Is vinyl dead ?

No one was given the choice between vinyl and cd. On the retail side once cds came out the distributors(read labels) would no longer take returns on vinyl. In other words if you bought X copies of vinyl they were yours. On the other side if you bought cds and didn't sell them you could return them for credit. You can see why retailers had no choice but to get rid of vinyl and stock cds.

Egrady,"Vinyl is dead as a mainstream commercial product. 95% of the market, or more, really doesn't care if the Lp sounds better than CD."
Yes Vinyl is dead as a mainstream commercial product.
Vinyl it is now a high-end soft-wear product, that 95% of the mainstream don't care about.
95% or more of the general public either don't care about high-end audio or and I think a larger part of that 95% don't even know of the high-ends existence.

Egrady-"Now is the time to buy a turntable that will last you the rest of your life and does not require the support of a local shop."

I remember in the mid-eighties where "Stereophile" had an article that said that very thing. A couple of my friends went out and bought themselves new lp12's because they were afraid, very soon they would no longer be able to get one.

Now in 2003 vinyl is still alive and very well and growing.
So many new turntables to choose from, a lot more than in the mid-eighties.

You can now get a vinyl rig that is many times better than a lp12, for less money that a lp12 cost in 1985.

So much for the doom's day sayers. We will always have then with us.

Following the thread, logic dictates tubes were dead long long ago; transistors took over the world and provided reliable, convenient sound to the masses. Yeah, there is some damned fine solid state gear out there but I can't imagine a set up without tubes somewhere in the chain. Before we have an epic wake for vinyl think about great inventions that were surpassed by "new, better, cheaper, easier" and then consider what's plainly more enjoyable. In any event I'm glad I've always bucked the hardware AND software trends.

p.s. you have to be tone deaf to think MP3's sound anything like music. No wonder they're free to download at will, no one in their right mind would actually buy a MP3 recording.

I've got one question for you folks since we're on the subject. I've recently seen some 45 rpm adapters for a Linn for sale. Why would anyone pay $79 for a used adapter when you can get those little white or plastic 45 rpm adapters brand new for about $2 a package ??? : ) Sean
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PS... I don't think that vinyl is dead, i just wanted to see if anyone else had noticed AA's most recent catalogue.

Sean- I got a 45 adapter from Radio Shack for 79 cents.(last one in stock) Still overpriced :~) I wonder if shun mook has any for <$1000?