Playback and Recording (Vinyl)

Why vinyl?

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

• Used vinyl is often extremely inexpensive - 50 cents to two dollars a disc is somewhat common. Vinyl is a very cheap way to expand your collection in older artists that you cannot justify spending $15/CD on listening to.
• Some vinyl has a very high collector's value.
• 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.

Why not vinyl?

There are several disadvantages.

• Vinyl is particularly finicky to maintain and easy to damage.
• Surface noise, while often inaudible, will always be present, even on a brand new LP, no matter what anybody else may say.
• The quality of a record often cannot be determined until you play it, increasing the risk of the purchase. Even brand new, sealed LPs can have significant pressing and warping problems.
• Not portable.
• Investing in a reasonable vinyl system is hundreds to thousands of dollars more expensive than investing in a reasonable CD/computer system. Financially, any benefits of the cheaper media must be compared against the amortized cost of the equipment needed to play and maintain it.
• Records are large and heavy.
• Many record stores have a considerable markup on used LPs and it may be hard to find records for cheaper than $10 in some stores. This makes it much harder to completely justify vinyl on a financial basis.

Availability

Note that a lot of this info is currently US centric.

The "market rate" for LPs depends primarily on the collector's value. Mass-produced and unpopular LPs will not cost more than a dollar. Original pressing Beatles LPs are usually over several hundred dollars. Jazz records tend to be very expensive. Classical records tend to be quite inexpensive. Rock, blues and electronica lie somewhere in the middle.

• Many cities have local record stores that specialize in certain genres. Check your yellow pages and local music listings for ads. Used vinyl prices in most record stores are usually not good as the dealers know the market rates very well.
• Half Price Books (US) tends to have extremely good vinyl selections. Vinyl is not transferred between stores, so the quantity/quality varies widely even by the neighborhood. Prices vary between $1 and market values depending on how clued the store managers are.
• Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other charity stores often have good deals on vinyl. Prices are usually 50 cents to a dollar but some stores have been known to mark up their vinyl to market rates.
• The Austin Record Convention http://www.austinrecords.com/ has a very, very large quantity of LPs. Biannual. Similar conventions exist in many other large cities.