Vinyl records make a return

edit: but it the expensive random vinyl thing is mostly rich people who only want new things. used? gross!

$15 is the PERFECT price for a new record.

but then I always thought that $10 would be the perfect price for a CD. and that never happened. I think there would still be CD stores if that had happened though.

I would buy 10 dollar CDs all the time. instead of the two CDs I buy a year.

it's like when thrift stores sell used CDs for $1.99. I end up buying 2 or 3. if they were a dollar I would buy 20 of them.

but then I always thought that $10 would be the perfect price for a CD.

Really? That's about what they are over here..

Yeah, I was gonna say. "Catalog items" - stuff like Dylan, Clash, even GZA and Weezer and shit - regularly sell new on CD from between $5.99 and $8.99. At least they do at my local brick and mortar (and also on Amazon)

As a result I buy CDs all the time. For one thing, it's satisfying buying something for $6 that you once might have actually had to pay upwards of $21.99 for, and for another, digitally sourced new vinyl for $28.99 vs same thing without the pops and hisses and clicks and the need to flip the side over for $6.99 = no contest.

And yes, I fully expect to become the equivalent of the weird uncle in the family who still keeps Betamax tapes. Perhaps I already am!

>> but then I always thought that $10 would be the perfect price for a CD.

> Really? That's about what they are over here..

£10 maybe, not $10

ha, so this was all starting to sound familiar and it turns out we covered a lot of this same ground on recent revive of Continuing with CDs? - down to me going on about Kill Rock Stars prices! apparently i really have a soft spot for Kill Rock Stars.

xpost well, they were for a while..

i started buying LPs because they were cheaper and i would copy them onto cassettes for the car. even the new ones were cheaper! i stocked up on so much weird early '90s indie too...god knows how much that Lake of Dracula LP was. five dollars maybe? CDs were 16 bucks, new LPs were ten or less, used LPs were five or less (i got so much classic rock during this time, all my essential Neil Young, Stones, Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc was all in that range and they were all EX or NM.

I love weird early 90s indie

i acquired most of my LPs when i worked in a used record store or made regular trips to old shitholes and "friends of the library" bookstores to buy cheapo shit at $1-$3. i never buy vinyl anymore, mostly because new shit is extremely expensive as people have mentioned itt and also because as a format vinyl is just super inconvenient for me right now. putting a record on in my living room is probably 5% of the music listening i do. the rest is at work or during my commute. and playback has been a little shitty too on my technics 1200 table, i need to replace the stylus and probably recalibrate things and it just feels like a pain to do.

i know i'll go back to it though. most of the music i am listening to right now is current shit that is either not available on vinyl or selling for $25-$50. it will always be the best format imo for finding old and cheap surprises, dropping $50 on 20-30 lps from a good cheap record store is still super fun.

I have a cheap ariston deck i bought 17 years ago with my first paycheck for writing. i've always wondered if upgrading to even the most basic technics 1200 or standard DJ deck would sound noticably better.

these prices don't exist in a bubble. Given all the alternatives and competition nowadays, music should be cheaper relatively speaking than in the '70s. Then again there is countervailing pressure in that the few people who do buy new vinyl are going to be less price sensitive than the rest of the market.

and playback has been a little shitty too on my technics 1200 table, i need to replace the stylus and probably recalibrate things and it just feels like a pain to do.

― marcos, Thursday, December 10, 2015 10:27 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ugh, I got a new needle and I FEEL like I calibrated everything correctly, but it still sounds like shit lately and as a result induces anxiety when I play my records. I don't know how to figure out whether the new needle sucks, I screwed up the calibration, or I need to also replace the stylus. The uncertainty stresses me out when I feel like I want to put something on.

Yeah, I think what I'm responding to is sort of a subset of the same problem as the NYC or SF housing market, where the issue isn't necessarily the costs of providing the thing, but the price that a certain segment of the market, who have more money than they know what to do with, is willing to pay. Obviously, it's not a major social crisis if less well-off enthusiasts can't buy all the records they want; they're a luxury in the first place, and not even a mass-audience one the way they were in earlier decades. Nonetheless, there's something kind of lame in the idea that far more new turntables are being sold and used in 2015 than in 2000 or 2005 (I haven't checked but er... this is true, right?) but that people buying those turntables, should they decide to support their local independent record stores, will find themselves faced with a bunch of $25-a-pop albums intended for hot young stockbrokers on the move. The people I know firsthand of course build out their collections with used stuff like all of us have always done but, still.

Meanwhile I'm overdue to really overhaul my listening setup - I'm finally buying a lot of records again thanks to the shop opening across the street and stuff, but over the past few years I've effectively downgraded the whole rig as old components have died and I've replaced them with whatever I could find that was quick and cheap - these Yorx speakers are definitely not doing me any favors.

yeah, it's all those vinyl noobs...and neil young fans

ok, it's entirely neil young fans

the issue isn't necessarily the costs of providing the thing, but the price that a certain segment of the market, who have more money than they know what to do with, is willing to pay

this is absolutely the problem

the pricey reissues tend to drive down used prices, at least

I bought the $40 daft punk record after being whipped into a manic state by the ilm thread, though, so I admit that I am part of the problem

As a result I buy CDs all the time. For one thing, it's satisfying buying something for $6 that you once might have actually had to pay upwards of $21.99 for, and for another, digitally sourced new vinyl for $28.99 vs same thing without the pops and hisses and clicks and the need to flip the side over for $6.99 = no contest.

welcome to the silver side.
what with this post and that one re needles/calibration anxiety.
long may the vinyl love-in continue and cds be cheap as chips.

at this point, i'm usually buying new CDs and used vinyl (occasionally I'll get new vinyl if the price isn't too outrageous) ...

used CDs are definitely a great bargain... though they are competing as much against 'free' downloads as they are against vinyl.

used cds are awesome i just wish my city had better used cd places

i am soaking up cheap as chips cds as and when possible.
cos this groove is clearly to flip once people realise the situation.
i.e. cds are often cheaper than legal downloads and way cheaper than vinyl.
in fact, i ordered that KS/Pete Namlook FAX cd boxset yesterday via amazon.
turns out the cd edition is cheaper than the mp3 version of the boxset.
and i get the amazon auto-rip feature for free with the cd edition.
go figure.

> FAX cd boxset

ooh. ordered.

result.

mark e OTM, CDs are the new LPs, but don't tell anybody

i love CDs.

perfect sound forever

I went to the record shop last week and ignored all their hip heavyweight vinyl at £30 a pop (actually quite a lot of pops and crackles for your £30 amirite) and came home with an armful of £1 90s and early-00s CDs instead. hurrah!

although I wonder if the tide is turning, the record shop's new release CDs were not as cheap or as hidden away as previously, plus I was at an all-dayer recently and went to buy an album from the merch desk (Taman Shud if anyone cares, prob not) and they'd run out of CDs and only had vinyl left, even though the vinyl came with a free CD

but I still didn't buy the LP+CD bcz it cost slightly more and was inconvenient for the bus home

I scored 4 for $10 the other day including the Modern Lovers "Songs Of Remembrance", a CD boot on the Punk Vault label so rare it isn't even on Discogs

I think the word is getting out, better buy now

I am so so grateful that I had some spare money 10 years ago and relentlessly filled in all of my vinyl gaps and upgrades with VG+ $5 Beatles LPs and the like

The only problem with cds is the good music is rarely on it

Shopping for used vinyl is depressing--I was one of the big reputable shops here a couple months ago, and they had multiple copies of Rumours starting at $15--RUMOURS!!! I didn't inspect further, but I'm sure they weren't all vintage half-speed remasters or anything.

i love CDs.

― scott seward, Thursday, December 10, 2015 3:50 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i do too! i also love the irony of a guy who sells vinyl for a living making this observation. (i don't mean that as a dig; it's an admirable irony!)

What town is that?

http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?sort=price%2Casc&limit=25&master_id=38722&ev=mb&format=Vinyl

What town is that?

http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?sort=price%2Casc&limit=25&master_id=38722&ev=mb&format=Vinyl

― saer, Thursday, December 10, 2015 4:08 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Man, look at all these rumours, surroundin' me every day....

We sell NM Rumours for $10

Because they sell NM Rumours for $25 and up in L.A. and dudes were buying us out and selling them in their stores.

XPS Houston. I should go back and check on them...perhaps they really were old audiophile editions.

shit.
my cheapskate cd glory times were bound to end at some point.
hey ho.
fact is, i have way too many silver discs as it is.
thankfully it matters not if my needle needs a tweak/recalibration etc
so far i have only worn out one internal cd disc drive, and external replacements are pocket money level replacements.
long live silver discs.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c4/ee/36/c4ee36ea5ca825ee10ff44ad7daf4581.jpg

GOTT PUNCH where's your store?

i can't find cheap fleetwood mac anymore, though i got lucky with a sweet 2 dollar copy of Tango in the Night a few months back.

shops even sell old tapes for £5-10 now

rumours sounds great on CD. you can get it for $7 at amazon! and yeah, oddly, the mp3s there cost more.

I recently stocked up on the first five Byrds albums on CD with bonus tracks for less than $40.

yeah! on a similar tip, there are a bunch of tom petty CDs on amazon currently for under $5 if that's what you're into. not sure whether petty's vinyl prices have soared though.

Up until they cut their stock back recently, I could go to Fry's and get almost the whole Byrds catalogue for under $50.