Collecting vinyl records

One of the most interesting hobbies I?ve come across as a researcher and writer is the collecting of vinyl records. This is because, besides having all the normal characteristics, typical for collectors of one thing or the other, such as the thirst for the ?ultimate find? and the thrill of checking out vintage vinyl record stores and online auctions and such, it has an element that I?m personally quite attracted to.

This is the element of quality and the preservation of a moment in time when sound recording and reproduction might have been at its highest point up till now.

Most people that are not related to the music industry are not aware of the fact that with all good intentions the available digital recording equipment has only recently come up to a pure sound quality that is on par with the top analog recording gear of the ?old? days.

However the translation of the actual purity and depth of the ?sound? of these recordings into inferior mediums like CDs and MP3s means that we are a long way from experiencing a top audio recording compared to what is still available on vinyl records. 

It is not so much that you hear more or ?better? on vinyl, it is just warmer, it ?breathes? more. It sounds more like the real thing.

What we have done by introducing the CD and later on the MP3 and other download mediums is that we have chosen convenience and practicality at the expense of pure sound quality. Most of us didn?t even realize it, we owned an inexpensive, mediocre sound installation and really did not hear much of a difference. We were told digital was better so there you go; every one was buying CDs instead of vinyl, even replacing their old records with them. Only now to find out that ?better? did not mean ?better sound quality?, just ?more convenient?.

So to make a long and interesting story short, I believe that it might be that on a certain scale the old recordings existing on vinyl records will be like old paintings from an era when the skill of the painters was at its peak in history. That to me is quite a surprising thought.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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