Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

I admit that this is a pet peeve subject of mine, but that's because I know a lot of vinylphiles, and I've heard these claims about vinyl's better sound quality a zillion times, so I tend to try to debunk them whenever I come across them. But that doesn't mean I'm firmly against vinyl or don't think there are many valid reasons why people can enjoy it. And some albums do sound better on vinyl than on CD, mostly ones that were released in the early days of CDs (when CD mastering was still in its infancy, so a lot weird choices were made) and haven't been remastered since. But there's no objective basis for the claim that vinyl is inherently better than CD as a medium for reproducing sound. (Obviously it's better for reproducing the visual art used on album covers.)

objectively it seems like an analog waveform is better than a digital waveform, simply by not being limited to "bits"

objectively it seems like an analog waveform is better than a digital waveform, simply by not being limited to "bits"

If the music you're listening to is less than 35 years old, chances are it was recorded digitally.

i listen mostly to music older than 35 years

this thread was funny when we were making fun of vnyl, surely there's a different thread for format wars??

^^^

The waveform issue is also discussed in the vinyl myths article I linked to above, it's well worth reading.

but there are like twenty threads for debating and/or trolling vinyl vs cd. "ah but you see, vinyl ITSELF is the scam" may be your opinion but it's not really what this lolthread is about.

please, somebody post a link to a new subscription service or something.

surely there's some new article complaining about Record Store Day?

i posted one upthread about the vinyl jukebox that Tuomas surely would hate

http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/sound-leisure-new-vinyl-jukebox/

― The Call Of Cthulow (Cosmic Slop), Friday, 19 February 2016 13:46 (2 hours ago)

http://www.intergameonline.com/coin-op/news/15368/sound-leisure-designs-new-vinyl-jukebox

Pretty sure saer would dig this
http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/jeremy-deller-creates-factory-records-jukebox-filled-with-industrial-7-vinyl/

It sounds simple doesn’t it? Cut a bunch of 7″ records with recordings of industrial machinery at work and call it Factory Records. Continuing his exploration of the twin histories of British industrial and musical heritage which goes way back to his seminal ’97 work Acid Brass, Jeremy Deller’s latest project sees the artist fill a vintage ’50s jukebox with archive field recordings from the UK’s lost coal mines, iron works and textile factories.

xp haha, missed that jukebox link, now that's what I'm talkin' about!

OK that factory thing is amazing, would listen

Actually surprised that wasn't a Matthew Herbert thing, though I suppose Herbert would take it one step farther, building a jukebox entirely filled with recordings of a jukebox factory, or something.

There's no superior format and anyone who insists there is is probably just justifying their life choices

^as my own argument does as well

i like it all. i'm listening to an elton john CD right now from the late 80's and gus dudgeon remixed old elton tracks for cd and his vision for old elton songs was a VERY BAD vision. on the other hand, i bought thousands of late 80's classical CDs recently from around the worrld - u.k., japan, germany - and SO many of them sound outstanding. the classical people had a VERY GOOD vision of what old recordings should sound like in the digital age. total case by case basis. there are amazing MFSL recordings and there are not so amazing ones. check out their ziggy stardust on vinyl someday...unreal how they made that sound. truly epic.

you have to listen to a lot of stuff on different formats to really grasp the differences/positives/negatives.

I said CDs are inherently better at reproducing sound, which is a fact.

no, this is incorrect - LPs are better.

at this point sick mouthy will pop in to say LP just means long player etc

I understand conversations go places organically but please as Doctor Casino and adam said this discussion ought to move over to an audiophile thread.

Cassettes are top.

wonder if vnyl has any LL Cool J records

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=ll+cool+j+vinyl&tbm=shop

there you go

no, vnyl.org

demanding!

omg I had not looked at vnyl.com, what fresh hell is this

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1484956/cool%20j%20vnyl%20small.png

com org whatever, this is terrifying

oh man that "have a question? chat with us!" box popping up automatically when you open the site really is asking for it. "Vibe system!?"

it is the reason this thread was created!

pfft like I read the beginning of this thread

*furtively checks to see if I actually DID read the beginning of this thread and then completely forgot about it*

*phew*

they seem to have broadened the available vibes. i wonder whether a beat-up laura nyro smile is more #SNOWDAY or more #GAMENIGHT. #TROYESIVAN i guess.

they seem to have broadened the available vibes

if you need me, I'll be over on the out-of-context thread

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vnyl-venice

apparently the store doesn't have many records and sells mostly headphones

i keep wanting to go to the store and check it out in person.

they also have just put up an enormous billboard a few blocks from our house.

http://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/XW6cGGhCbUU9qyEI79slYg/o.jpg

they have a nice wall of speakers. cos vinyl.

Beware if you sign up for the monthly subscription: it takes between 15-30 days to receive your shipment after they charge your credit card. Also, within six months, two of the shipments had duplicate records that they had already sent me. It's a cool idea in theory (music discovery in the form of vinyl) but they're super unorganized I guess. Bad execution.

doubt they planned for 6 months of continuous subscription

DJP you should watch chaki's not-so-hidden camera expose

Shady scams and other silly business ideas to take advantage of earnest new vinyl collectors

lol djp

yeah chaki's video is essential, such a bizarre sad alternate universe version of what a record store is and should be like.

L.A. is overrun with garbage record stores, though. either places like this that have a small, limited, overpriced selection, or places that have thousands of records that are total trash. Amoeba and a handful of the older stores and a couple of the new ones are good, but so many of these "third wave" VNYL era shops are not so good.

Yeah, I was just in L.A. last month and was really disappointed in the record stores there. Not to mention this place (which I did not visit, having some sense of self-preservation): http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles

i always tell people to just go to Amoeba, since it's most convenient and generally priced very fairly and they have so much.

there are half a dozen others i think are okay but they're so far flung i never go to them.

and i think one of the side effects of crate digging culture is that a lot of shitty record stores just fill their racks with somewhat uncommon but terrible records and price them above their worth and hope they can fool you into thinking they're deep cuts.

^^^ afaict that last sentence describes 95% of the record stores on the West Coast in 2016.

I used to work at a record store where the owner would generally overprice somewhat uncommon records just due to the fact that it was exciting for him to see something slightly uncommon make its into the shop. He didn't have much knowledge of artists outside the common variety- I don't actually think he was trying to get away with anything!

its way*

Yeah, I was just in L.A. last month and was really disappointed in the record stores there. Not to mention this place (which I did not visit, having some sense of self-preservation): http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles

oh shit that place looks a treat!

The absolute rudest store I've ever been into in my life. Since there were no prices on the records, I asked the price. It was a reasonable $15.00. An older man who seemed to be the owner of store launched into an overly loud conversation with a young man telling him, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford the yacht. I dismissed it not thinking he was talking about me but it made my mom very uncomfortable and she wanted to leave the store. As we were leaving, the store owner asked if the $15.00 was too much for me and I quickly said, no we are leaving because of comments like that. He immediately went into a fit of rage and told us to get the f*ck out of the store. He yelled it at least 3 times.

calling chaki: you KNOW what you've gotta do!

one of my old go-to stores was record surplus in Santa Monica bc they were always pretty fair and sometimes shockingly cheap but jeez not anymore. i guess you can still stock up on Arthur Lyman LPs for about three bucks a pop there though.

Maybe all the young buyers coming in looking for #Macklemorevibes is breaking him.

xp