I still grab the occasional CD but only because I prefer to rip my own and stores in various devices.

Or if you want higher quality audio

Music moved into the realm of disposable ages ago. Plus a lot of the services offer limited download ability for being offline as well.

Part of that is that there's simply so much more that's far more accessible these days. I work in entertainment content so I'm pretty used to that.

There's not a lot of revisiting when there's always something new around the corner. There's not as much that you want to really own because it's easier to access through other means. I used to be a huge purchaser (7,000 DVD/BDs in my collection) but that fell off when it became easier to go all-digital on it, though rental and purchases.

They're like $20.

Why buy a stick when you can just buy an automatic?

My guess (and my experience) is simply personal preferences and familiarity... which are both rarely quantified into a cost/benefit analysis.

music. I had the Unlimited plan for three months and worked my way through several different artists, but while I don't have everything with Prime, it is a nice no additional expense alternative.

I like to possess the actual files.

A DU member reported here that Apple erased from his computer music that he himself had created because it didn't have what they considered proper usage rights encoded.

I have a bunch of LPs, CDs, and tapes I'm transcribing to files. I got tired of wiping LPs and pops and clicks and flipping when CDs came in.

I like curating a digital music collection. I use MusicBee.

They exist as music files, in playable form, on demand, and no internet access required.

I need to mount the cartridge and do the setup this weekend. I've got over 400 albums, many of which are market "Promotional copy. Not for sale." I plan to digitize and clean up the old ones and burn them to CDs.

Preserves the vinyl and makes for more portability.

I don't have much vinyl anymore. When my turntable died and the receivers quit having phono inputs, i didn't bother with a new turntable and preamp. I just sold my albums in a garage sale.

I did convert a dozen to two dozen to CD, though. The rest i just pitched.

I supposed i really don't miss them that badly though, so i'm not lamenting, just commenting.

since the last time I bought a turntable in 1976. I had a Stanton 681EE cartridge on the old turntable. I can't even find a Stanton cartridge now. Pickering is out of business. I've found that you can spend $13,000 on a cartridge. The Shure I settled on is a touch less expensive.

My receiver does have a phono input, but if it didn't this turntable (an Audio Technica AT LP1240) and many others these days, have a built in preamp which can be switched off. It also has a grounding cable, which oddly isn't standard anymore. Many ground through the RCA cables.

That and your jaw drop made me laugh! Can you imagine, even if you had the money, caring enough to drop 13k on a phono cartridge?

I've thought about the USB turntables since i've got USB ports on both my receivers. But, i'm not sure i really want to spend the money.

I'd suggest making sure whatever you buy uses a moving magnet cartridge. Many of the USB turntables use ceramic carts with a sapphire stylus that tracks at very high levels. The one I ordered does have USB, but it uses a mm cartridge. The Shure I bought has an optimal tracking weight of 1.25 grams.

I spent more on the Audio Technica than I had originally planned, but its little brother, the AT LP120 is one of the most popular models out there, and has virtually all of the same features (except a lighter plinth and platter which doesn't have rubber dampening material on the underside, and fixed RCA cables -- it has no grounding cable). It's about $300.

When I consider I spent about $200 on the Technics SL 1500 in 1976 (equal to $875 today) when I was making $125 a week, $300 seems pretty cheap

I'm not ever going to use sapphire and ceramic. Always, used mag and diamond. Well, probably since i had that record player that played 45's on the slate table when i was 8.

we had a record player that played 45s, LPs, 78s and 16s! Good luck finding a 16 rpm record today. You could virtually see the vinyl spirals being gouged from the groves, but it was a big step up from the Victrola (seriously) we had previously had.

Turntable, speaker, amps and so on ? My wife has an extensive collection of vinyls she got from her father but we have nothing to play them.

As I said, a lot has changed since the last time I bought a whole system instead of replacing components one at a time. Having said that, I've spent the last three months focusing on turntables. I settled on an Audio Technica. Their entry level is the LP60 in various models, some of which have USB and some without. Other good brands would include Pro-ject, Pioneer, Sony, Fluance, and U-Turn. I would advise against a Crosley or an ION.

If you buy a turntable with a built in preamp, you could just bypass the amplifier, and hook the turntable directly to powered speakers, although I can't really recommend any, as I've never used them.

If you want a receiver (amp/preamp and tuner in one package) Denon, Sony, Yamaha, Pioneer, and Onkyo all make good models. My first receiver was a Pioneer I bought in 1974. I still have it, and it still works. I used an Onkyo for years, and abandoned it only because it didn't have HDMI inputs. I now use a Sony. You'll also have to consider whether you want a stereo receiver, or an A/V receiver. Stereo receivers use two speakers. A/V receivers are intended for home theatre and some can handle as many as 9, plus two subwoofers. Although they are designed for movies, they also handle straight audio inputs like turntables, CD players, and tape decks. If you buy a receiver it will need to have a phono input, or your turntable will need to have a built-in preamp, or you will need a stand alone preamp.

Speakers are purely a matter of personal taste. You'll have to go out and listen to what you like. I have Definitive Technology, but that's just me.

I have found You Tube to be a good resource for researching turntables and cartridges. I assume it would also work for speakers and receivers or integrated amps.

Downloads simply can't give you that feeling of anticipation of buying a physical product and playing it for the first time.

And to have it instantly accessible across all my devices in the house as well.

I certainly don't know anyone who has bought one in the last 10 years.

Some true rarities in there. I can’t bear to part with them, but we’re moving soon and trying to shed excess stuff. Can’t even find a store to buy ‘em from me.

U.S. Music Industry Hits Highest Revenue Mark in a Decade, Fueled by Paid Subscriptions



https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8257558/us-music-industry-2017-highest-revenue-in-decade-fueled-paid-subscriptions

about flipping through a bin of CDs or vinyl rather than scrolling down an MP3 library. I have music in all 3 forms. I keep about 60 CDs and your standard crate of albums. I have a turntable with USB connect and my old car has a CD player but no AUX/MP3 jack. I still occasionally buy CDs and vinyl when I can find them in excellent condition for cheap.

... and enjoy randomly choosing a CD from my collection. I keep a sticky label with the date of last listen on the outside. I've had lots of pleasant surprises listening to those I haven't heard since, say 2003. Technically, I could do the same thing with a digital version, but it sure wouldn't feel the same.

to “own” music. This was exacerbated by the fact that many of my most treasured CDs have succumbed to disc rot (“bronzing”) and won’t play anymore.

Sure, I own those CDs, but that isn’t especially meaningful when the physical medium stops cooperating. Now when I want to listen to those records I stream them. It’s amusing in a way that the ephemeral form of the music is proving more reliable than the concrete form.

A CONCERT STAGE IS TIED TO A MIXING BOARD AND A GIANT LATHE, SO LIVE SHOWS CAN BE CUT DIRECTLY TO ACETATE JUST A FEW FEET AWAY......
Third Man's artillery is made by a small German company of music industry veterans who used to make records but, like everyone else, gave it up as CDs and MP3s took over. Their company is called Newbilt because the machines are a modern take on a classic press called Finebilt that was manufactured in Los Angeles in the 1950s and '60s. They've got electronic controls and sophisticated hydraulics, but in one notable way, the machines are old- fashioned: They're manual. There is a worker at every one pulling pucks into presses and turning out records. A few other companies have recently started making presses, and some are robotic. Third Man wanted manual machines. They wanted to create jobs—Third Man Pressing has created twenty jobs—and they valued creativity.
Over the last decade they've released a liquid-filled record, a twelve-inch single with a seven-inch single hidden inside it, and launched a record player into space while it played a vinyl of music from Carl Sagan's "Cosmos."
In 2014, White released his last solo album, Lazaretto. Third Man called the release an Ultra LP, which means that they'd crammed every possible version of vinyl sound reproduction onto one record: songs played at three different speeds, songs were hidden underneath the labels.
One song had an acoustic or electric opening depending where you dropped the needle.

In a little room off the factory floor and off the tour, there's a massive mixing board and a giant lathe that cuts acetates, the original documents from which records are made. This lathe and this mixing board are tied to the concert stage in the record store, right now playing host to a band called The Mummies. The little room lets live shows be cut directly to acetate, only a few hundred feet away.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?ebc=ANyPxKoQSb4D5UBLo5HoSbj_vRbvFCcUjuF49TLSB0j8sYRt9Ibsr6pVRMjUSYOLaF0QNpbLn-YfF5Kpa7Nt4QKkDxth0Icung&time_continue=203&v=CcukGhELqPg

Vinyl is surging back again, I own over 800 mint records having collected since 1975, I've only bought around 120 CDs since they came out due to the crappy quality of their sound.

It's only gotten marginally better over the years, they knew at the start what the sampling rate and bits should have been to make a cd sound good but the economic reality squashed that, CD players would have been so expensive they never would have sold enough to break even much less a profit.

So we got a heavily compromised format from the get go, as for downloads?, go right ahead, and when the cloud they are all stored in has a glitch you just lost it all.

I'll take vinyl, not perfect but much better than anything else, I've been collecting stereo components for decades and have a system that will do anything and sound great doing it.

And in the end the only format worth any money 20 years after you purchased it, what's your music in the cloud or downloaded worth?

Nothing if you can't hold it in your hand or sell it.

And as for vinyl?, millions of new records and the gear to play them priced to sell for the next 20 years on the used market.

Just don't leave a record out in the hot sun, like I said, not perfect......