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Music

Vinyl-Record Sales Top Compact Discs for First Time in 34 Years (bloomberg.com) 114

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Sales of vinyl records surpassed those of CDs in the U.S. for the first time since 1986, marking a key turning point for the format's nostalgia-fueled resurgence. From a report: People spent $232.1 million on limited-play and extended-play records in the first half of the year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, eclipsing the $129.9 million they spent on compact discs. Vinyl was the most popular way people listened to music throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s, at which point it gave way to tape cassettes -- followed by CDs and digital formats. Each new format was more convenient than the last and suppressed interest in vinyl.
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Vinyl-Record Sales Top Compact Discs for First Time in 34 Years More

Vinyl-Record Sales Top Compact Discs for First Time in 34 Years

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  • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @11:12AM (#60496058)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I mean, who buys CDs anymore?

      I do. Used ones. I'm still looking to add to my meager collection. The discs are mine and not subject to the whims of any company.

      Looking at the Wiki for Bandcamp I find:

      Fans are able to download their purchases or stream their music on the Bandcamp app/site only once or unlimited times by preserving the purchase voucher.

      So I have to keep a voucher to repeatedly play the music I paid for? Sorry. Once I've confirmed the CD plays correctly the sales slip goes away. No need to be harassed.

      • There are many formats that don't need to "check in from time to time". After saving in that format its just a matter of what your preferred backup medium is, a bunch of CDs, a thumb drive or something in the cloud. I suppose the CD is somewhat proof positive that you can pass the CD on to someone else legally, but I don't think it's high in many peoples' minds. And besides, pretty much all my CDs self destructed after a while.
        • --- And besides, pretty much all my CDs self destructed after a while. --- What do you do to them? I have CDs that I bought in 1984 and onward, and they all still play fine.
          • Me too, also from the early 80's. Now that CDP-101 I still have, it does not work. It lasted decades. My slightly newer mid-80's player does still work. Also built like a battleship.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            It's down to luck. Some CDs live longer than others. Depends on the factory, the glue used etc.

            Of course storing them properly helps too.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rnturn ( 11092 )

          Huh? The only CDs I've ever had "self destruct" were cheaply-burned bootlegs.

          When taken care of, they ought to last for decades. I was a rather early adopter of the format and all the CDs I bought back in the mid-'80s play just fine.

          • A handful of pressed CDs do become unplayable, despite being genuine major label pressings.
            My 600 CD collection from 1988 onward has a 1% total failure rate - 6 CDs - so far.
            I have taken great care of them, but this small minority developed visible pinholes in the recording medium which made them completely unplayable (not even recognised as CDs by any drive).

            But it seems to be very rare.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by tchdab1 ( 164848 )

        Agreed. CDs usually have the best available sound quality (if they're not damaged) and they last. Rip them and they're incredibly easy to search, play, manage.

      • Yep, same here
        sometimes I even buy new ones - if the music I want isn't available used yet.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by taustin ( 171655 )

        So don't buy from Bandcamp. Buy straight mp3s that are unencrypted from one of the many, many, many sellers that sell them. Then make backups.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
          Well op said lossless, mp3s are lossy, so recommending mp3s kind os misses the point IMHO, but I might have missed something.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by taustin ( 171655 )

            Lossless is largely irrelevant when studios play games with the audio to make it louder, which is quite common. Most studio recorded music is crap, from a technical standpoint (and, all too often, from an artistic standpoint, too).

            And very, very few people can tell the difference anyway, even though they believe they can. Audiophiles are some of the most gullible people on the planet.

      • I don't listen to that much music, and I don't buy music online. So I ask for CDs for Chistmas and then I can burn them to my music player and have a nice DRM free backup.

      • Looking at the Wiki for Bandcamp I find:

        Fans are able to download their purchases or stream their music on the Bandcamp app/site only once or unlimited times by preserving the purchase voucher.

        Then the wiki page is wrong.

        • Streaming through the Web site is unlimited. Usually, you don't even have to buy the music.
        • Streaming through the app is only possible for those who actually payed for the tracks or albums in some way and who have a registered account.
        • To be able to download, you also have to pay. After that, downloading is unlimited, though.

        You don't need an account to buy music, but if you don't have an account and want to re-download track then, yeah, you need to keep the download code.

      • I mean, who buys CDs anymore? I do. Used ones. I'm still looking to add to my meager collection. The discs are mine and not subject to the whims of any company.

        Do you keep them next to your 8-Track collection?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )

        Same, but I also don't buy new music, because it has sucked for over two decades (in the English speaking world at least), which might account for some of that lack of sales on CD. Easily half of my current collection was purchased by the pound, too. And I prefer to get the paperwork with the disc, but if not, I have plenty of CD-R spindles to store the naked disks in.

        And while they may be buying more vinyl, are they actually listening to it, or just "collecting" it and playing it on a stream service? Viny

    • Just yesterday I received a 3 CD Big Mama Thornton box set.

      I don't doubt you can buy all the lossless tracks you want at some website, but there are also music fans to consider, who might want to listen to all the music, not just a few tracks.

    • What bandcamp, I have all my CDs uploaded on the bittorrent by helpful people.

    • I buy new CDs on Amazon when they have autorip and are the same or lower price compared to the download only. Eventually I get the physical disc and rip it as FLAC, but I also listen to Amazon encoded MP3s for the instant access.

      A raspberry pi with a large microsd card makes a reasonable fileserver for music. I have a very simple web player served up with lighttp and some HTML5 and JavaScript that I learned reading a tutorial on about 5 minutes.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rnturn ( 11092 )

        I'm not surprised that LP sales exceed CD sales given that most stores are charging upwards of $25 for an LP and the CD is available for maybe $18 (or less if you know where to look). Plus I'd be more likely to pick up a used CD for a few bucks before an LP of the same title. CDs seems to survive handling by their owners better than LPs do.

        I've been ripping my CDs to FLAC files (almost finished) and have them on a NFS server where I can listen to them on my desktop, laptop, or the R-Pi feeding the stereo

        • I'm in range of 4 or 5 university radio stations (KZSC, KSCU, KSJS, KZSU). I can confirm both Motorhead and Joy Division are played, the others are likely but I'm less likely to identify them on my own.

          Despite the high quality of my local radio stations, I still tend to find new music through YouTube and Bandcamp and sometimes through friends' suggestions.

          P.S. MP3 is OK by me when I'm in my truck and there is so much wind and tire noise that the stereo is up near its maximum in order make out the song. Suff

          • You are the reason I still check in on Slashdot to find interesting nuggets. I've copied those call letters to check out the formats. I am guessing SCU is Santa Clara Univ.

            I was fortunate to get a 1 semester gig at KFSR in 1990, Fridays at Noon. College Rock. Two turntables were still the norm with a CD player for some newer stuff. Dinosaur Jr., Alice in Chains, Jane's Addiction, etc.

            • Yeah, that's Santa Clara U, my list is of Bay Area stations, South Bay and Santa Cruz specifically.

              Another little gem is KPIG out of Santa Cruz but on repeaters around the Monterey Bay. It's a commercial station but has a very independent feel to it because of how it is ran. One of the best Americana, country, western, folk, rock, and blues format stations I've seen. Lots of small labels and independent artists, DJs pick their playlist from a seemingly limitless catalog. Today's playlist included John Lee H

    • I have a music collection, but it's gotten so that I'm too lazy to pull up a piece of music from the archive. Pretty much everything I have is on youtube, and easier to find. (I"m old, and can't hear high frequencies, so it doesn't have to be 20KHz Fidelity, probably not even 10KHz anymore.) One very nice thing about youtube is I often can find alternate versions. If it's classical music, I get a choice of many interpretations, Yuja Wang or Lang Lang's version of that Chopin Scherzo instead of good o

  • If the "old is new again" trend keeps going, maybe people will soon be leaving Facebook. It would be a good time to buy the GeoCities.com and MySpace.com domain names.

    • Well, I'd rather read soc.culture.something via my local news server than participate in a google or facebook "group" with extra moderation by an anonymous troll on Cuckerberg's payroll.

    • Re:Cool! (Score:4, Funny)

      by DesScorp ( 410532 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @01:22PM (#60496690) Journal

      If the "old is new again" trend keeps going, maybe people will soon be leaving Facebook. It would be a good time to buy the GeoCities.com and MySpace.com domain names.

      I'm just afraid all this tech nostalgia heralds the return of ... 8 Track Tape. *Shudder*

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )
        You should watch Techmoan videos about 8-track. Apparently a sizeable fraction of new tapes come from some guy in Dallas who rebuilds recycled tape shells with new tape and new foam pads.

    • It may just be that the record companies are addicted to mixing the CDs too loud now, so they actually sound shitty compared to the sound quality that the format can handle, and the same companies have a different set of beliefs and practices when mastering for vinyl. So the records sound better than the CDs now, even though the format has less bandwidth and should sound worse.

  • I have vinyl albums because I'm old and I never got rid of them. They are nostalgic and some might say have a better sound. I began collecting CDs when they first came out as well. They were amazing at the time; A compact way to carry my music in the days before MP3 files. So at what point will compact disk sales re surge? If I were to buy all the disks I can now, how long would it take me to start making money, 10 years, 20 years? The other questions is will they last that long? Vinyl should last pretty mu

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      FIY water boils at 100 degrees.

    • I have vinyl albums because I'm old and I never got rid of them. They are nostalgic and some might say have a better sound. I began collecting CDs when they first came out as well. They were amazing at the time; A compact way to carry my music in the days before MP3 files. So at what point will compact disk sales re surge? If I were to buy all the disks I can now, how long would it take me to start making money, 10 years, 20 years? The other questions is will they last that long? Vinyl should last pretty much forever barring break down of the material. CDs, on the other hand, haven't shown me the same durability. Although in all fairness, I did carry CDs in my 130 degree car.

      Ha!

      Under the very best of conditions, a vinyl record only survives about 10 plays before degradation starts. CD-4 Quad recordings are much worse than that!

      CDs are somewhat sonically-inferior to a brand-new vinyl recording that is mastered and pressed perfectly, and played on a $3000 turntable with matching $3300 cartridge (although DVD-A, SACD, BD all sound FAR better than vinyl!); but in 10 years, that CD will still sound just like it did brand new, and even a $50 CD Player sounds better than 99.999995% of

      • Even those uberbuck turntable setups mostly rely on a certain amount of distortion that people have come to like in order to be "better". It's still objectively lower fidelity than the CD.

        That said, the only thing the CD has going for it at this point relates to DRM rather than the tech itself. Physical media just doesn't make much sense in the day of 100Mb fiber internet (and perhaps soon 100Mb satellite internet anywhere in the world).

        • Recordings on the Internet are low bit rate with lossy encoding making it worse, for the most part.

          CDs have sharper stops and starts, so although technically superior are actually worse on an objective scale because of how the brain hears those sharp edges.

          • The low-end streaming services are like that, but anywhere you are paying on a per-download basis is going to be indistinguishable from a CD.

            As for "Sharper stops and starts", you are evidently referring to the fact that the CD is encoding the waveform into a binary. Here's the thing though: you can't hear it. Your speakers are already translating that digital data into an analog output (the movement of the speaker cone). The speaker can't vibrate in binary. What people find pleasing about vinyl is audible

            • Similarly with "lossy" encoding. You can't hear that either except when you are talking very low bitrate (below 192kb with a good encoder). Nobody can pass a blind test between a 320kb variable bitrate mp3 encoded with a decent encoder and a Wav file. You can hear artifacts with good sound equipment on some streaming services, but that's a function of the specific streaming service.

              Heck, in a decent A/B/X test, most "Golden Ears" people can't even distinguish reliably between 128 kbit AAC and unencoded analog!

              I'd push that up to 160 kbps for MP3, though.

              But you're right; at today's usual 256k or greater bit rates, no human can distinguish reliably between analog and MP3 or AAC.

          • Recordings on the Internet are low bit rate with lossy encoding making it worse, for the most part.

            CDs have sharper stops and starts, so although technically superior are actually worse on an objective scale because of how the brain hears those sharp edges.

            You need to restrict your comments to subjects of which you have at least a little knowledge.

      • What about older shellac records at 78 rpm?

        • What about older shellac records at 78 rpm?

          Well, those are undeniably the gold standard for fidelity; but they are just too hard to find nowadays!

          [j/k]

      • even a $50 CD Player sounds better than 99.999995% of Turntable/Cartridge combos; especially ones that most people can hope to ever afford!

        I've been getting into higher end audio recently and I'm pretty sure that's not true. I think what's missing from the analysis here isn't the information on the source material (CD or vinyl) but the way it's converted to an electrical audio signal. I've never owned a turn table, but I know for a fact that the cheap $5 DAC in your $50 CD player is going to sound like crap compared to a decent $100 DAC.

        • even a $50 CD Player sounds better than 99.999995% of Turntable/Cartridge combos; especially ones that most people can hope to ever afford!

          I've been getting into higher end audio recently and I'm pretty sure that's not true. I think what's missing from the analysis here isn't the information on the source material (CD or vinyl) but the way it's converted to an electrical audio signal. I've never owned a turn table, but I know for a fact that the cheap $5 DAC in your $50 CD player is going to sound like crap compared to a decent $100 DAC.

          Sorry, but that is not necessarily true.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MikeMo ( 521697 )
        That is not entirely true. I had (still have) CD-4 records that I played on my Pioneer QX-949 (which I also still have). I bought a product that left a micron-thick coating of graphite in the grooves, almost completely eliminating wear. Really. They never wore out for me. Can’t remember the name of the product, sorry.

        • That is not entirely true. I had (still have) CD-4 records that I played on my Pioneer QX-949 (which I also still have). I bought a product that left a micron-thick coating of graphite in the grooves, almost completely eliminating wear. Really. They never wore out for me. Can’t remember the name of the product, sorry.

          I remember that stuff; but can't remember the name, either...

          Glad to hear that actually worked for you; but I'd still rip those CD-4 recordings to a 4.0 (quad) recording, output to 5.1 format (with the Center Channel and LFE channels silent).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by teg ( 97890 )

        I have vinyl albums because I'm old and I never got rid of them. They are nostalgic and some might say have a better sound. I began collecting CDs when they first came out as well. They were amazing at the time; A compact way to carry my music in the days before MP3 files. So at what point will compact disk sales re surge? If I were to buy all the disks I can now, how long would it take me to start making money, 10 years, 20 years? The other questions is will they last that long? Vinyl should last pretty much forever barring break down of the material. CDs, on the other hand, haven't shown me the same durability. Although in all fairness, I did carry CDs in my 130 degree car.

        Ha!

        Under the very best of conditions, a vinyl record only survives about 10 plays before degradation starts. CD-4 Quad recordings are much worse than that!

        CDs are somewhat sonically-inferior to a brand-new vinyl recording that is mastered and pressed perfectly, and played on a $3000 turntable with matching $3300 cartridge (although DVD-A, SACD, BD all sound FAR better than vinyl!); but in 10 years, that CD will still sound just like it did brand new, and even a $50 CD Player sounds better than 99.999995% of Turntable/Cartridge combos; especially ones that most people can hope to ever afford!

        Actually, CDs are sonically superior to vinyl [vox.com] even on the first play of the record. That is, of course, if you measure quality as the degree to which it faithfully reproduces the sound intended by the producer. The CD has better signal to noise ratio, better dynamics, better stereo separation and better resolution. That the vinyl record degrades is just on top of that.

        The "warm" signature sound of a vinyl record is actually just an imperfection in how the material is played... but if that is what people l

        • It's not clear to me at least that there has been a recent resurgence of vinyl. There's just been a precipitous drop in sales of CDs, most of which seem to have been replaced by streaming.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by teg ( 97890 )

            It's not clear to me at least that there has been a recent resurgence of vinyl. There's just been a precipitous drop in sales of CDs, most of which seem to have been replaced by streaming.

            Vinyl sales has grown by a factor of 20 [statista.com] the last 15 years in the US. At the same time, CD sales have fallen dramatically [rollingstone.com].

            Same tendency here in Norway: 15 years ago or so, hardly anyone bought it - mostly only hardcore hipsters. These days you have specialist vinyl stores, and in the record stores (those few that remain at all) vinyl has at least the same amount of retail space as CDs.

        • Actually, CDs are sonically superior to vinyl [vox.com] even on the first play of the record.

          I agree.

          I was just trying to stave-off an anticipated onslaught of vinyl-lovers' whining!

    • Vinyl should last pretty much forever barring break down of the material

      Nope. They wear out. Every time you play one you're dragging a sharp diamond along the groove.

      • Re:I see a business opportunity (Score:4, Interesting)

        by dwywit ( 1109409 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @05:07PM (#60497530)

        There's a trick that I learned from a post in rec.audio.something. It was a post from a radio DJ about playing vinyl.

        Play it wet - mix up a solution of 50/50 distilled water and ethanol, add a drop or two of wetting agent (dishwashing detergent will do), wet a cloth and wipe the vinyl with it. The record should be visibly wet but not dripping.

        I tried it and wondered where all the clicks and pops went. It also reduces wear by keeping the contact point cool.

    • My up to 30 year old CDs are doing pretty well. I'm just re-ripping them again (this time to a single flac file per CD, plus cue sheet, this guarantees correct track transitions for overlapping tracks).
      Out of about 600, maybe 6 are totally unreadable (with clear pinholes in the recording layer). Maybe another six are rippable but have uncorrectable glitches. The rest all rip perfectly despite surface scratches etc. but some take multiple passes to get a good rip, worst case taking about 30 mins.

      However, I'v

  • CD sales over past 20 years are a tenth of what they used to be in 2000, and right now revenue of digital music is 8 times bigger than CD. A small part of music is still on the dinosaur physical media, it will only shrink over time. 8 track tapes, CD, vinyl.... all relics of a past era.

  • Crazy. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Friday September 11, 2020 @11:21AM (#60496094)

    The lossy analog electronic hacks, tweaks and tricks they had to go through to make regular 33rpm vinyl records work is unbelievable. How anyone in their right mind could think that the audio quality of vinyl is better than post-vinyl digital solutions is beyond me. It's amazing to observe the vinyl crowd totally deluding themselves about the sound-quality of their favorite medium.

    • This dates back to the advent of compact disc, when audiophiles had two legitimate gripes: jitter caused by early DAC's and the "digital inexperience" of sound engineers.

      The sheer improvement in SnR alone ensured that "red book audio" would make LP's sound like AM radio by comparison.

    • Re:Crazy. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @11:56AM (#60496280)

      Wait you can play vinyl? I buy it for large beautiful album art and then play the album from spotify while I read it.

      Not even joking. Most people who buy LPs don't think they sound better. Incidentally people who buy books instead of download them on their kindle also don't think the stories are any better either.

      Some of us like owning something physical, and if you're going to own something physical, why buy a small plastic piece of crap.

      • Vinyl probably stores better for a physical object as well. CD cases are so much thicker that you wind up storing fewer per shelf than with records. Sure you can stack more using the extra Y and Z space, but Y sucks to deal with and packing more into Z space is impractical for humans who want to listen to them from time to time.

        I've just gone pure digital. The occasional physical discs I buy at concerts, etc. just get ripped and packed away. I'll admit there's a certain nostalgia to vinyl, but I'm going

      • A physical book is better in many ways. It doesn't need electricity or an expensive computing device to be read. That's an upside. That's why I still buy physical books too, not just digital. There is barely anything in vinyl that makes it more feasible than contemporary digital.

        If there were a new fad that brings back shellac phonograph records, that I would actually get. There are still quite a few phonographs out there and they work and they run on springs and wind-up. The sound quality is pants, but you

        • There is barely anything in vinyl that makes it more feasible than contemporary digital.

          Except for the things I listed I agree with you.

          As for "expensive computing device". hahahahha man you clearly don't read much. Owning an e-reader and ebooks is literally orders of magnitude cheaper than buying actual books. Quite like vinyl which carries a $10 price premium over CDs at my local shop.

    • I'm a vinyl fan, but I don't delude myself into thinking it sounds better. I tend to prefer vinyl format for music that I listened to when I was a little kid (before CDs were a thing). My mom had friends with a nice hifi system and their teens (who, when I was 4, were like idols) would entertain me by playing albums. Vinyl gives me a way to listen to that same music AND have it sound the way I remember it sounding as a kid - the sound of the needle dropping, the slight hiss as the needle moves to the fir

    • Re:Crazy. (Score:4, Informative)

      by The Grim Reefer ( 1162755 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @12:30PM (#60496424)

      How anyone in their right mind could think that the audio quality of vinyl is better than post-vinyl digital solutions is beyond me. It's amazing to observe the vinyl crowd totally deluding themselves about the sound-quality of their favorite medium.

      From a technical standpoint, I agree. However there are valid arguments to be made for why some albums may be more desirable on vinyl vs. CD:

      1. the "loudness war" is a thing. There are some cases where you can only get a vinyl copy of an album that has not been compressed to the point that the sound quality is degraded on CD.

      2. Re-masters make some copies of albums quite different from each other. In some cases there are no good CD remasters of albums and vinyl is the best option even with it's inherit issues. I remember the first Beatles CD remasters were awful.

      3. Sometimes vinyl is the only good option as an album has never made it to CD.

      4. While this goes back to remastering, there are some older albums that were recorded on reel to reel tape in which the studio used miscalibrated recorders. There have been albums that were remastered for CD that did not take this into account which changed the pitch/time of the tracks.

      Granted, these issues are not going to affect new releases, and are not an issue with the vast majority of recordings. While not technical limitations, they are still there and in those cases vinyl is a better option.

      One technical limitation that CD's have vs. vinyl is the frequency range. Granted, 20Hz to 20kHz is more than enough for most people. Normal stereo equipment also has this limitation. However when I was younger I was tested several times and could hear up to 24kHz. So I did notice this difference in some recordings when CD's were first released. But now that I'm old, I've lost a lot of the high end frequencies in my hearing. My daughter made fun of me a couple years back because I can't hear past 17kHz any longer.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by doom ( 14564 )

        3. Sometimes vinyl is the only good option as an album has never made it to CD.

        I just realized recently there's never been a CD release of The League of Gentlemen [wikipedia.org] from 1981 with Robert Fripp.

      • I'm 53, and don't have much hearing beyond maybe 12kHz. Everything still sounds OK though. I guess it declined slowly and gradually for me.

        • Mine declined slowly as well. I guess I'm lucky that my hearing hasn't declined as much as yours. Not that you're missing much anyhow.

          To be honest, at times it's almost better not having a higher than normal range of hearing. I got a lot of my early hearing tests because of complaining to teachers about sounds bothering me that they couldn't hear. My first one was in kindergarten. Sadly the teacher referred me to the school counselor first. After being asked about hearing voices and some other confusing

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by doom ( 14564 )

      The lossy analog electronic hacks, tweaks and tricks they had to go through to make regular 33rpm vinyl records work is unbelievable.

      And yet, because they worked on standardizing the sound, vinyl LPs have been immune to the loudness wars plaguing all of the digital sound world.

      How anyone in their right mind could think that the audio quality of vinyl is better than post-vinyl digital solutions is beyond me.

      It could be because we don't like heavily compressed sound (see the loudness wars).

      It's amazing

    • I can think of two fairly uncontroversial reasons why vinyl is more popular again.

      1: It's charming. Kind of like an old British sport cars. Sure its temperamental, a pain in the ass and objectively inferior to the modern equivalent in every measurable way. But its charming and there's a sense of occasion about it. Some people like that.

      2: For some older albums its the only way to get an example with good dynamics. This is counter intuitive and runs against what you would assume since CD and lossless digital

      • Limiting or compressing the dynamic range of baroque, classical, and Romantic-era organ and chamber/orchestral music can really damage the experience, although, as a practical matter, I am able to listen only in already fairly noisy environments anyway, so it often ends up being necessary.

    • Same reasons people cling to tube amps and vi -- hipster affectations, an RFD to make themselves feel special by eschewing reality.

    • I don't think it's the *medium* per se it's the mastering. Certainly, CD is a superior format on paper and for durability. But the audio master for the vinyls are better on older recordings (for the few instances I've heard) than the digital remastering for CD (I don't collect vinyl myself but my dad is an audiophile and still collects records AND CDs).
      Now whether or not that's because audio engineers were better in the past or because the audio engineering in the past targeted a more common speaker setup

  • Nice positive spin in that title (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kamakazi ( 74641 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @11:29AM (#60496126)

    From the article it looks more like CDs dropped below vinyl for the first time in 34 years. Vinyl sales didn't grow much, but CD sales plummeted. Looks to me like when people want background noise digital files or streaming win, but when people actually want to listen to music analog wins. Seems like the best form of musical reproduction is over 100 years old, and we have finally managed to push convenient about as far as it will go for portable background music.
      I am mildly curious what percentage of record buyers actually have a system capable of playing back those records so they objectively sound better than a good MP3.
      From the 80s on stereo systems have consistently shrunk the speakers and switched to switching type power supplies that generally are not well enough built to reproduce bass without voltage dips that reduce the mid and high range, and there has been an explosion of DSP for surround sound and crossover points which are built around frequencies appropriate for large theater systems (THX and it's cousins from Dolby and others) which are totally inappropriate for home sized subwoofers.
      I realize there is still a population of audiophiles with class A tube amps and room sized Klipsch folded horns, but the general consumer grade 5.1 surround system these days is really nothing to write home about.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "Looks to me like when people want background noise digital files or streaming win, but when people actually want to listen to music analog wins."

      You cannot determine preferences of "music listeners" by comparing residual sales of obsolete formats. People listen to music in more ways than obsolete CDs and obsolete vinyl. Good thing too.

      Digital files and streaming "win", whatever that means, because they are vastly superior in may ways to any consumer analog format ever. Digital files include CD, but CD h

    • I'd add quite a few bands have hopped on the fad and have released their albums on vinyl but not CD.

      Grrr...

      There are even cassette only releases.

      Or you can do a digital download.

      Which, okay, I still have a CD burner (for archiving purposes, CD is great!) so it is a minor imposition.

      But you are not charging me $15 for the download.

  • Stupid title (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bradley13 ( 1118935 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @11:29AM (#60496128) Homepage

    The real factor is that CD sales have collapsed [statista.com] in the age of streaming. While LP sales have increased [statista.com], they are a piddly 20 million units/year, whereas CDs were once more than 900 million units/year.

  • Not all, of course, but most by far. I know it's not nice to think of people that way, but it reduces the number of surprises.

  • for the first time buggy whips outsold whale oil lamps

  • The CD is pretty much pointless in the days of digital downloads. You can get high quality DRM free music online without having to mess around with a CD... who even has a CD player anymore. I don't think I even have a capability to rip CDs.

    On the other hand usually when I buy an LP it comes with a full size booklet, album art I can appreciate without having to get out a magnifying glass.

  • LP =/= Limited Play (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    SP means "Standard Play" ... and there really aren't any of these because no one issues 78 RPM records any more.
    EP means "Extended Play" ... a 33 RPM record with a limited number of tracks (typically no more than 6, total)
    LP means "Long Play" ... a 33 RPM record with a larger number of tracks (typically well over 6, total)

    EPs are shorter than LPs.

    There is no such format as a "limited play".

  • Misleading title (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dead_user ( 1989356 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @01:36PM (#60496770)
    It's not as though Vinyl sales have taken off, CD sales have plummeted. A more accurate title would be "Compact Disc sales drop below Vinyl Record sales for the first time in 34 years!"

  • ..and the normal ones.

  • Vinyl more expensive, yet lower quality than CD (Score:3)

    by nicolaiplum ( 169077 ) on Friday September 11, 2020 @02:54PM (#60497144)

    Vinyl is often more expensive than a CD recording of the same material, being packaged and presented as a rare and collectable item rather than a commodity copy of the recording. This headline is a greater value of vinyl sold, rather than a greater volume.

    The article says "Music fans value the higher-fidelity sound produced by vinyl and record players, which contrasts with the compressed files offered by most digital services." but if the music fans actually valued fidelity they would buy a CD, which has higher quality than a vinyl record and keeps that quality over a long time and being played many times, rather than the scratchier and more dirty vinyl record as time goes by. Vinyl sells because it's retro, not because it's the best medium.

  • I suspect this says more about the decline of CD sales, than it does about increasing record sales.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mspohr ( 589790 )

      Two obsolete formats battling it out for the bottom rung. I have lots of old CDs and LPs (plus cassette tapes, no 8 track) in boxes in my basement. I never use any of them. Too much of a pain in the ass.
      A long time ago I ripped all my CDs to digital and listen to that format (plus streaming). I don't listen to any "new" music. My new music interest stopped in the 70s... disco killed it. (Yes, I'm an old geezer... get off my lawn)

  • People spent $232.1 million on limited-play and extended-play records in the first half of the year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, eclipsing the $129.9 million they spent on compact discs.

    This article must have been written by a youngster! LP is Long Play[ing], and Extended Play (EP) is shorter than LP but longer than a single. There was never a "limited play" vinyl record, except when you had a bad needle and it destroyed the disc or it was one of those cheap plastic magazine inserts.

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