Can you imagine a world without vinyl?


Can you imagine a world without vinyl?
I have been into vinyl for 49 years - since the age of 8 & cannot imagine a world without vinyl.
I started out buying 45's & graduated to 33's (what is now considered LP's).
I have seen 8 tracks come & go, still have a kazillion cassettes, reel to reel & digital cassettes - have both the best redbook player & SACD players available, but must listen to my "LP's" at least 2 hours a day.
I play CD's about 6 hours a day as background music while I'm working, but must get off my butt every now & then & "just listen to real music".
I admit to being a vinyl junkie - wih 7 turntables, 11 cartridges & 8 arms along with 35K albums & 15K 45's.
For all you guys who ask - Is vinyl worth it - the answer is yes!
Just play any CD, cassette, or digital tape with the same version on vinyl & see/hear for yourself.
May take more time & energy (care) to play, but worth it's weight in gold.
Like Mikey says "Try it, you'll like it!"
I love it!
128x128paladin
Pawlowski, why would it be hard to count if you had uniform shelving and counted one unit of a rack of vinyl and multiply....and how do you have time to even wonder that? :)
It took my father over 10 yrs to get through his collection of music wich was total about 9,000 or so........ he goes in Alphabetical order, now during that time he added countless new tittles in my head I figure it will take atleast 15 years this time and he is still on the "A" tittles.
I could frankly give a hang about the audio angle of vinyl or turntables -- it's a significantly flawed medium from the sonic standpoint (among others) and is not synonymous with the word "analog" as many audiophiles carelessly assume it to be, and I have nothing against digital in principle -- but I certainly love vintage records and good record collections, because it's all about passion for the music, the artists, and the times. Always nice to learn of another Agonner who collects and plays vintage 7" 45's, the medium whose demise (replaced, badly, by the music video) signalled the beginning of the end of rock's golden age. Now if I can just quintuple the size of my collection I'll be hot on Paladin's heels (though one turntable should continue to suffice, jukebox excepted).
This is just an exercise in masochism. Just stick red-hop pokers in my eyes and be done with it. Fortunately the Truth will out, and the LP is making a comeback! Off to the growing number of record shops in my area! CDs, DVDs, SACDs and various other waterproof discs make great coasters.
I can easily imagine a world without vinyl. It would be a world in which excellent sound would be achieved without the sonic compromises of digital or the convenience and many other compromises of vinyl. Both formats are clearly seriously flawed and hardly to be lauded as some ultimate achievement as the poster seems to suggest. While 99% of my listening is vinyl because of its sonic superiority (particularly for the 50's and 60's Jazz that I listen to), I would switch in a nanosecond to an alternative digital format that provided analog quality sound without the many disadvantages of vinyl like surface noise, inner groove and other tracking distortions etc. What's amazing to me is that vinyl, as primitive as it is, has not been bettered in over 50 years. It's time we move on.
Another view? Yes, I could live without vinyl. The cost of high end vinyl and LPs of sufficient quality is too high. We can approach vinyl for less money. I am tired of the surface noise and lack of frequency response at both ends. If I bought a turntable and cartridge worth many thousands, a phono stage worth thousands and bought new LP pressings at $25+ each to replace all my records, I could surpass CDPs. In the meantime I continue to search for CDPs that reproduce life-like music. By using tube output stages, reclocking, CD treatments, plus tube amplification it is possible to achieve most of what LPs offer, at lower cost and an easier to keep medium. Sorry, but I had to interject. This LP lovefest was just too much.