Does anyone still use or like vinyl?

[mangerton]

If you buy one, you will need a Customs and Excise licence to buy industrial methylated spirit, but relax, they dont charge you for it.

Do you mean the licence or the meths?

A dealer once told me that the problem is particularly bad with discs pressed during the oil crisis (somewhen in the seventies? I cant remember); the price of vinyl, which is derived from oil, shot up, so the companies started to pad it out with filler, and the filler causes the crackles. I dont know if this is correct, but it sounds plausible.

I remember buying one LP in (just checked!) 1974, and returning it twice because of problems with noise. There was a lot of dodgy vinyl going about then, and the first two copies I had were unlistenable to.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I remember buying one LP in (just checked!) 1974, and returning it twice because of problems with noise. There was a lot of dodgy vinyl going about then, and the first two copies I had were unlistenable to.

Now you come to mention it, that was a bad time for vinyl.

[umslopogaas]

Tee hee, the licence is free, I think the industrial meths is about ten quid for a two litre bottle. You dilute it to 50% with equal volumes of distilled water, so two litres lasts quite a long time. Do not be tempted to use the commercial purple stuff, its got dye and also an emetic in it (so you throw up if you try to drink it). And dont be tempted to drink the industrial stuff: it may not have an emetic added, but the methyl alcohol component will still kill you. Excellent stuff for cleaning greasy finger marks of records, though.

[Roehre]

I remember buying one LP in (just checked!) 1974, and returning it twice because of problems with noise. There was a lot of dodgy vinyl going about then, and the first two copies I had were unlistenable to.

The immediate result of the 1973 oil crisis following the Yom Kippur war. The price of pure/purified vinyl shot up, and many recording company reached for recycled vinyl. In the recycling process however it was a near impossibillity to get rid of the labels of the orginal records (many returned top ten singles and EPs). The remnants of these labels were therefore imbedded within the recycled vinyl, making it less supple, and as a consequence less silent by giving more background noise. Sometimes bits of the original labels could be found in the newly pressed LP, obviously causing a crack when in the groove area. This was more or less standard practice with budget LPs already, but became a regular feature at the production of full priced ones too.

A lower grade of vinyl was used as well, but the difference between this and proper high grade is only audible using really sensitive high quality cartridges.

The only labels which didn't go that far for there top price LPs were the Dutch Philips and Decca pressings, the Hamburg DGG/Archiv, the German EMI/HMV and Telefunken.
It became standard practice for all the British pressings, making e.g. British Decca and HMV pressings (far) inferior compared with most of the continental ones.

This affected many LPs pressed between autumn 1973 and the summer of 1977.

[handsomefortune]

US music producer steve albini knows interesting stuff about shellac and vinyl too. as well as providing a useful commentary on the progress of cd and other digital recording techniques. although albini tends to be pretty pessimistic about digital stuff long term. though not from a luddite perspective, (since he's a digital and analogue studio engineer) but quite regardless of taste, the longevity of digital recordings have yet to be proven.

i suspect, as with posters with vast vinyl collections and no player, we may have masses of cds and no player at some point fairly soon. i'll never forget buying music by post from a tiny outlet, i waited weeks for it to arrive ....only to find it stuck a few tracks in, which barred the rest.

tbh i love vinyl....everything about it!

but it's content that really matters ultimately, and it's our relationship with content that transcends format and practically everything else imo. (as well as hype about fashionable gadgetry mangerton)!.

[Petrushka]

Incredible as it may seem (and believe me, it does) CD is celebrating its 30th anniversary next March. This is as long as vinyl lasted which was itself as long as the 78 was around so we are due for an upgrade on the timescale alone. But to what? Downloads? I don't think so. The CD is still as good as it gets and will be with us for many years to come.

What more can technology give us?

[Stunsworth]

Downloads? I don't think so. The CD is still as good as it gets and will be with us for many years to come

If I had to guess I would say a combination of downloads and streaming. Hyperion already offer most of their catalogue as downloads - and cheaper than the equivalent CDs.

As for streaming, I'm listening via Spotify as I write this, and pretty good it sounds too - system is laptop > DAC > valve power amps > Quad ESL 63s.

[Don Petter]

Incredible as it may seem (and believe me, it does) CD is celebrating its 30th anniversary next March. This is as long as vinyl lasted which was itself as long as the 78 was around so we are due for an upgrade on the timescale alone. But to what? Downloads? I don't think so. The CD is still as good as it gets and will be with us for many years to come.

What more can technology give us?

Surely the 78 was around for nearer 60 years than 30? From Berliner in 1894 to about 1954 when the LP had finally pretty much ousted it.

[gradus]

I am unable to listen to my LPs as my Systemdek 11XE900 is out of commission and I can't fix it. The problem is 'simple', the speed change (33/45) switch broke but I can't see how to wire in a new one - which colour goes to which terminal - the cables disappear into the pcb and that's where I get lost. Perhaps one of out technically minded boarders might be able to assist?

[Petrushka]

Surely the 78 was around for nearer 60 years than 30? From Berliner in 1894 to about 1954 when the LP had finally pretty much ousted it.

When did cylinders disappear and the 78 take their place? I thought it was some time in the very late 1910's/early 1920's but may be wrong. In any case, 40/50 years may be more like it. Maths was never my strongest point.

We used to have a quite a collection of cylinders and a phonograph but without a needle that came from some long gone relative. My father got rid of the lot many years ago.

[MrGongGong]

The idea that one technology "replaces" another isn't always the case
they usually run alongside quite happily for many years

even though it's hard to buy them in the shops these days many people still are quite happy with cassettes
and I know at least one electroacoustic composer who listens to 78's on a wind up gramophone
whilst spending the day in a studio with full on Pro tools and ATC's

[Don Petter]

When did cylinders disappear and the 78 take their place? I thought it was some time in the very late 1910's/early 1920's but may be wrong. In any case, 40/50 years may be more like it. Maths was never my strongest point.

As I indicated in my post, the Gramophone Company was selling 7" discs, turning at (approximately) 78rpm in 1896. There was a large overlap with cylinders, not a sharp transition.

[Don Petter]

The idea that one technology "replaces" another isn't always the case
they usually run alongside quite happily for many years

even though it's hard to buy them in the shops these days many people still are quite happy with cassettes
and I know at least one electroacoustic composer who listens to 78's on a wind up gramophone
whilst spending the day in a studio with full on Pro tools and ATC's

And there are still companies such a Historic Masters issuing new 78rpm pressings on vinyl to this day, for the true aficionado!

[MrGongGong]

And there are still companies such a Historic Masters issuing new 78rpm pressings on vinyl to this day, for the true aficionado!

my point precisely

[doversoul1]

A new release (new recording). How often does this happen?

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4784721