ANSWERS: 14
  • It has been stated a few times that people are going off the manufactured bands and the constant stream of bland music or tracks which are just rereleases of songs by other stars. Another factor could be the new popularity, in the UK at least, of acoustic and rock bands, with 'real' musicians playing instruments rather than a song and dance act which has dominated the charts for so long. A few of these rock bands are not only releasing music on CD like the norm, but also releasing on vinyl records.
  • I think perhaps nostalgia is a factor in record players coming back. People remember playing their records and miss it. Or perhaps they never got rid of their vinyl records and are jumping on the chance to play them again. Or (once again) perhaps they had a huge record collection and don't want to spend X amount of money to convert to CDs.
  • One factor is that record players are an analog sound source. Digital media like CDs and DVDs have many convenient advantages over analog media, but analog enthusiasts believe the sound is inferior. They argue that analog media (records and tapes) have a warmer, more authentic and natural sound.
  • Some people find that the disadvantages of the record (such as degradation over time, large size, etc.) are part of the art. Some artists also reward record buyers with extras not provided with their CDs. Some albums and singles are released only on record.
  • Ease of use is the main thing. As many more people are reaching the age of retirement they tend to have more time on their hands. And being that the record player is something that they are quite familiar with, and that they probably have 100 or more records collection it makes more sense to play records then to buy a CD player that you cant even work because the buttons are too small or too confusing. Also for the nostalga factor, as weird as it may sound, artists that appeal to young adults are looking to add that crackle sound to their music that you typically hear on dirty or scratched records. Engineers spent the better part of the last 25 working to get rid of noises in music and now the artists want to put those undesireable noises back in.
  • The reality is that any music pressed on in analogue format ( vinyl ) simply contains more *information* than that of its digital cousin, the cd. The analogue information in the groove of an lp or single is a continuous flow of information, extracted by the stylus tracking against the groove walls, generating an electrical signal in the cartridge, which is then onpassed to the preamp/amp/speakers. Whilst the cd/digital format is 'convenient' to store/handle, its method uses a series of 'samples' (at 44.1khz frequency) of the original analogue sound, which, by virtue of the digitisation/sampling process 'lose' a certain amount of information. Much thought and invention has certainly gone into the creation of the standard cd, but for a cd to convey a 'nearly analogue' sound, it would have to be either bigger, or contain less information (music) given the greater amount of data that would need to be stored on the disk. Arguably, cd's sound ok, but in contrast to a well set up turntable/cartridge/amp/speakers, the tonal difference CAN be heard..give it a try..!
  • Three things I can think of are that DJ's - being the most popular form of "entertainment" found in nightclubs nowadays, to the detriment of live bands everywhere - usually have a couple of turntables on which to play the music that all the kids dance to, much of which is "retro" music that was originally released on vinyl and possibly never re-issued on cd. This may be out-of-date by now, but I remember when rap music was becoming popular, one of the things people seemed to like about it was that it featured the "scratching" techinque used by the so-called "mix-masters" in each rap group. Since one must obviously have a turntable in order to properly "scratch" perhaps this is helping to keep the turntable industry afloat as well - if "scratching" is still a popular part of music, that is. And lastly, I can only assume that since there are so many people out there who grew up in a time when there was nothing BUT the record player, and who still have their old vinyl albums, there will always be a demand for some sort of existing technology that can actually PLAY these musical artifacts. At least for the forseeable future, anyway. But just as record players themselves used to commonly feature 3 different speed settings (33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm) back when some people still had a few of those REALLY old, thick, heavy 78's lying around, and the demand for a 78 rpm setting eventually faded out, so that record players were then gradually only offered which had 2 speed settings (33 1/3 and 45 rpm), the CD player will eventually probably do to the turntable what the turntable did to the 78 rpm setting - that is, phase it out completely.
  • Do you think that they will start cutting records again someday?
  • The same reason as a horse and trap are coming back for weddings, it looks good, sounds good, feels good amd Nostalgia is important. We will soon be asking is the CD making acomeback after we have yearned for the cassette tape.
  • Man's constant quest to look backwards.
  • there are things that can be done with vinyl that just don't work with digitally recorded music. plus, there's some good tunez you can only find on vinyl AND the DJ aspect.
  • I did not know they were but I can say I have been considering buying a turntable myself to add to my system. I sold all my old LP's long ago, luckily my wife was smart enough to hang on to hers. We have 2 large boxes of classic Rock LP's, almost all in pristine condition. I'd like to be able to play them.
  • Superior quality.
  • I found out that they make records, I bought one of Lee Ann Womack, the instruments are so much better than on the CD, I was amazed

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