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Offline sygdwm

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Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« on: June 10, 2008, 04:06:02 PM »
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/10/vinyl.records.ap/index.html

 PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- It was a fortuitous typo for the Fred Meyer retail chain.


The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles album "Abbey Road."

This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition of R.E.M.'s latest release "Accelerate" inadvertently entered the "LP" code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several stores.

Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs sold the first day.

The Portland-based company, owned by The Kroger Co., realized the error might not be so bad after all. Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The company says, based on the response so far, it plans to roll out vinyl in July in all its stores that sell music.

Other mainstream retailers are giving vinyl a spin too. Best Buy is testing sales at some stores. And online music giant Amazon.com, which has sold vinyl for most of the 13 years it has been in business online, created a special vinyl-only section last fall.

The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles album "Abbey Road." But musicians from the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters to Metallica and Pink Floyd are selling well, the company says.

"It's not just a nostalgia thing," said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer. "The response from customers has just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better sound."

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, manufacturers' shipments of LPs jumped more than 36 percent from 2006 to 2007 to more than 1.3 million. Shipments of CDs dropped more than 17 percent during the same period to 511 million, as they lost some ground to digital formats.

The resurgence of vinyl centers on a long-standing debate over analog versus digital sound. Digital recordings capture samples of sound and place them very close together as a complete package that sounds nearly identical to continuous sound to many people.

Analog recordings on most LPs are continuous, which produces a truer sound -- though, paradoxically, some new LP releases are being recorded and mixed digitally but delivered analog.

Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well.

But it's not just about the sound. Audiophiles say they also want the format's overall experience -- the sensory experience of putting the needle on the record, the feeling of side A and side B and the joy of lingering over the liner notes.

"I think music products should be more than just music," said Isaac Hudson, a 28-year-old vinyl fan standing outside one of Portland's larger independent music stores.

The interest seems to be catching on. Turntable sales are picking up, and the few remaining record pressers say business is booming.

But the LP isn't going to muscle out CDs or iPod soon.

Nearly 450 million CDs were sold last year, versus just under 1 million LPs, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Based on the first three months of this year, Nielsen says vinyl album sales could reach 1.6 million in 2008.

"I don't think vinyl is for everyone; it's for the die-hard music consumer," said Jay Millar, director of marketing at United Record Pressing, a Nashville based company that is the nation's largest record pressing plant.

Many major artists -- Elvis Costello, the Raconteurs and others -- are issuing LPs and encouraging fans to check out their albums on vinyl. On Amazon.com, one of the best-selling LPs is Madonna's latest album, "Hard Candy".

Some artists package vinyl and digital versions of their music together, including offers for free digital downloads along with the record.

"We've definitely had some talks with the major retailers about exclusives on the manufacturing end," Millar said of United Record Pressing, which focuses primarily on independent recordings.

An avid music fan himself, Millar says he has moved to vinyl in recent years.

"Once I got my first iPod ... I'm looking at my wall of CDs and trying to justify it," Millar said. "The things I like -- the artwork, the liner notes, the sound quality -- it dawns on me, those are things I like better on vinyl." He welcomed back the pops and clicks, even some of the scratches.

"I like that fact that it's imperfect in a lot of ways, live music is imperfect too," Millar said.

Independent music stores, which have been the primary source of LPs in recent years, say many fans never left the medium.

"People have been buying vinyl all along," said Cathy Hagen, manager at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland. "There was a fairly good supply from independent labels on vinyl all these years. As far as a resurgence, the major labels are just pressing more now."

In this game, big retailers aren't necessarily competing head to head with independent sellers' regular clientele of nostalgic baby boomers, independent label fans and turntable DJs.

"I cannot see that Best Buy or Fred Meyer would order the same things we would," Hagen said. "They aren't going to be ordering the reggae, funk, punk or industrial music."



Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Offline George

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2008, 08:31:47 AM »
Cool story.  I had no clue Amazon had a vinyl section.

The one line that they got wrong though:

"Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well."

I call BS.  We all know compression isn't required.
SP-CMC-4s (C, H, SC terminated to mini xlr)>Tinybox>Sony M10/Tascam DR-2d
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"Every time I see a group of teenagers gathered around an iphone laughing at some youtube video, I walk up to them, slap the iphone out of their hand, get right up to them nose to nose, and scream at the top of my lungs:

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Offline Belexes

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2008, 08:58:29 AM »
"Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well."

I call BS.  We all know compression isn't required.

I agree with the BS.  CD's are mastered *loud* these days with the increased compression which results in clipping.  I want to shoot the industry.
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Offline Ed.

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2008, 09:51:40 AM »
lots of talk about vinyl sales being up in rolling stone as of late as well.

I still buy vinyl, lately I haven't been playing it though, I'm waiting for a better setup to play it on.


Because nothing says "I have lots of money and am sort of confused as to how to spend it" like Bose.

Offline George

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2008, 10:09:26 AM »
Same thing Ed, except I do have a nice TT, but I find myself not happy with the way my rig is laid out...I need a stand to hold all my gear and a universal remote to control my receiver (since I lost the original one). 
SP-CMC-4s (C, H, SC terminated to mini xlr)>Tinybox>Sony M10/Tascam DR-2d
Countryman B3 (Omni, mini xlr)>Tinybox>Sony M10/Tascam DR-2d
Audix 1200 series cable from Chris Church, pair of Audix M1280 card capsules

Listening: Oppo 980HD>Yamaha RXV667>Rega R1's + Rega RS VOX + Rega R5S's

"Every time I see a group of teenagers gathered around an iphone laughing at some youtube video, I walk up to them, slap the iphone out of their hand, get right up to them nose to nose, and scream at the top of my lungs:

TAKE A LOOK

IT'S IN A BOOK

READING FUCKING RAINBOW."

spreadheadtom

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2008, 02:20:27 PM »
Same thing Ed, except I do have a nice TT, but I find myself not happy with the way my rig is laid out...I need a stand to hold all my gear and a universal remote to control my receiver (since I lost the original one). 

Logitech Harmony  :)

Offline George

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2008, 03:14:11 PM »
Same thing Ed, except I do have a nice TT, but I find myself not happy with the way my rig is laid out...I need a stand to hold all my gear and a universal remote to control my receiver (since I lost the original one). 

Logitech Harmony  :)

ah yes   :D

I've been curious about the Harmony.  I'm assuming this sucker supports TONS of electronics, like cd players, receivers, cable boxes, televisions?...it sure would be nice to have one nifty remote controlling everything.
SP-CMC-4s (C, H, SC terminated to mini xlr)>Tinybox>Sony M10/Tascam DR-2d
Countryman B3 (Omni, mini xlr)>Tinybox>Sony M10/Tascam DR-2d
Audix 1200 series cable from Chris Church, pair of Audix M1280 card capsules

Listening: Oppo 980HD>Yamaha RXV667>Rega R1's + Rega RS VOX + Rega R5S's

"Every time I see a group of teenagers gathered around an iphone laughing at some youtube video, I walk up to them, slap the iphone out of their hand, get right up to them nose to nose, and scream at the top of my lungs:

TAKE A LOOK

IT'S IN A BOOK

READING FUCKING RAINBOW."

Offline sygdwm

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2008, 03:22:34 PM »
it does damn near everything. its a nifty little machine.
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pres: oade m148/edirol wmod ua5
recorders: marantz stock671/oade acm671/fostex busman vintage fr2le

(P.S.: On a threaded discussion board like this one, there's no need to repeat someone's post when you reply to them; everyone can see all the messages in the thread.)

spreadheadtom

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2008, 04:08:55 PM »
Same thing Ed, except I do have a nice TT, but I find myself not happy with the way my rig is laid out...I need a stand to hold all my gear and a universal remote to control my receiver (since I lost the original one). 

Logitech Harmony  :)

ah yes   :D

I've been curious about the Harmony.  I'm assuming this sucker supports TONS of electronics, like cd players, receivers, cable boxes, televisions?...it sure would be nice to have one nifty remote controlling everything.

I have the Harmony 550 and it does all of my electronics (excluding the PS3..it's bluetooth).  Set it up to "watch TV" and it turns on everything you need to watch TV.  Get tired of watching TV and hit the button "listen to cd" and it turns everything off associated with TV watching and turns everything on you need to listen to music.

pretty neat remote!

Offline George

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Re: Retailers giving vinyl records another spin (cnn.com)
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2008, 10:04:04 PM »
Same thing Ed, except I do have a nice TT, but I find myself not happy with the way my rig is laid out...I need a stand to hold all my gear and a universal remote to control my receiver (since I lost the original one). 

Logitech Harmony  :)

ah yes   :D

I've been curious about the Harmony.  I'm assuming this sucker supports TONS of electronics, like cd players, receivers, cable boxes, televisions?...it sure would be nice to have one nifty remote controlling everything.

I have the Harmony 550 and it does all of my electronics (excluding the PS3..it's bluetooth).  Set it up to "watch TV" and it turns on everything you need to watch TV.  Get tired of watching TV and hit the button "listen to cd" and it turns everything off associated with TV watching and turns everything on you need to listen to music.

pretty neat remote!

Damn, I'm sold!  Gonna wait a little while and jump on one.
SP-CMC-4s (C, H, SC terminated to mini xlr)>Tinybox>Sony M10/Tascam DR-2d
Countryman B3 (Omni, mini xlr)>Tinybox>Sony M10/Tascam DR-2d
Audix 1200 series cable from Chris Church, pair of Audix M1280 card capsules

Listening: Oppo 980HD>Yamaha RXV667>Rega R1's + Rega RS VOX + Rega R5S's

"Every time I see a group of teenagers gathered around an iphone laughing at some youtube video, I walk up to them, slap the iphone out of their hand, get right up to them nose to nose, and scream at the top of my lungs:

TAKE A LOOK

IT'S IN A BOOK

READING FUCKING RAINBOW."

 

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