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Is the Vinyl Revival well and growing?

I never gave up on vinyl. October 1988, I bought my LP12. We were being told CDs were perfect sound forever. People were dumping their vinyl. Thankfully, I cleaned the best that I could find. Now, TTs at all price points are coming on the market. Is the the vinyl revival real and where will we end up?

nkonor
kacomess
200 posts
 
bdp24, I live about 0.6 mile from Music Millenium and I've concluded that the records there are "overpriced". However, the store does need to pay overhead and it's bordering Laurelhurst, an expensive area so that likely accounts for the costs (not to mention the trendy aspect of vinyl sales). As for Crossroads, it has a pretty good selection and fairly reasonable prices, too.
Re: the OP, I won't buy a vinyl album unless it was recorded in analog form originally. A conceit, perhaps. My collection though (culled repeatedly to only a few hundred albums) dates from the 1960s. I continue to buy, but (given the costs involved for reasonable condition original vinyl), only with discretion
sejodiren's avatar
sejodiren
192 posts
 
I'm not sure about the return policy for either Crossroads or Millenium.  I figure you're buying 'as is'.  Most of the time I can get about 8-10 records for $100.....ranging from $5 to $20.  Just depends what you're looking for.  I only will buy records that look perfect or almost under the store lighting.  Got a perfect copy of Joni Mitchell-Court and Spark the other day for $5.  The jacket had some wear but the record was spotless.  And a MoFi copy of Little Feat-Waiting for Columbus for $20...what a score.  Both from Crossroads....
edgewear
543 posts
 
The OP's question is a valid one and goes well beyond the local evidence of healthy record shops and - perhaps unhealthy - vinyl record prices.

In our current 'on demand' society, where everything offered as a 'service' is just one screen touch away, the vinyl record is a peculiar  anomaly that exists on the 'lunatic fringe'. It's just a nostalgic hobby in an age of music streaming, just like oldtimer classic cars in an age of transport 'as a service' (from Uber all the way to automated vehicles).

So this 'Vinyl Revival' should not be taken too seriously. It has somehow managed to reinvent itself from a 20th century mainstream music carrier into a 21st century lifestyle 'object', being made 'cool' again by a 'post-vinyl' generation of DJ's and hipsters. So it is unlikely to go away entirely, but growing back into a mainstream product category? Forget it.

At the same time the last generation who grew up with vinyl records is becoming of age. Retrospective nostalgia sets in and - possibly - fuelled by the 'coolness' of vinyl with their offspring they have returned to it as well. So that's at least two generations showing a - new and renewed - interest in vinyl records.

That might go some way in explaining the 'revival', both of the number of new vinyl records being (re)issued as well as the amount of playback equipment put on the market today. But as yet I don't see market forces creating a vinyl 'bubble'......



chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
The lifespan of spherical/conical and elliptical styli is very short on conventional SPU cartridges with extremely high tracking force up to 4g. 
Do you guys sending your SPU to re-tipper every 500 hrs ? Just curious. 

There is only two SPU models originally designed with the most advanced modern prfile (Replicant 100) which can serve you up to 2000 hrs. I'm talking about Ortofon SPU Royal G mkII with Replicant 100 and special coil wire. The tracking force also reduced to 2.5 - 3.5g range.  Replicant 100 Stylus will read the musical information in the grooves of a record with a greater degree of accuracy than any other kind of needle! Also less record wear than with Spherical/Elliptical. 
edgewear
543 posts
 
Hi Chakster, is there a deeper relationship between the lifespan of SPU's and the 'vinyl revival'? Inquiring minds want to know.... ;-)

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