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Being born in 1993 I haven't had much exposure to vinyl, so I've always preferred CD any ways to me CD sounds cleaner and more precise but vinyl has a warmer, fuller feel to it imo, also it's easier to get CD's and they're often cheaper as well. I'm aware there's lots of debates online about

this topic already but a lot of them use terminology that I'm not very familiar with to back up there arguments, I'm not a very technologically oriented person nor do I know much about what determines sound quality, so I have no idea what they're saying. Anyways what's your opinion?

I really only use MP3s, but if I had to choose between the two I'd pick CDs.

Yeah, I never got into MP3 it just not the same once you've gotten used to listening to music on a fancy stereo system (sound quality is better) mind you I often listen to music on the computer as well because YouTube has a bigger selection than my CD collection plus it allows me to try new bands..

I held out on vinyl and cds and whatnot for a while, but I finally realized that the best musical medium is the one where I can fit a trillion songs into my phone.

Who knew you could get around the language filter in a poll?

 Ahtman wrote:
Who knew you could get around the language filter in a poll?

More work for Lego.......

I prefer MP3/digital format.

When CD's came along there was moaning about glorious album covers not being realised oh and how they were impersonal and robotic and what not, the end of the world, bad for the industry etc. then people realised that they weren't evil incarnate, actually saved space and time.

Cut to the digital age where users of physical mediums bemoan the loss of CD album covers, the loss of glitches, totally wrecked recordings due to scratching etc.

MP3 for sure, convenience trumps all the positives of vinyl or CD in my opinion.

 Ahtman wrote:
Who knew you could get around the language filter in a poll?

Yeah, I never expected that thought it would be auto-corrected.

The great Stephen Fry has told me that while the ear cannot tell, the brain hears digital and analog sounds differently.


I personally prefer thousands of songs on my phone, FWIW.

mp3 means I can have tens of thousands of songs on one big playlist and never get bored.

However, sometimes it is fun to put the record player on and listen to some vinyl. CD's don't have that same attraction and I was never brought up on vinyl, so it is not like I have a nostalgic rose tined view of them.

Cassettes.

/thread.

Been as I'm old enough, and do own all types (vinyl/cassettes/cd's and mp3s).
My mp3 collection is bigger. at 18.5 gig.

 Squigsquasher wrote:
Cassettes.

/thread.

You can't /thread your own post. That goes against the internet laws of /threading.


I grew up with my dad playing nothing but his old Vinyls so this wasn't a hard a choice. I love cds for their portability and the fact they are dirt cheap but for me nothing beats that crunchy crackly sound you get when the needle hits Vinyl. That said though being able to fit 10 thousand songs on my phone is daaaaaaaaaamn handy.

At home my music is on my server. I try to keep 2 versions of all my music where possible, one as a WAV file for playback at home and a 320kbps MP3 for when on the move.

I answered vinyl though. A lot of my friends are HipHop and Funk DJ's that still use vinyl (some are starting to use Serato but this is mainly due to the limited availability and ever increasing cost of vinyl) and although I don't DJ myself I have a respect for the theatre of collecting and playing records, something you just don't get with playlists.

From a sonic point of view, LPs are able to accommodate a wider range of frequencies, which is why many people consider vinyl to sound warmer. Compressing something down to an mp3 file actually degrades the signal significantly. Saying that, I was a rock drummer for, like, 10 years. My top-end hearing is totally fethed, so I'm perfectly happy with 50gb worth of music in a device the size of a cigarette packet.

I never liked Vinyl, I would feth records by being too clumsy with the needle.

Both are sub-par mediums of listening pleasure. I'll take some FLAC audio on my computer over anything else. You don't even need to use a CD to play things on a HiFi anymore, so there's really no reason to keep them.

 Albatross wrote:
From a sonic point of view, LPs are able to accommodate a wider range of frequencies, which is why many people consider vinyl to sound warmer. Compressing something down to an mp3 file actually degrades the signal significantly. Saying that, I was a rock drummer for, like, 10 years. My top-end hearing is totally fethed, so I'm perfectly happy with 50gb worth of music in a device the size of a cigarette packet.

Maybe it's just me but I find that vinyl often has a fuzzier sound than CD, is there a reason for that phenomenon or am I just talking out of my ass?

Cheesecat wrote:

 Albatross wrote:
From a sonic point of view, LPs are able to accommodate a wider range of frequencies, which is why many people consider vinyl to sound warmer. Compressing something down to an mp3 file actually degrades the signal significantly. Saying that, I was a rock drummer for, like, 10 years. My top-end hearing is totally fethed, so I'm perfectly happy with 50gb worth of music in a device the size of a cigarette packet.

Maybe it's just me but I find that vinyl often has a fuzzier sound than CD, is there a reason for that phenomenon or am I just talking out of my ass?

bad speakers, needle needs replacing, arm may be loose, etc, mechanical problems.

 Albatross wrote:
From a sonic point of view, LPs are able to accommodate a wider range of frequencies, which is why many people consider vinyl to sound warmer. Compressing something down to an mp3 file actually degrades the signal significantly. Saying that, I was a rock drummer for, like, 10 years. My top-end hearing is totally fethed, so I'm perfectly happy with 50gb worth of music in a device the size of a cigarette packet.

Agreed, I'm a metal head, a life long shooter and I've spent a couple years working around jet aircraft every day. MP3 is just fine for me

You can find decent quality still in a digital format, it just tends to be larger than the others crappy quality ones. I had CDs, I don't miss them.

Most of my music is in mp3 format, but I have a significant collection of Beatles Albums (missing 4), I saw the comment about vinyl sounding warmer, so I went and put my White Album on... It's interesting, but I can't very well lug that around with me

 Alfndrate wrote:
Most of my music is in mp3 format, but I have a significant collection of Beatles Albums (missing 4), I saw the comment about vinyl sounding warmer, so I went and put my White Album on... It's interesting, but I can't very well lug that around with me

As I mentioned earlier I listen to CD's but I would never carry a portable CD player around because a) it doesn't look very cool and b) the sound quality is gak on them.

8-tracks. Everything else is too mainstream.

 Alfndrate wrote:
Most of my music is in mp3 format, but I have a significant collection of Beatles Albums (missing 4), I saw the comment about vinyl sounding warmer, so I went and put my White Album on... It's interesting, but I can't very well lug that around with me

Out of curiosity, which ones are you missing?

I listened to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds on vinyl, and it was really neat. That synth part sounded really warm, but piercing enough to be annoying (like I expect!). There is a characteristic of vinyl that is strangely satisfying, but it doesn't make it worth investing in..

pretty much all my cds are gone except a few collectors cds from bands I like Hundreds and hundreds of cd jewel cases piled high as 5 feet tall. All of them plus more can sit in a little rectangle.

I have a few collectible vinyl records. I hope, someday, to get a 50s juke box.

I have to say, lots of the crowd that constantly clamour for vinyl never had to actually use the stuff in anger. Its trendy to want to be all retro about it but the fact remains that vinyl scratches easily and wears out. Some of my dad's classic rock albums are nearly worn out now through constant playing in his youth. Digital (whether CD or MP3) is just superior in all respects, IMO. And you don't have to spend ages dusting, removing fluff and lint before listening to a track.

I think the one thing I miss the most from vinyl is the beautiful album artwork. The days of the gatefold album are long gone and that's a bit of a shame. The most album artwork people see these days is a tiny little jpg on their iPod.

Well, I finally realised yesterday that my propensity for buying CD's is a little daft. I have literally 1000's of songs on my Mac and my phone and almost all of those have been copied from friends CD's or i've ripped them straight from friends MP3 collections!!

Aside from this, and back to the topic at hand, I genuinely think that a decent Hi-Fi seperates set up far outclasses anthing that an MP3 player can provide. The same for vinyl. Although I do think that i'd collect vinyls purely for the artistry of the covers and the pullouts....

 Captain Fantastic wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
Most of my music is in mp3 format, but I have a significant collection of Beatles Albums (missing 4), I saw the comment about vinyl sounding warmer, so I went and put my White Album on... It's interesting, but I can't very well lug that around with me

Out of curiosity, which ones are you missing?

I listened to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds on vinyl, and it was really neat. That synth part sounded really warm, but piercing enough to be annoying (like I expect!).

Sorry to be a nerd, but there's no synth on 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds'.

Vinyls are way before my time, so cd's were the winner for me, even though I've pretty much destroyed my hearing asit is.