Is Vinyl Worth It


Great cartoon in this week's New Yorker magazine. Has a caption: 'The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience'. Sounds familiar.
buconero117
Like most things, only to some.

Top 10 Reasons it may be (in honor of David Letterman's retirement):

1) you already have a lot of records you want to listen to.
2) you want to get a lot of new music to listen to on a budget, ie used records in good condition for not much each wherever and whenever you find it.
3) many vinyl releases have unique good quality sound that can't be had elsewhere
4) you just like turntables and records for whatever reason
5) there are many older recordings still only available on records
6) you can touch and hold and read record covers without a magnifying glass, especially if you are older
7) You feel better buying expensive new records than CDs or other modern media sources.
8) you like to touch and feel and turn over records every 20 minutes or so
9) records breathe... oh no wait that's actually surface noise and hiss
10) theres nothing more satisfying than a perfectly and I mean perfectly aligned and configured phono cartridge.
I just was given by my cousin a near mint Yamaha PX3 Linear Tracking table ... first TT I have had since the early 90s ... now I need a phono stage and some LPs! After I get it all set-up I may have an opinion :)
I never got used to CD's having only "one side". LP's were programmed as two separate sides, the songs and their relationship to the other songs on their one side being a complete experience unto itself. When older albums are put on CD with the two sides running together, sometimes what made each side work is destroyed. Of course, it's a different story with albums made since CD's took over. With them, I find many albums too damn long, with a lot of filler, just to make for a "CD length" album. But I'm old.
I like the sound as an alternative/change of pace but I don't like the extra procedural "work" involved. So I don't listen to my LP's as often as CDs or tuner.