Advantages (Vinyl)

Why invest in an obsolete, 50+ year old music medium?

• Used vinyl is often extremely inexpensive - 50 cents to two dollars a disc is common for some releases. Vinyl is a very cheap way to expand your collection in older artists that you cannot justify spending $15/CD on listening to.
• Some albums have simply never been released on CD.
• Some album art is better suited to the larger scale of LP covers and sleeves.
• The mastering of an original LP release is often considered superior to a CD remaster of the same release. This can be for any number of reasons, including:
  • Increased use of compression and limiting on the CD release, reducing dynamics
  • The master tapes have often degraded in the time between the LP and CD releases
  • The equalization and even mixing of some CD releases is radically different than on the LP releases. For instance, many Zappa LPs have had entire drum tracks replaced for the CD release.
• Properly maintained vinyl is of a surprisingly good quality and is often not objectionable.
• It can be safely purchased as a long term investment.
  • As a playback standard, vinyl has remained essentially unchanged for 50 years, and turntables will continue to be manufactured into the distant future. Unlike many digital data formats, vinyl has no risk of having no available playback devices.
  • Properly maintained disc records (including both vinyl and shellac) have survived to the present day with little degredation. The long term chemical processes involved with vinyl are believed to keep it stable for 100 years or more.
  • While large swings in value have plagued vinyl as collector's items, there are no long term risks to future devaluation for vinyl as a whole.
  • Well built turntables should last 40 years or more and are refurbishable.