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

Millercarbon,

" The great mass of people abandoned the quality of records for the convenience of CD." (not true)


For the great mass of people, CD was far superior to records, and CD is still far superior to records if you don't have a "high end" analog rig. No, you didn't witness mass insanity, what you saw was reality.

I had a Gerard GT55 and a Shure V15 cartridge, which was in the class of TT's that the masses had, and CD is still far better to that. When "noiseless" CD came out, those in "low fi" (most people) immediately switched over. While those who were in the "high end" said "What's the big deal". No, it wasn't about convenience, it was about superior audio.

When they said "What's the big deal?", I said one of us is crazy. No, both of us were right; it was just that one of us had a high end rig and the other didn't. Today, my cartridge alone, costs twice as much as my entire rig back in the day, and that's not due to inflation. CD still sounds better than a mediocre vinyl rig, and anyone who says different is pushing some kind of agenda.

Supply and demand "always" rules price, not superiority and inferiority; that's the way capitalism works.

Early 80's music was very good. Seemed to me that music group quality went down at just about the time CDs were becoming popular. Maybe just a coincidence. The Columbia record club were sending out cds for ridiculously low priced groupings trying to get everyone to rebuy all their records onto cds. They hoped everyone would forget to cancel or send the card back declining the next month's overpriced selection. 

You really didn't have a choice for while - they weren't making records.  They cost more to make and sold for less. You don't need an MBA to realize that wasn't desired by the music industry.

As soon as they started making records again, I came back and disconnected my CD player 15 years ago because the sound was lifeless. Still play them in my car and Bose radio while washing the car. Never even tried SACDs. Do they still make them?

There is one very important fact that has eluded everyone's assessment of this "CD, Record" thing. Everyone assumes that everyone else saw this thing from where they were positioned. People in the "high end" of analog, had an entirely different perspective than people in the "low end" of analog. What was fact for one person, was fiction for another person.

True Orpheus10. I said this before, and it should be a given. If we are talking about analog versus digital front ends, we need to realize that an entry level analog setup is not going to soar above a top tier digital rig and vice versa.

My uncle was the first audiophile I ever knew. He was a neurologist in New Orleans. I remember a lot of McIntosh and Klipsch gear. I also remember visiting there when I was a child and one entire wall of his dedicated listening room was vinyl albums floor to ceiling. All classical.

When I went back maybe 10 years later that wall was full of CDs. No vinyl in sight.
He knew someone at Sony and they sent him pre-release CDs for his review.
Was he a discriminating listener? Did he have golden ears? I don’t know. I do know that he knew classical music. And it was very clear that the CD suited him just fine.

As far as 80’s recording quality? Steely Dan. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea in terms of production characteristics but it was clear that it was well and meticulously done and pretty much exactly what they intended.