It’s the ritual’: vinyl sales look set to break Australian records, so who is still buying CDs?

[GregWormald]

I basically gave up buying LPs when the processing chain was all digital. 

I basically gave up buying CDs when downloads became cheaper and didn't require manufacturing, packaging and transport.

Maybe sometime I'll give up downloads for streaming, but not yet.

[rantan]

6 hours ago, static said:

CDs are well worth 50 cents to $2 they are widely available for.  Same with LPs, thought it’s not so easy to find ones in vgc.

 

if you can find decent vinyl albums that are actually playable for $2 then you are very fortunate indeed.

 

Unless...............................you like Kamahl , Burl Ives sings Christmas or Wayne Newton albums.   (Even these are $5 )

[anandpkumar]

I play all formats - CD, Vinyl and streaming, but would say that CDs still constitute the bulk of my collection!

 

I've stopped buying new CDs, but love it when I find bargains at Op stores for 1 or 2 bucks. 

[Lexie]

Mostly classical LPs, Rantan, at a low price.  Today I went to a terrific health food shop, not been to it since covid started, and then a Vinnies a few minutes away.  Generally a poor Vinnies, but I bought a couple of the items we sell online (books) and a couple of CDs.  Beecham, WIllcocks and du Pre playing Faure for $1 and a 3 CD set of Don Carlo by Haitink for $2.  At the time I noticed they had some brand new Sherpa socks.  I got home and told my wife about that and she wanted a look, so this afternoon we went back and she thought they were pretty good for $6 so we bought some for ourselves and some for relatives. She also noticed  8 unused balls of one of her favourite knitting wool yarns for $5, usually $8 each.  That wasn't there in the morning as I look for yarn on her behalf.

 

So, if you have the opportunity, and I do luckily because of our business, go to op shops, markets, fetes etc often and then go back.  Things will appear and if they're at all desirable they won't be there long.  I recognise quite a few professionals operating like this locally, after jewellery, vintage clothing etc.

[Stump]

I don't follow trends.CDs and Vinyl regular buys..

Stump

[ThirdDrawerDown]

4 hours ago, rantan said:

find decent vinyl albums that are actually playable

 

Those would not be the broken records referred to in the title of this thread, then.

[Soundscape]

17 hours ago, Cloth Ears said:

Why would vinyl go up? Are they selling so few that they become collector's items?

 

Increasing shipping costs would be a contributor. As much as I love vinyl, it must be one of the most energy intensive formats. 

[Guest Eggcup the Dafter]

I buy CDs because a lot of the music I buy these days - private release and small label classical - comes on CD. My partner prefers discs - or I'd probably be streaming what I spent years ripping, already.

i also buy the occasional SACD. Well, I do have an SACD player. Streaming will be returning to my system when I have the time to sort it out properly (though the TV gets used for it occasionally and I have the computer and headphones for Tidal)

 

If ever I decide again I want to hear music with the frequency extremes removed, the sibilants taken out, the bass mono'd, noise, pops clicks and scratches, then I'll go back to the LP.

 

(Seriously, two people at work with cheap rumbly turntables criticised my disc player for its S/N ratio, like it only counts for digital...)

Actually, I don't have the space for LPs and if I did my partner's book collection would fill the void in milliseconds. Originally I kidded myself I didn't want a turntable, but I reached the point I prefer good clear digital in the end.

I miss the big record shops I used to visit back when I was in the UK, and I truly miss the Manchester Record Library where I discovered so much music. It never mattered that half the discs were in poor condition. Tidal is better in many ways, but it's not the same. I don't miss the "ritual" though...

 

[audiofeline]

3 hours ago, static said:

...She [Static's wife] also noticed  8 unused balls of one of her favourite knitting wool yarns for $5 [at a  Vinnies], usually $8 each.  That wasn't there in the morning as I look for yarn on her behalf...

It's good to have a yarn with your wife.  Communication is very important in relationships. 

[audiofeline]

19 hours ago, metal beat said:

And in 2 years the cd will be worth $2 and the vinyl $200...

And in 15 years the CD will be selling for $200 and the record for $2. 

[Godot]

I’ve bought some great vinyl from members here, vinyl and CDs at gigs, downloads off bandcamp and stream a lot. I find I sit and engage more with the physical media, definitely more of an immersive and concentrated experience for me. Love the cover art on records. Still buy CDs, new and second hand, can’t always commit to the price asked for a vinyl LP unless I feel it is something special. I chuck a heap of stuff in my library when streaming that I may or may not get back to. I have discovered a lot more new (to me) artist and music this way, they all sound good!

[ThirdDrawerDown]

20 hours ago, metal beat said:

Cd's are worthless 

 

I'll match that price for your collection, Geoff! Just say the word...

[Luc]

1 minute ago, audiofeline said:

And in 15 years the CD will be selling for $200 and the record for $2. 

Well get in early then pal. I've got 300 cd's and they're all yours for 20 bucks a pop and you can have the 15 DSOTM's and 10 DS's for nicks.

 

Your going to make a killing in 2036.

 

I'll PM you my bank details.

 

I'm down for the Bleak City Spring Season in Sept and I'll drop them off. It's a sacrifce on my part but heh...we're a community right and it's nice to spread the love.

[Stump]

13 hours ago, Doppelganger said:

Partially this. But also flippers buy in bulk and then list with significant mark up when original stocks are exhausted. Bloody annoying to be honest.

The Vinyl Boom has created COLLECTORS (some without turntables) who never play the records .Great marketing from the record companies especially all that NOS we can buy in 20 years...

Stump

[Guest Eggcup the Dafter]

Collectors who never played their records were around in the 1970s. I bought a box set of dished records made of rubbish vinyl in 1978. After a lot of arguing over whether I had dished them  (I was only 17 at the time and the shop owner thought he could intimidate me - he could, but not quite enough this time) he gave in and I got my money back. He told me himself later that he had just sold the set to such a collector, it was easier than trying to get a refund from the importer. Apparently the buyer never even opened most of what he bought. Anyway, that was the last time I shopped there.

 

Something I don't miss is the inevitable trudge back to the shop with yet another warped LP with the hole off centre. It must be even worse returning them when you've ordered them online from the other side of the world.

[metal beat]

2 hours ago, audiofeline said:

And in 15 years the CD will be selling for $200 and the record for $2. 

 

you wish.     in 20 years, vinyl may be as worthless as cd's.     It is the top of the market now, but nobody is getting any younger.

 

 

[Luc]

I'm not yet a flipper but in a few years time I'll start funding my fishing trips with unopened vinyl.

Courtney Barnett(who) Well I have 2 unopened white vinyl LP's and a lot more tosh like that. Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn 2 on red vinyl limited to several copies(I was assured), I have 2(have you listened to it? It's rubbish and would be better used in a frisbee comp.) 

 

Flippers are just people trying to survive like you an me, they cop too much negative vibes these days.

I'm looking forward to joining their ranks at some stage in the fullness of time.

Milli Vanilli vinyl unopened is the holy grail and PM me if you have it and yes I'll haggle and it'll go into the make a motza flip file.

 

[Guest thethrowback]

3 hours ago, Luc said:

Milli Vanilli vinyl unopened is the holy grail

 

You bastard, your prayers have been answered: https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/674709754

 

As for vinyl, horses for courses. I find listening to pops and clicks annoying. I also got fed up with constantly begging record shops to swap poorly pressed vinyl.

 

I sold my vinyl in 1984 and swapped to CDs. Non, je ne regrette rien.

Edited March 24, 2021 by thethrowback

[Southerly]

The only thing about downloads that no one has mentioned - what if your hard disc gets corrupted, you've lost everything, not so with vinyl or CDs.

[hired goon]

44 minutes ago, Southerly said:

The only thing about downloads that no one has mentioned - what if your hard disc gets corrupted, you've lost everything, not so with vinyl or CDs.

Burn a CD of yer downloads and there’s yer physical copy in case yer hard drive dies.

 

—Geoff

[buddyev]

58 minutes ago, Southerly said:

The only thing about downloads that no one has mentioned - what if your hard disc gets corrupted, you've lost everything, not so with vinyl or CDs.

Back up drives are cheap. I have 3. 

[cheekyboy]

16 hours ago, rantan said:

 

if you can find decent vinyl albums that are actually playable for $2 then you are very fortunate indeed.

 

Unless...............................you like Kamahl , Burl Ives sings Christmas or Wayne Newton albums.   (Even these are $5 )

Oh no, L, are all the Nana Mouskouri albums gone?

 

I haven’t bought any CDs for over ten years and let’s face it, my ears aren’t painted on, so the choice of vinyl is a pretty easy one.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Edited March 24, 2021 by cheekyboy

[Soundscape]

 

[rantan]

3 hours ago, cheekyboy said:

so the choice of vinyl is a pretty easy one

 

I did say that I prefer vinyl . Perhaps you missed that part.

 

However I am not about to trash over 500CDs and I simply cannot afford to buy everything on vinyl.

 

Anything I buy new is on vinyl, but I buy less often and with more care to make sure I like the album, due to the cost. Another factor is that some artists cannot afford to release their music on vinyl .

 

There is a US based blues band that I really like and I have purchased all of their albums from Bandcamp and I am in touch with them regularly via email.  I recently asked the question if they intended to also release albums on vinyl and the guy said that they would love to do it but simply  cannot afford to do so due to the much higher costs involved.

 

My point is that I love this band and I wouldn't want to miss out on their music just because it is only available on  CD.

 

Cheers .

 

Cheers.

Edited March 25, 2021 by rantan

[cheekyboy]

4 minutes ago, rantan said:

 

I did say that I prefer vinyl . Perhaps you missed that part.

 

However I am not about to trash over 500CDs and I simply cannot afford to buy everything on vinyl.

 

Anything I buy new is on vinyl, but I buy less often and with more care to make sure I like the album, due to not having an unlimited budget.

 

If I see an album that I like on CD and it's $2, I shall buy that any day of the week, so my life in music is fine actually.

 

Cheers.

 

My comment about old Nana Mouskouri LPs was aimed at you, but the vinyl comment was just aimed in general at the whole thread.

 

I don't think I've counted the number of CDs I own, but it would be several hundred as well, but I find I play them for others that might visit and want to hear a particular artist that I don't have on vinyl for example, or they want to hear my second system which doesn't have a turntable connected to it.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith