Vinyl record sales hit an 18-year high

radiotimes.com ^ | Ellie Walker-Arnott

[RoosterRedux]

In 2014 you'd be forgiven for thinking the music industry is all about online charts and digital downloads, but the latest figures released by the Official Charts Company reveal a corresponding boom in vinyl record sales which have reached an 18-year high.

More than one million records have been sold in the UK so far this year – a number which is expected to rise even further by the end of Christmas. We haven't bought that many since 1996, back when cassette tapes were still considered technologically advanced...

Sales have been driven primarily by the Arctic Monkeys (whose LP AM is the biggest selling vinyl of 2014), Jack White and Pink Floyd, with Oasis, Status Quo and David Bowie also contributing to the impressive figures.

[newfreep]

The SpJ La-Luce (designed by a woman) is focused on removing/evacuating vibrations before they can adversely impact the accurate tracing of the groove.

It’s quite an engineering feat and is able to retrieve more micro information hidden in the grooves as well as the embedded dynamics that lesser designs smother and do it with a lower noise floor.

SpJ website: http://www.spj-laluce.com/products.htm

[FreedomPoster]

Does this mean I can’t interest you in a $99 Monster fiber optic cable?

[Liberty Valance]

Joe Walsh - Analog Man

[TalBlack]

I have the original ipod and I cannot down load files to it any more even though it is in perfect working order, due to it’s being so ‘old’.

[newfreep]

1. ALAC is Apple’s version of FLAC
2. No sonic difference between ALAC and FLAC
3. 24-bit/96khz is better than 16-bit/44khz CD
4. 24-bit/192khz is FAAAAR better than the 96khz version - higher resolution and increased dynamics
5. DSD is single-bit vs PCM that is a much closer replica of the original musical signal
6. Storage is so cheap that file size is irrelevant

[Fresh Wind]

Does this mean I can’t interest you in a $99 Monster fiber optic cable?

At such a low price, it can't be any good.

But you'd be amazed at how much better it would be if you charged $990 for the same cable.

[RayChuang88]

Don't forget that Apple made the Apple Lossless format an open format under the Apache license three years ago--as such, there are no more license restrictions on using the format. While we all agree that 24-bit 192 kHz sampling rate audio sounds REALLY good (that's the best we have now for digital master tapes), the file size for FLAC at the equivalent of 24-bit 192 kHz sampling rate is ridiculous--probably well over 100 MB just for a four-minute song.

Apple may make some compromises somewhere to accommodate the relatively limited storage space on iOS devices--and that's why I think the new Apple Lossless format for music digital downloads will be 24-bit 96 kHz sampling rate.

[To Hell With Poverty]

Yeah baby.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

Personally, I find that nothing else captures the essence of music, the "you were there" je ne sais quoi-ness of the aural experience, quite as well as the Edison Wax Cylinder.

[CapnJack]

If you love the sound of vinyl records, you'll love it more with one of Grado's Statement1 Phonograph Cartridges. This was what my father developed at Grado Labs. He was Joe Grado's partner from the 50's onwards.

[duckman]

“...who will never have the tactile, visual and emotional thrill of buying your favorite band’s new album,...”
You are 100% correct IMO. I am/was a record collector of DOOWOP music of the 50s/60s, 78s/LP’s/EP’s/45’s. The tactile thrill of holding one of those rare gems can make a collectors hair behind his neck stand up.

[mothball]

And I hate to break it to the author, but CDs were fully entrenched by 1996 and Cassettes were practically gone from the pre-recorded marketplace.

Exctly. I remember the first CD I bought in 1985, Dead Kennedys-”Plastic Surgery Disasters”.

[newfreep]

You’re so wrong on so much you posted.

1. 24/192 is far more superior and closer to master tapes than the lower quality 24/96

2. I have many 24/192 FLAC files and typically they are less than the 100MB you “claimed”.

3. As I noted above, storage is very cheap and keeps getting cheaper.

4. 24/192 FLAC is simply FAAAR superior to 24/96 ALAC...something apple fanbois simply cannot grasp.

5. To date, Apple downloads are strictly low quality - perhaps one day they will see the light and acknowledge 24/192 is THE reference when sound quality is priority #1.

6. I have direct CDR burns from raw studio master tapes that have higher sound quality vs anything Apple has offered.

[Blue Highway]

What futuristic type record player is it? I’d like to read about it.

[trenton1776]

Actually,audio resolution is totally a function of bit width, not sample rate. At 16 bit, the resolution is 2^16 or 65,536 possible levels to reproduce the music. 24 bit is 2^24 which is over 16 million different possible levels. 32 bit gives over 4 Billion. Of course, 24 bit files are 50% bigger than 16 bit ones. Another point - dynamic range is totally a function of bit width.

Sample rates over 44.1khz, at their most basic level, make no difference. I know this is heresy. The design of anti-aliasing filters can have an effect, but generally, sample rates above 44.1 are a waste of space - unless you are mastering for bats. Do a search for double blind tests 44.1khz vs 96khz. Even audio experts don’t guess better than chance would dictate.

[SamAdams76]

During the 1970s, I purchased as many LPs as I could afford. I wanted to build a record collection that would be the envy of all.

Around 1978, cassette tapes started taking off. I saw the future and began purchasing cassettes and recording my existing LPs onto premium cassette blank tapes purchased from Radio Shack.

Then the compact disc got released in the early 1980s. By 1985, I realized this was the future and re-purchased all my cassette and LP recordings in the CD format.

The late 1990s came around and suddenly I realized I could put all of this on my computer in the form of MP3s. So I spent hundreds of hours encoding all my music into 128-bit MP3s. They sounded a bit tinny but you couldn't get more portable than MP3 - especially when the iPod came out.

Then around 2006, I realized my 128kbs MP3s weren't cutting it so I began re-encoding all my source CDs, cassettes and LPs into the 256kbs MP3 format. For classical, I went to 320kbs.

Now I suppose I need to start the process all over again for the 24/192 FLAC format.

Or I could simply turn the clock back to 1978 and go back to listening to vinyl LPs!

So long as Jimmy Carter and the BeeGees aren't coming for the ride, I guess I could go back to 1978 again.

[P.O.E.]

Price of used LPs has gone from, like, a dollar to $10-$20 and up (depending, of course on condition, etc.)

[newfreep]

Sorry, but you are sadly mistaken on all points.

[RegulatorCountry]

It's not entirely audiophiles driving the increase in vinyl. Millennials like the retro-modern feel of listening to new music on a mechanical device with moving parts. That it's reputedly better-sounding only adds to the appeal. To them it's almost Steampunk looking, they get a kick out of a turntable like we do out of those really old television sets with the big magnifier lens in front of the tube.

[duckman]

See post 21 to me with a link,