The cost of LP's and CD's - an observation

"The great mass of people abandoned the quality of records for the convenience of CD. "

In my case, nothing could be further from the truth.  What caused me to pack my bags was the abysmal quality of LP's.  Recall in my college days returning defective LP's over and over.  Remember the ritual trying to guess which LP in the bin had the least tics and pops.  THAT's what drove many of us to CD's.

Ironically, I just hauled out my Project Expression table, Ortofon om super 20e, Bellari vp129, and Sennheiser hd580's.  This all on a Salamander rack with built in goody drawer.  I LIKE the ritual of tinkering with the table, cleaning the LP's.  No doubt the nostalgia factor is operative but I love listening to these LP's all over again.  This affordable gear plays together incredibly well and I get the whole LP thing.

But if I want to demo my system, I would haul out a well engineered CD or SACD.  Not for convenience, but for SQ.  

thank you for the comments about the ’Ferit Odman’ rec. we need more music recorded and played like that. :-)

I would not venture into saying that they think of current music as not being the golden age for the music they like. And they like it, no doubt about it.

well....maybe....but all we have to do is look at the 80’s music to realize how little youth liking the music might matter. in the winds of time it’s like it never happened. time has not been kind to it. i suspect today's music might not be much better.

I distinctly remember new CD's, at their height in the mid-2000s, regularly costing $18.99 or so

Wait a second, 1980s? Has there been a more fun year than 1983 or 1984?

One thing that should be considered is longevity.  CDs backed-up on HD can last forever (can be restored), while LPs will develop over time more noise and pops (that I cannot tolerate).  Of course one can make analog tape copy or digitize LP, but original media cannot be recreated from it.

Also, according to RIAA, copying CDs (for non-commercial use) on Audio CD-Rs is perfectly legal, since royalties are paid (included in the price of Audio CD-R).  CD I copy from my friend doesn't have box/booklet but it cost about $0.25   It is not only the way to save money, but mostly to legally obtain CDs that are impossible to buy.