CDs or Vinyl?

I buy a lot of CDs, and have done since I was a teenager.

For the last few years I've bought most of my CDs direct from the artist on Bandcamp. However, over the last year or two I've noticed a steep decline in artists offering their music on CD.

Many have gone down the route of download-only releases, but those that do offer physical options are going with vinyl, with no CD option. I don't know why this is.

Is it because the margins are bigger on vinyl sales, or is it simply a case of demand for vinyl has outstripped CD?

At some point in time most people ditched vinyl in favour of CDs, but have tastes changed so much that people are now ditching CDs?

Do you still buy CDs, or are you a vinyl lover?

All my music was mp3 10 years or so ago, so I decided I wanted something physical to collect too and started buying vinyl (or pinching it from my dads collection).

MP3’s now been ditched for streaming which opens up a bit more of a need for hard copies of music as not all artists make their work available and in some cases (De La Soul spring to mind) the music is so sample heavy the royalties have never been agreed and they aren’t available to stream.

I was essentially coming from a starting point of zero for both CD and vinyl so opted to go vinyl - supposedly the sound quality is better and i prefer the look of records over plastic cd cases. So haven’t bought a CD in 15 years or so I’d guess.

A lot of the CD's I buy from Amazon come with a free MP3 download, but I haven't bought vinyl for many, many years. 
The only vinyl I still own are my Dylan albums, and I've nothing to play them on. They're propped up behind my desk I think.

I'm of the vinyl age and built up a collection of them over my early years.

As things changed over the years the collection got stuck in the loft until a couple of years back when my daughter got a bit interested in vinyl because it had become fashionable and retro.

Well she soon lost interest and the next stop for the collection (and the record player) was down the tip.

Before I took them though I asked around family and friends if anybody wanted them at to my surprise one of my nephews asked for them for his son, who was about ten or eleven at the time.

I passed them on to him and told him when his son got fed up with playing with them, then by all means sell them at a car boot market or whatever he thought best as I certainly didn't want them back.

I met up with my nephew last week for the first time in over a year and he mentioned in passing that his son still regularly plays the records - which surprised me no end!

I've no idea if it is somehow 'cool' and trendy in his world or if he's some 'nerd' who lives in his bedroom all the time but it's good to know that someone is still getting enjoyment out of records from the 1960's/early 1970's!

Maybe he'll end up being one of these famous dance DJ's in years to come!

Anyone still got any 78's? I had a few knocking about but ended up giving them away. Not sure they were worth much anyway. Mainly jazz. King Oliver, I think.

Sluffy wrote:I'm of the vinyl age and built up a collection of them over my early years.

As things changed over the years the collection got stuck in the loft until a couple of years back when my daughter got a bit interested in vinyl because it had become fashionable and retro.

Well she soon lost interest and the next stop for the collection (and the record player) was down the tip.

Before I took them though I asked around family and friends if anybody wanted them at to my surprise one of my nephews asked for them for his son, who was about ten or eleven at the time.

I passed them on to him and told him when his son got fed up with playing with them, then by all means sell them at a car boot market or whatever he thought best as I certainly didn't want them back.

I met up with my nephew last week for the first time in over a year and he mentioned in passing that his son still regularly plays the records - which surprised me no end!

I've no idea if it is somehow 'cool' and trendy in his world or if he's some 'nerd' who lives in his bedroom all the time but it's good to know that someone is still getting enjoyment out of records from the 1960's/early 1970's!

Maybe he'll end up being one of these famous dance DJ's in years to come!

Still very much trendy to own vinyl, so no your nephew is not a nerd (based on that at least!). Easier to get hold of than CDs i find, and you can spend a fortune if you’re after a rare press - they’re here to stay I think.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I buy a lot of CDs, and have done since I was a teenager.

For the last few years I've bought most of my CDs direct from the artist on Bandcamp. However, over the last year or two I've noticed a steep decline in artists offering their music on CD.

Many have gone down the route of download-only releases, but those that do offer physical options are going with vinyl, with no CD option. I don't know why this is.

It's surprising, especially for bandcamp and similar offerings. I dabble a bit with Logic pro x and I or anyone can burn a cd straight off the Mac if I want to whereas unless you have a bunch of relatively expensive kit you'd have to order them in - and the last time I checked the minimum run was 500.
Can't imagine amateur producers doing that - unless they were supremely confident of selling a load. Also wouldn't postage costs for vinyl be more expensive? Then there's cover design, labelling and packaging to think of.

Obviously the easiest, cheapest and greenest way of doing it is via download.

I've never been a fan of vinyl and also bought cassettes and then CD's. Collecting vinyl is very trendy these days but it's a rip off in my opinion. It can cost £20 for an album when it's less than half the price of a download or CD's.

I do still buy CD's but like Nat i do download more from itunes and bandcamp now. I do buy second hand CD's as they are cheaper than downloads a lot now as well.

T.R.O.Y. wrote:

Sluffy wrote:I'm of the vinyl age and built up a collection of them over my early years.

As things changed over the years the collection got stuck in the loft until a couple of years back when my daughter got a bit interested in vinyl because it had become fashionable and retro.

Well she soon lost interest and the next stop for the collection (and the record player) was down the tip.

Before I took them though I asked around family and friends if anybody wanted them at to my surprise one of my nephews asked for them for his son, who was about ten or eleven at the time.

I passed them on to him and told him when his son got fed up with playing with them, then by all means sell them at a car boot market or whatever he thought best as I certainly didn't want them back.

I met up with my nephew last week for the first time in over a year and he mentioned in passing that his son still regularly plays the records - which surprised me no end!

I've no idea if it is somehow 'cool' and trendy in his world or if he's some 'nerd' who lives in his bedroom all the time but it's good to know that someone is still getting enjoyment out of records from the 1960's/early 1970's!

Maybe he'll end up being one of these famous dance DJ's in years to come!

Still very much trendy to own vinyl, so no your nephew is not a nerd (based on that at least!). Easier to get hold of than CDs i find, and you can spend a fortune if you’re after a rare press.

I've no idea really he was just a probably about 8 or 9 years old the last time I met him. He's about 14 or 15 now but his mum is one of those with health issues who has had to be shielded and I don't think him or his sister are free to roam about with their mates much, indeed his dad told me that he himself when he returns home has to go through a quarantine process, of changing his clothing, having a shower and generally being germ free before he goes into the house proper, so maybe he is more bedroom centred than being street cred cool right now, whether he's trendy or nerdy!

It can't be fun for kids of that age with the virus as it is let alone living with those at serious risk to it.

I guess living in Bolton right now as new cases have been soaring recently doesn't help him much to get out and about.

At least he's got some records to play until things take a turn for the better!

T.R.O.Y. wrote:I was essentially coming from a starting point of zero for both CD and vinyl so opted to go vinyl - supposedly the sound quality is better and i prefer the look of records over plastic cd cases. So haven’t bought a CD in 15 years or so I’d guess.

I don't think I've listened to a vinyl record in over 10 years, is the quality any better these days?

With the right setup it’s good, better than streaming but if I’m being honest not noticeably better than CD for me.

I used to have a large vinyl collection but had to switch to cd as more and more artists were only available on cd. Recently I am finding just like Nat that not much of what I listen to is available on cd - even direct from the artists. I don’t want to go back to expensive vinyl, especially as most of the people I listen to only provide downloads. So I find I listen to Spotify a lot more these days. I will still buy cds if I can though.

My eldest son who is a big music fan got rid of his large cd collection a few years ago and now listens to Spotify premium. I can’t bring myself to do this as I like the physical nature of the cds. It’s a generation thing I guess.

I still use an ipod classic and even though it's considered old tech now i love it. People are always saying i should go down the streaming route but what happens if there is no wifi available for when i'm out and about? 
I don't want to use all my data up or just download certain albums to my phone, my ipod has over 10,000 songs on and i love that i can just pick and choose what i want when i want. When it does eventually break i'm not sure what i'll do other than cry 

You can still download from streaming apps like Spotify to make them available offline

BoltonTillIDie wrote:You can still download from streaming apps like Spotify to make them available offline

 i know that but i still like the option of having my entire collection at my fingertips rather than having to pick and choose what i download. My phone is old as well and doesn't have a lot of room on it 

xmiles wrote:Recently I am finding just like Nat that not much of what I listen to is available on cd. I like the physical nature of the cds. It’s a generation thing I guess.

How dare you suggest we are of the same generation.

I'm only 32, I'll be 31 in March.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

How dare you suggest we are of the same generation.

I'm only 32, I'll be 31 in March.

I didn't realise you were the Benjamin Button of Nuts Nat.

Was round at my mates today, listening to his incredibly expensive stereo system. Hearing a full, crystal clear, 14 minute version, of Ravels Bolero, was something else. Absolutely brilliant, and without headphones too. 
He had his turntable hand-made, at a discount cost of £2200, although he wouldn't let me near it  The cost of the rest of his equipment,for his mini studio I have still to find out. 

gloswhite wrote:Was round at my mates today, listening to his incredibly expensive stereo system. Hearing a full, crystal clear, 14 minute version, of Ravels Bolero, was something else. Absolutely brilliant, and without headphones too. 
He had his turntable hand-made, at a discount cost of £2200, although he wouldn't let me near it  The cost of the rest of his equipment,for his mini studio I have still to find out. 

Bolero is to music, what a revolving bow tie is to comedy.

“There is a definite limit to the length of time a composer can go on writing in one dance rhythm (this limit is obviously reached by Ravel towards the end of La valse and towards the beginning of Boléro).”


Constant Lambert.

Norpig wrote:
I didn't realise you were the Benjamin Button of Nuts Nat.