Why will hipsters not shut up about vinyl to me, it is unending

I find vinyl to be a REALLY INCONVENIENT way to listen to music, because you can't rip it to your computer as easily as a CD.

There are inherent problems to me enjoying vinyl, one, I cannot buy a record player easily and have no room for one in my living space. I agree vinyl album covers are much better, but a lot of my favourite albums would be very difficult to find on vinyl for cheap. The Conan The Barbarian OST being one of them.

Why is it so painful to be a fan of C Ds? I like the convenience of C Ds even though the bigger space given to the cover vinyl allows is cool and trendy and I can see the appeal. But apart from the album cover I see no additional benefit over C Ds.

Vinyl is a better medium if one takes computers out of the equation entirely. Which admittedly isn't something everyone wants to do. In terms of pure sound quality, a vinyl record played on a record player delivers a better sound quality than a CD played on a CD player.

I, however, prefer CDs for the reasons you've already mentioned - much easier to import and store digitally, while still fulfilling my hipster quotient for being physically obtainable and collectible and having pretty pictures on the front

edited 15th Mar '11 6:40:05 AM by Saeglopur

Vinyl has a kickass bass response. Thats why you can still get techno vinyl.

Deriding every record collector as a hipster is not cool.

The sound stretches out more. With CDs everything sounds squished. And loud.

Yea, CD albums only sound good if they were recorded with CD's in mind, which is a rarity.

Doesn't that have more to do with the compression used in the mastering than the medium?

CD's carry a certain amount of inherent compression. And the industry standards make it a lot worse.

So, half yes half no.

What confuses me is how studio recording could possibly remain vinyl oriented even though so little of a record company's income comes from vinyl. I had figured it was mostly digital recording now.

In my mind the best thing about vinyl was that it kept albums short.

And I remember when hipsters didn't argue for vinyl because LOL RETRO...

It's mostly people who like pre-sixties music, since the needle makes that odd "fullness" effect that you hear with vinyl.

Hmm? A lot of good music is still put out on vinyl.

The Skweee genre is almost entirely on the format.

I actually own this so I can attest to its accuracy

Plus, it's not like Double (or even triple) L Ps are unheard of.

Yes, but double- and triple-albums were more expensive to produce than CDs.

Some of my favorite albums are 60+ minutes long, but in general I feel like it's best for artists to practice a little self-editing.

The recent remasters of Michael Jackson's Thriller sound terrible. The vinyl version is where it's at.

edited 15th Mar '11 8:40:23 PM by DonZabu

I guess it's just me, maybe I don't listen to enough music but I can't hear a large difference between records and C Ds. Like the OP, I would rather have C Ds because it's less hassle for me. My stepdad used to have a record player, but he sold it, so now I have no way of listening to them.

Seeing as far as I don't care about the sound quality unless it's so bad, it's literally raping my eardrums, I would rather have an MP 3 player.

But I am not a hipster.

When did hipster become a badge of pride? Last I heard it was a slur against pretentious music fans. Then again, that was a while ago.

I don't think it ever did.

I use hipster to refer to people who are pretentious about preferring X over Y.

Of course, there's also stereotypically 'hipster stuff' that I make fun of half-jokingly.

Don Zabu hit it on the head. I think that for music anoraks, it's part of the backlash against modern mastering of C Ds. See Record of Loudness War

An article about Depeche Mode- ''Playing the Angel'' (2005) on CD, then on vinyl.

• "Precious" on CD.◊
• The same track on vinyl.◊

Here is the CD track of "Precious if you so wish to listen. It's a good song, but the mastering makes it sound flattened and squished.

It is not actually the recording form that is the problem, it is that mastering for CD is so often so poorly done.

edited 20th Mar '11 3:43:56 AM by annebeeche

'Struth.

Vinyl always had better bass for me(Although that might have something to do more with the speakers than the vinyl) and I like having a collection of music so I get those cause they have better art.

Also, hipster meant pretentious music fan? Cause I always used it as an umbrella term for people doing trends I hate.

edited 27th Mar '11 10:54:09 PM by iamathousandapples

"Hipster" is the new "emo", "weaboo", and "Mary Sue", in that it used to mean something but is undergoing decay and becoming an insult almost completely devoid of meaning.

Our Hipster article is trying to stop the decay.