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I was just in Tokyo and saw several Tower Records stores, including a huge multi-story building in Shibuya. It was wild, like a return to the 1990s. Apparently, people in Japan still really like CDs. I had no idea, and it's insane to me.  https://qz.com/711490/why-japan-has-more-music-stores-than-the-rest-of-the-world/ Meanwhile in the US, Vinyl is out-selling CDs which actually makes sense. Vinyl is a collectors items mostly due to the artwork and I guess, people like the old fashioned look of vinyl?
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Oct 18, 2019 21:45
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Solaris 2.0 posted:I was just in Tokyo and saw several Tower Records stores, including a huge multi-story building in Shibuya. It was wild, like a return to the 1990s. Plus it's general consensus that vinyl will sound better than a CD. So vinyl outselling CDs makes sense when if you can hear a digital version of basically any song you want on YouTube/Spotify/however - if it's music you like enough that you want to own physically you'd go for vinyl because otherwise why bother?
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Oct 18, 2019 21:49
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Isn’t it malarkey that vinyl sounds better than CD and it’s just nerds pretending there’s extra “warmth”?
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Oct 18, 2019 22:14
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I prefer it because it makes listening a more active experience, rather than just mashing play on a Spotify Playlist.
Lord_Hambrose fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Oct 18, 2019 |
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Oct 18, 2019 22:17
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If it is modern then it was almost 100% going to have been recorded and mixed digitally no matter what format you are listening to it on.
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Oct 18, 2019 22:28
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it is malarky, theres a lot more fidelity in a cd, which is stereo uncompressed wave files, as opposed to a mono record thats constantly getting worn out and can get contaminents in the grooves. edit: also cd sound is vastly different than just pressing play on a youtube because audio that is streamed is compressed and there is some loss. Thats why a cd holds like 15 tracks but could hold hundreds of mp3s
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Oct 18, 2019 22:35
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Empress Brosephine posted:Isn’t it malarkey that vinyl sounds better than CD and it’s just nerds pretending there’s extra “warmth”? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCumH8LRo1A&t=102s
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Oct 18, 2019 22:44
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Oh great this should be fun
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Oct 18, 2019 22:44
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Target Canada also never had all the neat exclusive collaborations that the US stores have so there wasn't even anything particularly interesting to draw you there. I remember it being basically a slightly nicer Walmart with less selection. So I just kept going to Superstore instead.
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Oct 18, 2019 23:06
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It's like wanting to drink water from lead pipes because it's more authentic
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Oct 18, 2019 23:36
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As someone who likes vinyl - - as well as old audio gear in general - - vinyl being "superior" is just a myth for people who need a reason to justify owning vinyl. Personally, I like it just for the experience and enjoyment of vinyl itself, and you shouldn't have to logic yourself to a justification - - because there's no way I can justify my cassette deck and reel to reel. Just enjoy it for what it is.
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Oct 19, 2019 00:49
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It’s important that my liking or disliking of things be based in objective and quantifiable things, otherwise I could end up being wrong about liking a thing that I like and what a terrible world that would be.
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Oct 19, 2019 01:21
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PT6A posted:It’s important that my liking or disliking of things be based in objective and quantifiable things, otherwise I could end up being wrong about liking a thing that I like and what a terrible world that would be. This is basically audiophiles, buying oversized speaker cables and running them in inconvenient places to minimize their length, and poo poo like McIntosh 225/240s. And yesm I badly want a McInstosh 225 and an MX110 pre amp with a nice Dual 1229 turntable. Is any of this going to make me be able to reproduce sound better? gently caress no. Will is be an experience? Maybe.....but not at those prices.....if I find something broken that I can repair maybe I'll do it.
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Oct 19, 2019 02:43
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PT6A posted:We had our own version of Kmart, called Zellers, which died a long rear end time ago. Target pulled a Walmart. In the late 80's Walmart expanded into Canada by buying out Woolco and rebranding those stores to get a foothold. Target did the same with many Zellers locations, a big problem though they didn't get distribution lined up and expanded too quickly, I was in Walmarts in Newfoundland and BC and there was sections of the store just.. with empty shelves.. just weird. The exchange rate flipping at the same time probably didn't help. /edit sorry got caught up with the thread. I remember that Walmart was much more careful expanding into Canada than what Target did. Same thing happened with Krispy Kreme. They scammed a ton of people with one suburban Toronto location in Mississauga for months where media was talking about 500 car lineups at the drive-through where they had to hire off duty cops to manage traffic. THE NEXT TIM HORTONS! A year later locations started popping up all over, and then quickly closed down within 2 or so years leaving just a handful left. Big K of Justice fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Oct 19, 2019 |
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Oct 19, 2019 02:48
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Big K of Justice posted:Same thing happened with Krispy Kreme. They scammed a ton of people with one suburban Toronto location in Mississauga for months where media was talking about 500 car lineups at the drive-through where they had to hire off duty cops to manage traffic. THE NEXT TIM HORTONS! A year later locations started popping up all over, and then quickly closed down within 2 or so years leaving just a handful left.  the single location in my city of a third of a million people.
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Oct 19, 2019 03:13
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BrokenGameboy posted:As someone who likes vinyl - - as well as old audio gear in general - - vinyl being "superior" is just a myth for people who need a reason to justify owning vinyl. Personally, I like it just for the experience and enjoyment of vinyl itself, and you shouldn't have to logic yourself to a justification - - because there's no way I can justify my cassette deck and reel to reel. Just enjoy it for what it is. I was really confused about the whole vinyl renaissance thing for a long time because I kept hearing people try to argue audio fidelity for it, when that's straight up not true, especially for anything new. Liking the experience for what it is was the first thing I heard that made sense to me.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:01
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if you're listening to music with a group of people, putting on records is way more fun than suggesting youtube links
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Oct 19, 2019 06:03
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Empress Brosephine posted:Isn’t it malarkey that vinyl sounds better than CD and it’s just nerds pretending there’s extra “warmth”? I can't vouch for vinyl being superior to CD but it's definitely better than the highest quality on Google Play/Spotify and some modern vinyl gets a different mix from the CD/streaming version with increased dynamic range based on the assumption that you're listening to it in a quiet room and not cranking it in your car with the windows down. Granted sometimes the vinyl mix also gets put up on streaming (Earache Records notes it's the Full Dynamic Range version) so  I like the larger artwork and the experience of putting on a record so even if CDs and vinyl sounded exactly the same I'd still go vinyl if I was going to go physical at all.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:03
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Kreeblah posted:I was really confused about the whole vinyl renaissance thing for a long time because I kept hearing people try to argue audio fidelity for it, when that's straight up not true, especially for anything new. Liking the experience for what it is was the first thing I heard that made sense to me. It's the same reason you might get a hardcover edition of your favorite books; a real nice blu-ray of your favorite movies; getting a graphic novel, etc. If I were to overly analyze why we do this vs just enjoying streaming them/digital versions. I think now that media is cheap and easy to get (legally and illegally) that physical versions become a sort of premium. Maybe there's something about becoming detached from the experience in there as well, but I dunno.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:14
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I enjoy the crackles and pops and poo poo and yeah, it definitely helps to promote a more "active" listening experience. That said I am lazy af and probably 99% of my music is now consumed via Spotify playlists. I am trash.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:15
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As I understand it, vinyl does not suffer from issues arising due to the loudness war, so in cases where an album has severe clipping issues on CD, that does not happen on vinyl. Depeche Mode's Playing the Angel is perhaps the best example of this that I have personally heard; the CD mix is total loving garbage that ruins the album while the vinyl sounds great. This is of course an issue with bad audio production more so than a true strength of vinyl vs. CD, but hey.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:33
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I just trashed my quadophonic player. Once one has kids aint nobody got time for that poo poo. I loved vinyl because I could get cheap record at thrift stores. Now that I can get anything streaming... ehhh. And its not just vinyl. poo poo i picked up directly purchased from obscure folk artists in the middle of nowhere in the mountains on cassette and cd. On spotify now. I can immediately listen just listen to Walkin Jim Stoltz.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:37
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Great Metal Jesus posted:I can't vouch for vinyl being superior to CD but it's definitely better than the highest quality on Google Play/Spotify Yeah nope, Google Play when set to highest quality streaming, or when you download, has tracks at up to 320 kbit MP3 or 256 kbit AAC, both of which are scientifically proven to sound the same as CD audio, which is itself several steps above a high grade record and turntable that has been freshly cleaned + motors adjusted for correct speeds. Spotify similarly offers 320 kbit MP3 streaming and high bitrate AAC streaming AND straight up lossless FLAC streams if you're a subscriber and have everything turned up. Maybe what you're saying was true like 7 years ago, but it hasn't been true for quite some time. Great Metal Jesus posted:modern vinyl gets a different mix from the CD/streaming version with increased dynamic range based on the assumption that you're listening to it in a quiet room and not cranking it in your car with the windows down. It is a matter of physics that vinyl records can't offer high dynamic range mixes without serious sacrifices to playing time, and very few records actually get manufactured that way. Even when they are, most people don't have suitable equipment to really get that, and it pales in comparison to the dynamic range available on CDs, let alone recent lossless audio relases at higher sampling rates. DEEP STATE PLOT posted:As I understand it, vinyl does not suffer from issues arising due to the loudness war, so in cases where an album has severe clipping issues on CD, that does not happen on vinyl. Depeche Mode's Playing the Angel is perhaps the best example of this that I have personally heard; the CD mix is total loving garbage that ruins the album while the vinyl sounds great. This basically stopped being a problem in the early-mid 2000s, also much of the music mastered lovely on CD originally was mastered lovely from the very start, and although vinyl relases of those track tone things down a little (because again due to physics a record is not physically capable of reproducing that sort of sound content without serious compromises to playing time/sometimes without high risk of the needle skipping) it's not usually a good mix either, just rounded off as it were.
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Oct 19, 2019 07:04
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I don’t think the Vinyl renaissance has much to do with audio quality. Rather people like either A) purchasing old records for nostalgic purposes or B) if you want to support your favorite band, Vinyl often has better artwork and is a more “unique” item to have than buying a CD since you are streaming all their music at higher fidelity anyway. I think people just like collecting them. In a way, it’s nice there is still some sort of physical market for Musicians (especially up-coming or otherwise obscure)to sell their poo poo other than gigs and tshirts. *edit* I’m still confused about the Japanese love for $20 CDs tho. I get the culture loves physical objects (most everywhere is still cash only) but as an American its mind blowing. Europe is somewhat similar too, from my little time spent there. Solaris 2.0 fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Oct 19, 2019 |
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Oct 19, 2019 14:22
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Might have something to do with the otaku market where most of the most pandering animes are only sold in absurdly overpriced box sets because their target audience is shut-ins with nothing better to spend their money on.
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Oct 19, 2019 15:31
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They also do stuff like include lottery/raffle tickets with the physical CD that give the buyer a chance to meet the artist, which is usually a young pop idol. So basically you get inflated sales numbers from people buying a ton of copies to increase their chances of winning.
im depressed lol fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Oct 19, 2019 |
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Oct 19, 2019 15:36
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I like CDs, but I'm a 90s kid who still has a lot of the necessary equipment, so it's not a big deal for me to buy and play a CD.I think vinyl works to the advantage of some music where "grit" helps the general ambiance (like hip-hop), but for most forms of music, I think the CD is better if the mastering is otherwise done with care. Plus, if you go to a used CD shop (if you can find one), it's often cheaper than paying for downloads and I trust my rips more than whatever Amazon or Apple are throwing at me. Solaris 2.0 posted:I don’t think the Vinyl renaissance has much to do with audio quality. Rather people like either A) purchasing old records for nostalgic purposes or B) if you want to support your favorite band, Vinyl often has better artwork and is a more “unique” item to have than buying a CD since you are streaming all their music at higher fidelity anyway. I think people just like collecting them. You can also put a vinyl record in a frame and hang it on a wall, so it's a lot like buying a small poster. Many records I see have links and codes enabling you to download digital copies of the songs, so I guess it's the best of all worlds.
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Oct 19, 2019 16:02
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Solaris 2.0 posted:
On the other hand, owning records, cds, and DVDs/BluRay allows you to actually OWN the movie and give it away to whoever and ensure you won't have to rent music or movies or a television show from a company. Also, I think there is a treasure hunting aspect of physical media, finding something that has been forgotten that might inspire people.
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Oct 19, 2019 17:21
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fishmech posted:Yeah nope, Google Play when set to highest quality streaming, or when you download, has tracks at up to 320 kbit MP3 or 256 kbit AAC, both of which are scientifically proven to sound the same as CD audio, which is itself several steps above a high grade record and turntable that has been freshly cleaned + motors adjusted for correct speeds. I'll cede this one. I'm flipping back and forth between vinyl, google play, and FLAC and I'm not really hearing much of a difference. Granted maybe I should be using something other than horribly lofi antifascist hardcore for this but whatever  I think I just tend to listen to vinyl at home on better headphones.fishmech posted:It is a matter of physics that vinyl records can't offer high dynamic range mixes without serious sacrifices to playing time, and very few records actually get manufactured that way. Even when they are, most people don't have suitable equipment to really get that, and it pales in comparison to the dynamic range available on CDs, let alone recent lossless audio relases at higher sampling rates. Dynamic range available, maybe, but a lot of music is mixed to be loud as poo poo and the lows and highs are kind of equalized or clipped right out. I know you know about the loudness war. Now it's entirely possible that the label is using the term full dynamic range incorrectly and thus I've picked up on the wrong terminology here but if some metal distro is able to churn out a bunch of their classic releases on vinyl with an increased amount of dynamic range compared to what was previously available for purchase on CD on a single record I don't think it's a size problem. This particular record company puts them up on streaming too so you can go compare for yourself. I know I've picked up albums from other labels where they'll do a special mix for the vinyl and not release it elsewhere although yeah, this isn't exactly a common thing.
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Oct 19, 2019 18:57
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Vinyl chat is much better than vape chat, so please carry on.
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Oct 19, 2019 20:32
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That article said cds in Japan are averaging around$38 each
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Oct 19, 2019 22:01
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Japan is run on cash, fax machines, and compact discs. My theory is that they desperately want to hang on to the 90s.
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Oct 19, 2019 22:21
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From what I've read, some Japanese media companies have ultra specialized, promoting groups and bands to very narrow groups of fans. So it's okay if you only sell thousands of CDs because the fanbase is willing to pay 10s of dollars for the CD. Also, Japanese capitalism has a huge amount of special editions. Giant Metal Robot fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Oct 19, 2019 |
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Oct 19, 2019 22:31
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I have a theory that places with larger denominations of coins transition to digital money more slowly, because big coins are a joy to use and make a lovely clinking in my pocket why would I ever switch to anything else? If the smallest paper note of American money was $10 we might not have switched to digital payments nearly as quickly
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Oct 19, 2019 23:04
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QuarkJets posted:I have a theory that places with larger denominations of coins transition to digital money more slowly, because big coins are a joy to use and make a lovely clinking in my pocket why would I ever switch to anything else? We have up to 2 dollar coins and changed to debit (and then tap to pay) as soon as possible because nobody wants to carry them. If I didn't need the laundromat, I wouldn't use cash at all.
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Oct 20, 2019 00:57
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Solaris 2.0 posted:... Vinyl is out-selling CDs (barely) now, but both of them are well below CD sales even in like '86. When hardly anyone is buying physical records of any kind, it makes sense that the people who do will prefer the kind that emphasizes the things that make a physical artifact special--physical size, appearance, having something to hold and feel, connection to the media, unique imperfections, historical significance etc. Plus, if both CDs and vinyl are retro, why go with the lame less-retro retro?
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Oct 20, 2019 01:43
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QuarkJets posted:I have a theory that places with larger denominations of coins transition to digital money more slowly, because big coins are a joy to use and make a lovely clinking in my pocket why would I ever switch to anything else? I have a theory that Japan is just weird
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Oct 20, 2019 01:45
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Morbus posted:Vinyl is out-selling CDs (barely) now, but both of them are well below CD sales even in like '86. When hardly anyone is buying physical records of any kind, it makes sense that the people who do will prefer the kind that emphasizes the things that make a physical artifact special--physical size, appearance, having something to hold and feel, connection to the media, unique imperfections, historical significance etc. I've bought vinyl recently, and it's 100% nostalgia. I got my grandmother's console stereo going again and it's just fun to interact with media that way. This is not some audiophile system, it's a bottom of the barrel 60s console. My kids love it too. It's not about the audio quality. It's about the experience. And it's okay to admit that.
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Oct 20, 2019 02:51
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I understand why most of ya'll have fishmech on ignore now. He's not only always wrong, he also wastes way too many words on being wrong!
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Oct 20, 2019 03:53
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This discussion is fascinating to me, because given the high population density in Japan, small houses/flats and high internet speeds, I would think that it would be all digital all the bloody time and that physical... anything, really, would be all clutter in limited space. I live in a spacious, if overpriced, apartment and if even a fraction of my game library were still on physical media I would be hosed.NaanViolence posted:I understand why most of ya'll have fishmech on ignore now. He's not only always wrong, he also wastes way too many words on being wrong! I don't frequent a particularly large number of threads on this forum, but sometimes I would swear that "he" (assuming that fishmech is a person and not an idiot nonsense robot from beyond the spiral galaxies) goes from thread to thread talking bollocks and occasionally trolling me.
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Oct 20, 2019 04:14
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