Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Critic's Corner ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

RE: The basic problem

Posted by rick_m (A) on June 6, 2012 at 20:40:03

In Reply to: RE: The basic problem posted by Peter Gunn on June 6, 2012 at 09:46:01:

Look... There's really no reason to be upset.

DAP put his finger on it: Records aren't the originals.

They are generations away. The best ones I've heard were recorded direct to disk and even those have intervening layers of mothers and stampers and pressings. But they can still sound damn good.

You are clearly offended that I'm not enamored with LP's, but you don't even know why. I'd be happy to tell you all about it if you're interested but it in no way invalidates your decision to focus on them as your prime media. It's my problem, not yours!

My sense of it is that you love LP records. I can understand that, really. The medium that I really loved was reel to reel tape and I would still be using it if I hadn't been jilted so badly by the oxide falling off of most of my tapes. No, they weren't mistreated nor cheap, just some 3M screwup with the binder on that line in that era. On top of that the record industry quit producing pre-recorded tapes. On top of that the motor bearing was going out in my Ampex and the heads were wearing a little. But the real killer was the oxide shed, I just lacked the patience to glue it back in place... Oddly, even though it's been decades when I see the recent ad in the back of Stereophile for a slick looking tape deck I feel a wave of lust. I don't feel that way about digital recorders so maybe it gets imprinted at puberty or something.

As far as owning something tangible, the data itself is of course always stored physically and the HD or Flash stick carriers can be packed around and plugged in the same as records or tapes and I own a permanent license to the data. I don't have anything that has copy protection or DRM and I know Tony eschews that also.

The thrill of shopping and rooting around in bins for music actually has gone full circle. When I was young our record store had several booths where you could play the records (78's and later 45's) that you were interested in to see if you liked them before buying. That was before stereo or microgroove. Later everything was shrink-wrapped and the risk was totally yours so they were a sunk expense before you could hear them. Now when I buy stuff from HD Tracks or Amazon they usually have excerpts that I can listen to of every track prior to buying. Just like the good ol' days, but from the comfort of my easy chair. It has saved me a lot of money as I no longer have to guess whether I'll like it and if I only like a track or two I can just buy them individually. AND, in many cases the recording effectively IS the master tape, a huge advantage of digital. That used to be the holy grail and only the most connected audiophiles managed to get any of the excess safety tapes. And oh man did they sound better than the records! But I wasn't well connected...

But I still buy CD's too. And SACD's. And for that matter I still have all my records, even some 78's which is another favorite format.

I hope this clears things up a little.

Best wishes, Rick

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---