Comments on: No Hiding Place

By: Thierry

Thierry — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:17:06 +0000

If it’s available, I’ll always pick something up on vinyl – part of it is the look of the large sleeve, part of it is the fact that a couple of 20-22-minute side is just about perfect for my attention span nowadays, and part of it is that the set of speakers I have for my turntable is better than the pair of tiny speakers on my computer (which is my main cd player these days). There’s just something about listening to the Beach Boys on vinyl and having Carol Kaye’s bassline rumble throughout my apartment…

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:28:53 +0000

Vinyl. Always my first choice when buying something new, if it’s available. I love the feel, the sound, and as a graphic designer, the large-format packaging will always hold a place near and dear to my heart. Lyric sheet inserts you can actually read, posters, die cuts (Blue Monday!), gatefold sleeves and embossing and texture, oh my! Besides, my vinyl collection is too substantial to turn back now. (I’ll always curse the late eighties, before I got a CD player, when vinyl became a dirty word to the majors and my only option was… cassettes!)

And as the modern age cannot be denied, all hail the vinyl LP with digital download included. Everybody wins!

By: Tualla

Tualla — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:22:12 +0000

Cd's Baby!

I really love the days of vinyl and the scratches, piled high milk crates used as furniture, component stereos as big as a house and those cute little danish velvet record cleaners with their own fluid.

Screw that.

Tualla at Gmail.com

By: alan

alan — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:48:31 +0000

i prefer digital most of the time, when using music largely for "background noise" – it’s easy to put itunes on shuffle while making dinner or whatever. but when i really want to listen to something from start to finish and get into the music, vinyl is pretty good. not just because of the crackling and pops and having to turn it over and pay attention to the tracking of the two sides, but the album artwork is big enough that you can actually see the images and read the text. that’s my take on it.

By: thomaus

thomaus — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:38:16 +0000

At this point in my life I prefer MP3s. For a bunch of reasons: global warming; shelf space; and/or portability. (And the format can be done pretty well. Take NiN’s "the Slip" — a different little graphic for each track, and the lyrics were attached to the songs too. What more do you need?)

As far as Elvis goes, I’d go with the CD this time. I don’t play my vinyl discs nearly as much as my little silver ones (but the MP3s get played even more). Someday I’ll finish rebuying the rest of the E.C. albums that I grew up on in CD format. But the format switch has caused me to listen to Elvis much less than I would have desired over the past decade. Music deserved to be heard, so going with the more accessible format is what it deserves.

By: Sasha Furlani

Sasha Furlani — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:24:32 +0000

Frank,
I just recently returned to vinyl after a long absence, and here’s the thing I’ve found since I’ve been picking up some of my favorite albums…reverb. I too love the nostalgia and ritual of the album, but I’m a bigger fan of sound, and there is a true difference, especially where it comes to reverb. I’ve read that the one thing sound reproducers haven’t been able to master yet is reverb due to it’s unique decay of frequency. I never thought much about it, but once I started listening to some old favorites, I soon realizd the difference. I threw on "Tonight’s The Night" last weekend, and the reverb draining off Neil’s voice as he warbles off key through "Mellow My Mind" was a revelation. So warm, and just dripping away soft and slow. I listened to my cd of the album to figure out if it was all in my head, and sure enough, it seemed different. Maybe I’m fooling myself, but does it mater? I think I now understand why Neil has been such a critic of cd technology. Vinyl is warm, immediate, airy, and the thought of the needle vibrating in the ruts just feels better. Sure enough, listening to other old faves, like "Fables of The Reconstruction" and "Drums & Wires" by XTC just keeps reaffirming this for me. I’ve been hitting the record store every couple of days looking for other old faves (and some new ones too…hello Yankee Hotel Foxtrot!!)

I’ll keep my feet in all media available, but I don’t think I’ll betray vinyl again like I did 18 years ago. I need the records. I may be fooling my self, but ignorance is bliss! So if I win this, know that you’ll be helping rebuild a long lost collection of a born again audiophile!

By: JAB

JAB — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:56:41 +0000

Well, Jason, if you’re just giving them away….

By: dB

dB — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:52:40 +0000

some bands simply just sound better on vinyl…like Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine because the compression rates on cds reek havoc with certain band’s recording styles.

As for Costello, if you don’t want to buy the new cd just wait a year or so when Columbia or Rhino re-master/re-package/re-release his entire catalog for the 15th time in the last decade.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:36:29 +0000

Nice one Ryan my double slab of goodness (Songs in A&E) arrived today in perfect shape..

Go vinyl go...

Anyone out there like reel to reel?

By: Jason M

Jason M — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:06:33 +0000

I like digital for one reason: space. I used to have 5000 records in an 800 square foot house. There was no room for anything else. I love the artwork and the other doodads that used to get stuffed into records, but the warmer sound people say they hear on vinyl has rarely been apparent to me. Anybody want the remaining 1500?