it. I will not be purchasing it, I was just giving an example of how old technology begins to cost more as time passes by. FYI - a working Tandy 286 is going for around $1500 - $2500 today. I was researching the differences between the 186, 286, 386, and 486 computers before 32bit computing was built. I thought, if only Dad still had that Tandy. I bet with the Ram upgrade you did it would be worth even more!

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  3. Can you Chop on vinyl?

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    1. Phillip, I could Chop on Vinyl as it is the original format DJ's used to start "chopping" music. Most DJ Turntables manufactured today either use dual CD's or dual iPod's, some use neither and have a simulated record face to allow chopping of the music that streams via iTunes. Actually, this reminds me of an album I had years ago, Tone Loc's Loc-ed After Dark (1989), a friend of mine had purchased two turntables and a mixer and wanted to chop on the Tone Loc album so I let him borrow it, he chopped the album at a concert a couple years later held at the local Boys and Girls Club. It was pretty cool. Mike Watts is releasing his albums on CD and Vinyl still. I will be purchasing Summer 2k12 on Vinyl when it is released, and who knows maybe I will chop it like Mike Watts.

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