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The darker side of the "Vinyl Revival"

Well I stood in Sainsburys today and there they were. Around 20 albums to choose from.

I scratched my chin as I worked out that I have most of it on cd. I wondered again if the young hipsters were driving this trend

I Might get Nick Drake and The Smiths. I prefer the prices nearer £10 than £20 :)

I found the problem was that there wasnt enough choice to really wet my tastebuds. No impulse purchase was made.

I will sleep on it....some vinyl revival eh :)
 
I remember back in the day, going into HMV Oxford Circus and then the Virgin Megastore nearer Tottenham Court Road, every Monday night after work, spending £50 per week on vinyl.

I knew all the releases, armed with the list from MTV's Party Zone and a few from Pete Tong's show, and a knowledge of the labels, I bought hundreds of 12" singles over a short period.

Now when I look at the racks of vinyl in places like Sainsbury's, the main reason I don't own many of those is the same as the reason I didn't buy them back then. They're alright to sing along to in the car but I wouldn't choose to sit and listen to them. I pay tribute to Bowie's genius which despite it not being what I like listening to, I can appreciate. But I still have no interest in owning anything other than perhaps a copy of "Heroes".

Then I go in HMV which has a much wider selection and realise that the art of browsing has been lost on me. Flipping through records for 45 minutes to take an armful of them to the till just doesn't happen because they're all very expensive and my eyes just glaze over if I have to stare at something for too long.
 
Tis funny how we live our lives in circles. I was thinking of selling my vinyl but this thread has made me realise something. I've been self employed all my life and have got through two major recessions, as a result I have very little in the way of a pension. I have three main interests, fell running, listening to records and the pub. As a student I used to sell vinyl when beer money ran out. The happy realisation that I can repeat that activity in my dotage means I need to order a couple more LPs from Amazon this week. Brilliant because I get to keep the free download version too!
 
Hi everyone. I listen to streaming while traveling on car, or even at home when too busy to manage turntable or CDP. Every now and then I enjoy my vinyls. I still have more of them than I'm able to listen, at present ......I don't buy them any more due to budget restrictions, hopefully temporary,. I went quickly through the article. I can't say what it is aiming to. I think the present success of LPs is mainly due to the simple fact that CDs do sound quite poorly, except if you buy special editions, very expensive, or use very good CDP, very expensive too, or both, even worse. Perhaps, I haven't done an A to B test, it sounds far better an LP on a budget TT than a CD on a budget CDP? The thing I know is that the "normal", that is to say average CD does sound really poor . . . Not much better than You Tube. Couldn't it be as simple as that? The CD has brought back the ol' vinyl . . .fascinating, isn't it?
 
Surely you can now get good sound from a modestly priced cdp these days , no need to spend a fortune , however a turntable will cost you far more to obtain similar quality .
eg budjet marantz cdp £250 rega rp3 £550 + cartridge. Also most new vinyl sounds like cd
 
New vinyl is 'cd' or more accurately a digital recording, pressed into plastic so you get extra 'musical' sounds as the needle gets dragged along and boings about.
 
Surely you can now get good sound from a modestly priced cdp these days , no need to spend a fortune , however a turntable will cost you far more to obtain similar quality .
eg budjet marantz cdp £250 rega rp3 £550 + cartridge. Also most new vinyl sounds like cd
I do respect your opinion, but I don't share it. Taste is a matter of taste, or "de gustibus non disputandum est" (Harry Potter :)) ).
 
I remember a second-hand vinyl shop in Oxford, God bless them. I would often see an assistant, yellow duster in hand and vinyl out, polishing round and round. They did look much shinier afterwards, I must say. I'm not sure what brand of polish they used though.

Would that be Garon Records in the Covered Market ?
I bought a Gordon Lightfoot double album from them,
in excellent condition.
 
I thought I'd give the Stone Roses LP a try - the one I bought yesterday in Sainsburys.

Still shrink wrapped, allegedly new. But, it isn't.

Scratches on both sides, two fingers and a thumb print on one side and some sort of stain on the other.

At least we don't have to go out of our way to take it back for a refund.
 
I thought I'd give the Stone Roses LP a try - the one I bought yesterday in Sainsburys.

Still shrink wrapped, allegedly new. But, it isn't.

Scratches on both sides, two fingers and a thumb print on one side and some sort of stain on the other.

At least we don't have to go out of our way to take it back for a refund.


Well. well ! That's pretty awful for a company like Sainsbury's to deliberately defraud (as it would appear) by shrink-wrapping a used/soiled record. Maybe it was supplied as such.

I have to say that I'd no idea that Sainsbury's sold vinyl as I've never seen it at my (very large) local.
 
Sounds like new new vinyl to me.

If you can really get £500+ for Pink Moon I'd probably sell it - It's only 15 minutes of music and the CD sounds fine. BTW I discovered my Shpongle vinyl commands silly money and am now tempted. I could buy a lot of records for a couple of Shpongles.
 
Well. well ! That's pretty awful for a company like Sainsbury's to deliberately defraud (as it would appear) by shrink-wrapping a used/soiled record. Maybe it was supplied as such.

I have to say that I'd no idea that Sainsbury's sold vinyl as I've never seen it at my (very large) local.

There's a cardboard display stand at the front of our store just next to the fruit & veg.

I doubt Sainsburys resealed it, it probably came in like this.

I think this purchase brings the number of records I've bought from new in maybe 30 years that have been scratched to perhaps three.

All of the second hand stuff I've bought has been in better condition than this.

record-1.jpg


record-2.jpg


record-3.jpg


record-4.jpg
 
That's pretty appalling, Mark Hants. I'd reject that at 50p in a charity shop ! I thought I had a 'Stone Roses' album somewhere which looked similar, but mine turned out to be the 'Second Coming' double album. Must play it sometime !:)
 


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