Most consumers who have music on Vinyl from the 90's or earlier typically associate the word 'Record' as a 33/45/88RPM Vinyl that is played on a turn table. However, while the Vinyl is pretty much obsolete in most music stores, the Record continues to live on. Some stores such as Tower Records keep the 'Record' in their titles as a Record is actually defined as a medium which contains recorded sound or visual images. A record can stand for a single or album also.
The music industry still continues to associate 'Record' with recordings, regardless of the medium, such as a Gold Record to represent a 1/2 million copies sold. However the producer is rewarded with a framed gold-tined CD instead of a Gold-painted LP Record in the early days. At present, most of the younger generation do not know what some of the Vinyl terms mean, e.g. 45, 78, SP, LP and so on, while some may know that a Record is what DJ's use.
With music downloads and online music download services becoming very popular, the CD format is starting to see its age by some, especially with CD Singles falling way behind of Digital Single downloads, much like the days when the record was starting to become phased out. However, even if it comes to a time when most music released is by digital download, the term 'record' still lives on as a neutral word for recorded music.
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"What about tapes?" she asked. The associate rolled his eyes, informing her that prerecorded cassettes, too, had gone the way of thermal fax paper. Exasperated, she sighed, "Whatever you call those things they put music on these days." Finally, the clerk pointed her to the CDs, which is what he should have done in the first place. If he had had any doubts, he might have gone outside and looked at the name of the store: Tower Records. Since the fadeout of vinyl, most major record stores have adopted generic names like Musicland or For Your Entertainment. But Tower has clung steadfastly to "Records" because the word still accurately describes its wares: recorded music. It doesn't matter what kind of medium the music is recorded onto, be it a vinyl 45 rpm single or a 33 1/3 LP, a shellac 78 rpm platter, an eight-track tape or a plastic CD. Those formats all fit Webster's definition of a record: "something on which sound or visual images have been recorded." Much of the music industry continues to use "record" to refer to recordings, no matter the medium. The businesses that sign, develop and promote musical artists are still known as record companies, although most record labels are now subsidiaries of conglomerates with the word "media" or "entertainment" in their names. Read the full, rather lengthy story here. |
Even until this day, I still commonly think of a music store as a 'Record Shop', even though it has been well over 10 years since most stores in my area last sold a vinyl record. While calling a CD, MP3, tape or other recording a Record doesn't seem quite right, apparently the word Record does indeed stand for a text document, voice recording, video recording, database item (record in a database) or other physical evidence.
While the Vinyl Record has long been replaced with what the music industry calls the superior quality, virtually indestructible CD, apparently I have come across several people who still insist that the record was superior to the CD, especially the current releases (if released on record also). For example, a CD's waveform consists of 65,536 steps sampled at a rate of 44,100 times per second. Vinyl on the other hand is a continuous waveform.
As CD's have a physical volume limit due to the 65,535 steps max between lowest and highest part of the waveform, some labels amplify all the music, including quieter sections to maximum level to make their music 'stand out' such as when played in a CD-changer, however it starts to sound like noise after a while due to no kick or nothing 'standing out' track after track. However, with a record there were no changers apart from Jukeboxes, so the music's amplitude was not tampered with.
Source: HoustonChronicle
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For the Vinyl lovers I came across, the 'digital steps' with CD and the warmer sound from Vinyl were the main reasons they claimed their records are still supperior. I asked about the background noise such as from the player itself, dust, scratches and wear & tear, however they said that this is caused by a combination of poor handling, low quality turn-tables and using poor quality needles.
I believe you on the dynamic range, however it is hard to get this difference across to some Vinyl record lovers who refuse to leave their 45's and 33's behind or take signal-to-nosie ratio into account.
That is about right. Vinyl is superior and I have been listening to it for nearly 20 years (I am 30). It has to be handled right to last and looked after along with the record deck . I have played Pink Floyd's the Wall on average one or two times a month for over 10 years. Even, though the record is slightly scratched, it plays like brand new. There is no hiss or skipping.
I have never seen a CD sound better than vinyl yet (regardless of the technical reasons) when using decent equipment. It takes a higher than a average priced CD player to get close to a LP sound. Some DVD Audio and SACD are also close to LP.
That's a funny one - obsolete !!!
Marketing can give you good things and it can take them out from you also, but that's not due to obsolescence!!! just $$$$$$$ laws!!!
And about CDs the important is that it is within the 20-20000 Hz only, no matter if it is a choice only.
SACD were supposed to give the missing parts, but again - market or interest of the marketers doesn't allow it to take off
And about vinyl sound - just get a record in good conditions, a good system, a CD version and make the proof!!!
Dont leave yourselves mistaken by figures, leave your ears to judge....
CD's are brilliant!! They take pressing quality, deck quality, arm quality, cartridge quality out of the equation.
30 years ago I owned a fabulous deck, arm, cartridge, preamp and power amp but became "precious" about my records: they were so easily damaged that I was only happy being the sole operator of my equipment. Playing records was almost a spiritual experience! Then I bought a Nakamichi 680ZX cassette deck which gave superior sound in every respect (yes, that's right, a cassette deck!!!) but that, too, was outrageously expensive. Listening to records or cassettes on other people's gear became an excrutiating trial because most people want to hear the music (almost) regardless of quality.
It took about 5 years after the introduction of CD's for the medium to be properly understood by the people responsible for recording the music but now I can buy a CD, play it anywhere and it will sound OK. On "good" equipment it will sound amazing, on "average" equipment it will sound acceptable.
I suppose what I'm really saying is that CD's allow you to hear music much more like the final mix in a studio than you'd ever get with vinyl, and with no added background noise!
COMPRESSION: analogue compression is a wonderful tool in pop music; digital compression can be good, too, if set up correctly. The lack of dynamics in much modern pop is caused by the injudicious use of brick wall limiting on each of the 20 or more tracks that go to make up a recording. I'm sure someone will be able to make this point more clearly but for me it's time to sleep.
