Gave up on vinyl

[Bigman80]

Don't forget the smell! Polycarbonate just doesn't smell as nice as vinyl (especially 1950's or 1960's vinyl).

And yes, those awful polycarbonate 'jewel cases' are just designed to crack and splinter and to damage the equally awful 'sleeve note' booklets.

Apart from that, CDs are to me an equally acceptable means of enjoying music. I use both, but I have probably spent twenty or more times the amount on vinyl replay equipment as I have on CD replay.

The smell just gets my nostalgia going. It's a really great feeling peeling the vinyl from the sleeve and just listening to the entire album. Something else I don't do with digital. It's too easy to skip tracks and dodge a track that doesn't instantly strike me.

[Marco]

One of the few to comment on film photography was Marco who could quite clearly connect with it.

Shaun, that's simply because I'm the discerning type who recognises and appreciates quality! I 'connect' with many other art forms in the same way

The best examples of film photography, for me (which you've posted here frequently, and I have to say are among the finest images I've seen of their type), in comparison with their digital counterparts, just look more organic and 'real'. There's a vibrancy and richness to the colours, and how they're 'fleshed out' in a picture, which digital photography, no matter how well done, to my eyes fails to emulate. In comparison, it never seems to shake off an inherent insipidness.

I largely feel the same about vinyl vs. digital music replay, in assessment when both are at their best, but that's not for this thread. However, I'm sorry you feel like this about vinyl, but of course respect your decision and ultimately what you feel is best for YOU.

As you say, you're far from alone in experiencing a disillusionment with this hobby, where a love of box-swapping and fiddling takes over and erodes one's love of music. So yes, 'hi-fi neurosis' has a lot to answer for, and sadly forums such as this are full of pertinent examples.

Anyway, I wish you well on your musical journey, whatever course it takes, and hope that you can put the fun back soon into listening to your favourite tunes!

Marco.

[montesquieu]

The smell just gets my nostalgia going. It's a really great feeling peeling the vinyl from the sleeve and just listening to the entire album. Something else I don't do with digital. It's too easy to skip tracks and dodge a track that doesn't instantly strike me.

Agree this is a big part of it for me too. I'm sure there are people who can treat digital music with the respect it deserves, but for me (and I suspect for many others) digital is a category shift from something special, chosen, individually purchased, owned and cherished, to some un-metered commodity with no specific intrinsic value. It changes the relationship between music and the listener, and not in a good way, in my view.

[Haselsh1]

Godda larf you guys. A week ago I sold a copy of The Manic Street Preachers vinyl LP 'Everything Must Go' that I bought in 1997 and which had never ever been played. I received negative feedback today from this piece of scumshite because apparently it was 'not as described'. Of course he is now blocked but due to ebay's blatant discrimination against sellers there is bog all I can do about it other than report him, which I have done. This is the first negative feedback I have received since about 2002.

[Haselsh1]

Stereo imaging with digital is limited certainly in spatial depth and separation compared to vinyl in my experience. But hey, we all hear differently!

Ah but CD is not physically limited the way vinyl is due to the nature of the groove cutting process.

[Haselsh1]

Quite right Oliver. I've no problem with Shaun saying that he is very happy switching to digital, it's damn convenient and can sound very good. However, I do have a bit of a problem with Shaun saying it is superior to vinyl. Sure, vinyl requires a lot of care to set up right and software can be problematic but once set up it should stay right and the quality with good recordings is imho superior. I'll continue to use and enjoy both formats but digital is like a shop bought ready meal, convenient and OK but nothing like home cooked.

"In my system"

[Haselsh1]

Anyone else find it annoying how these threads always turn into a cd vs vinyl debate?

Seriously not bloody interested Simon as it is highly irrelevant. As I have stated so many times, in my system, to my ears, CD absolutely walks all over vinyl and I cannot stand having to turn over a vinyl LP after just two tracks because the medium is so sodding limited it is the only way they can get any decent sound from it. With CD I sit back in the dark, press a fucking button and listen uninterrupted for over 70 minutes.

[struth]

Godda larf you guys. A week ago I sold a copy of The Manic Street Preachers vinyl LP 'Everything Must Go' that I bought in 1997 and which had never ever been played. I received negative feedback today from this piece of scumshite because apparently it was 'not as described'. Of course he is now blocked but due to ebay's blatant discrimination against sellers there is bog all I can do about it other than report him, which I have done. This is the first negative feedback I have received since about 2002.

ebay will remove it if u ask them... happened once to me for no good reason and they took it out.

[Marco]

Agree this is a big part of it for me too. I'm sure there are people who can treat digital music with the respect it deserves, but for me (and I suspect for many others) digital is a category shift from something special, chosen, individually purchased, owned and cherished, to some un-metered commodity with no specific intrinsic value. It changes the relationship between music and the listener, and not in a good way, in my view.

Strangely I feel rather more 'connected' with streaming than CD replay, especially since using Kodi/OSMC, and being able to view album art in HD quality on my large flatscreen TV, which I can then enjoy looking at whilst listening to the music.

How many folks bother taking the covers out from CD jewel cases and read the miniaturised contents, whilst listening to the music, in an attempt to 'connect' with it in the same way that's possible with a vinyl album cover? I suspect almost no-one.

Therefore, for me, in that respect, when you optimise a file-based music streaming system, sonically, and view the track information and album art on a large high-resolution TV display, then CD replay too, in comparison, becomes a category shift from something special - and which is why sooner, rather than later, it will go the way of the dodo.

Therefore, if he hasn't already done so, Shaun should explore the streaming option, as in my experience, done well, it can not only sound better than CD, but overall offer a much more rewarding musical experience.

Marco.

[Haselsh1]

Marco, do not misunderstand, if I go to a photographic gallery I am not going to get very orgasmic over digitally produced prints if they appear next to 'real' ones. That kind of thing is never going to happen but I do not want to spend all day in a darkroom any longer to produce one photograph. I just don't have that level of dedication any longer or indeed that level of commitment. If I see an automobile anywhere and it has a level of paint gloss that you can 'walk' into then I show the same degree of appreciation that some bugger has gone to that level of dedication. And, yes, I am considering getting photographs printed by a real darkroom agency in the future. Such things do exist but the better ones tend to be in London.