Do You Still Buy Cds / Vinyl?

[architect]

I don't buy cd's anymore, but when I was younger I did, along with cassettes(child of the 80's here!) I have quite a few of both.

Now I mainly buy vinyl. My tastes have changed as I've gotten older and I like a lot of 60's/70's prog, psych and jazz fusion so I tend to buy older stuff and an mp3 just doesn't cut it with me.

 

[metalife]

Vinyl and CDs, I only download songs for my phone so that when I am at school and I have some free time I just listen to music. Also for that long bus ride home.

Mate, I checked your age after reading your post and I have to say it always gives me hope for the future when I hear teens say stuff like this. It's like when I see a post on Youtube that goes like 'Im 14 and so sorry for what my generation has done to music.

Buy the occasional cd, especially the classic artists like Uriah Heep, Heart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dream Theater, Tori Amos, Dave Matthews, etc... Vinyl is my passion and I usually buy at least ten albums a month.
Like you metalife, I agree in giving the artist his due, so I am 100% against downloading of music.
Good thread

Thanks mate. Love Dream Theater too.

I have bought c.d.s steadily since about the mid 90's and haven't stopped. If anything I buy even more now with lower prices. I buy them or order them by the handful a couple times a month. I also agree with the reasoning from the OP among other reasons on top of that for buying albums in physical format.

Nothing like walking out of a shop with a bunch of new albums to listen too.

Vinyl is for floors

NOOOO!!!!!

 

[metalife]

I will buy the odd digital album if I can't be bothered to wait for the physical form to come by mail or if its not available in physical format. I frequently buy CDs . I do think physical format is almost always the superior option when it comes to sound quality.

I've heard MP3 that just suck out half of what I know should be there. It's like a house without cement between the bricks. Sure it gives the illusion that is what you think, but on future inspection it's really not.

I buy CDs every now and then, like recently I bought Tori Amos' new album. A couple of months before that i got used CDs of Peter Gabriel and Suede from a book store. Earlier this year, I bought Metallica's classic Justice album again because I had lost the CD a long time ago and only had some crappy mp3s in its place.

So yeah, though the frequency of buying CDs has gone down (due to a combination of being more careful with money these days and trying to reduce clutter), I still buy 'em! And if I had infinite storage space and money in the bank account , I would any day prefer CDs/physical media over computer files!

As for vinyl, I never fully got into it except for an impulsive purchase of a nice usb turntable and some 4 or 5 classic records sometime in 2008. But all of it is gathering dust and doing nothing at my parents place right now.

Have to agree with you on storage space. It's getting harder as Im getting older and having kids. Have to keep the vinyl out of reach.

Absolutely. I don't think I'll ever get into that downloading thing as far as music is concerned. The sound quality is superior plus there is the added bonus of looking at booklets and some manner of artwork especially with the vinyl medium. Movies? Well, when I purchase a blu-ray usually it comes with a downloadable offer which I have taken advantage of. I have an external hard drive that houses them. Physical media will never completely go away but future generations will likely view them as oddities given that portability and convenience is beginning to be a rule of thumb more.

Movies, and TV for that matter, I don't think has suffered as much as music and print media. As Josh Homme said in the Studio City documentary, 'The internet may be good for some things, but there's no book stores, no music stores.

I think what irritates me the most is that we see to be having less and less options in how we purchase music. Half the JB HiFi stores I walk into have reduced their CD sections to a third of what they used to be. I gets harder to find desired albums.

 

[LG]

^^We are losing our heritage as the world changes to "cloud everything" Metalife. Going shopping to a music store was fun you talked to the staff, other people checked out the new arrival bin, the delete bin, the glorious 'audiophile pressing' section it was a fun way to spend 30-60 minutes. I used to do my run every Saturday for years.

I buy mostly vinyl now, it's vastly superior to most of the 16-44 CD pressings especially classic rock from the 60's-80's a night and day difference that anyone could hear for themselves.

 

[Sharp Dressed Man]

Yep, I still buy music in physical formats. In recent years mostly CDs and the occasional vinyl here and there. I've been kind of holding back on vinyl lately, knowing that I was living where I live now temporarily (turned out to be 10 years though), but now that we're finally moving on, I do plan to buy more vinyl again. I still enjoy going to the local record store, there are still some left here in Vienna and in Athens, Greece, where I’ll be moving shortly. Nothing beats that feeling of going to pick up a new release or a classic record and hurrying home to unpack the record and give it a spin, while looking at the artwork, lyrics etc.

 

[Musikwala]

Nothing beats that feeling of going to pick up a new release or a classic record and hurrying home to unpack the record and give it a spin, while looking at the artwork, lyrics etc.

Yup! That is the only reason I still buy new CDs once in a while. If the artist is a top favourite, I will try to buy it.

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

I must admit I don't buy CDs very often.

I think this is due to a combination of factors, there really isn't anywhere in my hometown I know of where I can buy music so it's easier for me to download music and the availability of downloads isn't an issue (there's no problem of going to a store only to not find the album you want). Also, while downloading or buying the CD makes relatively little difference to the listening experience once uploaded onto my computer if I want the whole album, downloading is useful if there is an album where I like two or three songs but struggle to justify buying the whole thing. For example, I would not buy Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto as an album so being able to download the two tracks I liked enabled me to have those songs without wasting money on the stuff I didn't want.

Having CDs is definitely nice though. I'm glad I've bought DSOTM, WYWH, Meddle and The Wall on CD, having the lyric booklets, and of course being able to look at the cover art is a bonus. It does partly depend on the relative importance of the album though, for instance I do intend to purchase both Animals and Obscured By Clouds in the near future but would definitely like to get the former on CD whereas the latter is less essential and I will most likely download it.

I don't own any vinyl because for one thing I don't own a turntable and it's not something I've grown up with - as a child all the music I heard was on CDs or cassettes. Also, I always like to upload my albums onto my computer so I need to have the songs in digital format, whether it's on a CD or a download.

 

[Musikwala]

For example, I would not buy Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto as an album so being able to download the two tracks I liked enabled me to have those songs without wasting money on the stuff I didn't want.

Agreed!

It does partly depend on the relative importance of the album though, for instance I do intend to purchase both Animals and Obscured By Clouds in the near future but would definitely like to get the former on CD whereas the latter is less essential and I will most likely download it.

I definitely hear that! I too have certain albums like More, Atom Heart Mother and Final Cut only in downloaded form on my computer.

 

[Fump]

I still buy cd's but only CD's which were remastered during the last 6 years. Last cd's I bought were Solar Fire by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, A Night at the Opera from Queen, Machine Head from Deep Purple...I only buy cd's from which I like all the songs. It's also possible that I have now 2 copies of a CD...an old one and a remastered one. And I hear the difference!

 

[LG]

Yep, I still buy music in physical formats. In recent years mostly CDs and the occasional vinyl here and there. I've been kind of holding back on vinyl lately, knowing that I was living where I live now temporarily (turned out to be 10 years though), but now that we're finally moving on, I do plan to buy more vinyl again. I still enjoy going to the local record store, there are still some left here in Vienna and in Athens, Greece, where I’ll be moving shortly. Nothing beats that feeling of going to pick up a new release or a classic record and hurrying home to unpack the record and give it a spin, while looking at the artwork, lyrics etc.

Yes there was something almost mystical about buying a nice gatefold of one of your favorite bands, taking it home unwrapping the plastic and putting it on the TT, then reading the liner notes and sleeve completed the process.

Downloading is so clinical and sterile by comparison not nearly as much fun.

And congrats on moving SDM although Greece would be a little too warm for my taste.