CDs Vs LPs

We all have examples of each media that are mind blowing and also ones that truly suck.

And just sometimes its all down to my mood. A CD can give me an hour or so before I have to move my backside, streaming well I can just loaf in my sofa all night, so.....

But like tonight, I am flipping vinyl right now and loving it, playing some rare birds that just sound glorious but they are from an earlier age than CD or streaming. 

You just cannot even begin to compare the two and tbh I do not even try.

I love and enjoy both mediums( and more!) But accept each has their own flavour and signature if you will.

Just enjoy the music....

It has really become just a matter of convenience.
Lets face it the consumer that is average joe makes up the vast majority of all media sales, not us hobbyist junkies!
Average Joe has moved right along with tech advances and loves it!
CD is facing the same extinction event that vinyl was say 35 years ago give or take, will it roll over and die ? Of course not just like vinyl has not but make no mistake both cd and vinyl are "zombie" media in consumer speak, they are both "dead" but refuse to actually die!

So convenience....

When average Joe discovered cd he was over the moon, no more replacing styli, cleaning of vinyl, getting up every 20 minutes, setting up the tt ( if they ever did?).
Now they had these shiny little discs that were extremely resilient to light scratches and grubby fingerprints, a lot easier to store and hit play and get an hour or more of music, plus remote controls! And playback in the car! Yes I know the 50,s offered record players as an option in cars thank you.


Then as tech advanced and video tapes were replaced with dvd and bluray average Joe became even happier that their cd could now play in those dvd and bluray machines and hey even less boxes to own!


Now we are at streaming and digital hirez files ( and yes I have skipped over ipods and mp3 files entirely!).

Will these replace cd in the mainstream to average Joe? I think they mostly already have.

Most smartphones now are more than capable of streaming hirez files or Tidal etc to a home audio system or in the car so now average Joe can play high quality music with the one item he would never leave home without anyway, the phone. I will be honest here, the first thing I do on getting into the car is sync to my phone and play via Tidal. No more zipper cases of cds to fumble with any more.

As I said this is all about average Joe the mainstream consumer not the audio junkie! Can you imagine Joe obsessing over whether he should change the VTA if he plays a 180gm record or not?

Lets be real here, we represent a tiny percentile of the consumer market and that is driven by tech and convenience.

And yes this my very humble opinion only and a somewhat cynical take with tongue in cheek before you get all righteous out there! (ps as a clue I DO adjust VTA for 180gm vinyl...lol)

I have never abandoned cassettes...lol.

In fact I keep getting these urges to buy a r2r machine.....

Medic! Quick pass the Oxy-Codone.

Oh wait, already popping those for now.

OP
Reverb.com is primaraly a musicians site like Audiogon but for musical instruments.
However of late they have branched out and sell other music related items, indeed you can sometimes find great deals on hifi gear there.
Not surprised if you can buy cds there too now.

Kosst
Not quite sure why you are so stuck on this but as an,old fart here I can you this.
NOBODY I know would ever differentiate a CD length by tacking on terms like lp or ep. Not saying somebody somewhere does not do so just have never heard it used myself.

Now in the vinyl world it is VERY common to use the terms lp, ep and single to differentiate between the different durations of the vinyl, I hope we all understand those differences!

To my ears a CD is a CD no matter what its duration.

Just my opinion......

Kosst
Completely agree which actually was my point in that it is a generation thing.
As I said old fart born in 1960.
But still we never referred to those new fangled spangly shiny discs in any other term bar CD no matter what the duration.
And I believe that stems from having attached the labels of lp,ep and single to vinyl and pyscology would not allow us to change our thought process.

Tapes I grew up with too but still we just called them tapes, even when I had a complete album or more on each side of a c-120.

Also I grew up in England, maybe the whole culture was slightly different as well.