Vinyl craze

jochen...

if it ever comes to india it will be a ripple rather than a wave...unless the base of hifi ownership increaases here. So lets spread the good word !

Manek.

It will always be a niche market....however large it grows.

It will always be a niche market....however large it grows.

Why will it be a niche market? LP's were here earlier and it's just a metter of awareness. For me a good LP costs as much as a good CD and same goes to player too. So why call it niche??

We need more dealers to push analogue. Besides ProJect and Rega (who deals in Rega here??) and the occasional NAD... there aren't any options for the average Joe to try out vinyl. Yes there is Cadence doing SME and Sound of Music doing Michell but these are out of reach for most people. We need good, affordable hardware.

As far as software is concerned I don't think the old boys will have too much of an issue releasing pressings... as long as they see demand!!

As far as software is concerned I don't think the old boys will have too much of an issue releasing pressings... as long as they see demand!!

Rightly put... All manufacturers are here to make money, so if tapes starts selling again then it's bye bye for CD.

LOL, I don't see cassettes ever taking over CD. Not in the near future atleast.

LOL, I don't see cassettes ever taking over CD. Not in the near future atleast.

hold on!! freeze. I have heard spools and they sound better than LP's.

You freeze!!! I said cassettes not reel-to-reel!!

1. International Music represents Less Than 10% of Music Sales In India.

2. An LP is FAR more expensive to make & package than CD.

3. The LP weighs much more, is more fragile and therefore distribution costs are MUCH higher than for other medium.

4. Average Joe wants convenience and music on the move. Fidelity is WAY down on his priority list.

REALISTICALLY ( Though I would personally wish otherwise ) I dont see LPs making a re-emergence in India.

All IMHO ofcourse....

Amp_nut, you may have a point there. However...

1. International Music represents Less Than 10% of Music Sales In India.

True. But the average Indian listener (till the early 80s) listened to all his local music on LP - he abhorred the cassette. AFAIK at least.

Average Joe wants convenience and music on the move. Fidelity is WAY down on his priority list.

Agree here too. But he's forgotten about the LP that brought his folks (and theirs) many hours of musical pleasure at home. Good marketing (besides availability) will make him experiment and realize what he wants at home.

Just my 2 watts!

You freeze!!! I said cassettes not reel-to-reel!!

triple freeze you.....

read my post and I mentioned about tapes and not cassetes, so I meant spools when I wrote that..read this again

I wrote :

so if tapes starts selling again then it's bye bye for CD.

I feel the biggest impediment for LP’s to make wave in India will the lack of interest in the software / music that will make a difference if played on LP’s.
Why is LP better ? It makes recordings done with natural instruments with minimum post processing sound quite nice.
In the US AND Europe, there is enough such music which suits LP’s and there is enough market base for such music to sustain sales.
I am not sure about India
I agree with Jeeves that LP will be a very niche market in countries like India.

I know I am playing the "Devil's Advocate" in this thread...

All this talk of LPs, when many are saying that in 10 years, Music will mostly be distributed as Electronic ( non Material ) files / downloads..... just waiting for the 'Net to get faster..

Yes i would say thats better with HD... Atleast saves you space. No need of vibrapods for CDP's

Amp_Nut schrieb:

I know I am playing the "Devil's Advocate" in this thread... All this talk of LPs, when many are saying that in 10 years, Music will mostly be distributed as Electronic ( non Material ) files / downloads..... just waiting for the 'Net to get faster.. :P

The music files will still be digital. It may kill cds.
Analogue fans will still remain. It will be a niche market though.

I would never buy a "digital download." Apart from the primary reason of poor quality (which can be resolved by offering losslessly compressed audio files in the future), the cover art and liner notes is VERY important to me. I love good artwork on the CD itself and the packaging. I would never give this up.

P.S. From those in the know, how are the LPs you order from abroad packaged? Isn't it a risk to ship such a fragile item or is it adequately packed?

Jeeves schrieb:

It will always be a niche market....however large it grows.

Agree.Just take a look at the kids and you will know why.

BTW vinyls are a niche thing even in the west.

K

the cover art and liner notes is VERY important to me. I love good artwork on the CD itself and the packaging.

Ditto for me !

rockamedi schrieb:

You freeze!!! I said cassettes not reel-to-reel!! triple freeze you..... read my post and I mentioned about tapes and not cassetes, so I meant spools when I wrote that..read this again I wrote : so if tapes starts selling again then it's bye bye for CD.

Quadruple freeze you!! Cassettes have tape in them so it could've meant anything!!

But seriously, though I haven't compared reel2reel with TT directly the once I heard an old Grundig R2R - and it sounded good.

I have a theory on this: MP3 is NOT the first offender. I think cassettes (tapes, not reels) were the first time that we the consumers decided we would rather have a small, convenient, portable format than good sound reproduction. It has only gotten worse from there.

SACD strikes me as a somewhat decent compromise between analogue and digital but it is even more of a niche market than LPs. I hope it is not killed off by the Blu-Ray audio format and its relatively poor 192khz sampling.

All this talk of digital downloads frightens me. People these days seem too willing to give up quality for convenience.

P.S. Speaking of reels, the very first music I heard (and also for the first few years of my listening life) was on a reel tape. I don't remember the model but the quality was poor as my Dad had recorded stuff off a radio broadcast. Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, My Fair Lady, etc. were the first sounds I ever heard so I would be happy to hear them again. I tried plugging in the player again after rediscovering it in a cupboard 10 years ago and it blew the fuse in spectacular fashion (first time seeing a blue flash like that).

particleman schrieb:

I would never buy a "digital download." Apart from the primary reason of poor quality (which can be resolved by offering losslessly compressed audio files in the future), the cover art and liner notes is VERY important to me. I love good artwork on the CD itself and the packaging. I would never give this up. P.S. From those in the know, how are the LPs you order from abroad packaged? Isn't it a risk to ship such a fragile item or is it adequately packed?

I do agree with you. Coverart and liner notes are the same important during a listening session like the atmosphere of the listening room. And here LPs are superior to CDs or even a display of a MP3 player.
Regarding packing I have never had any problem of breakage. I buy a lot of LPs on eBay or from Acoustic Sounds in the US. And especially the vendors' packaging is outstanding. So no need to worry.

Regards,
Jochen

Jochen do you pay customs duty everytime for the LPs?
Jeeves

Jeeves schrieb:

Jochen do you pay customs duty everytime for the LPs? Jeeves

Hi Jeeves,

no, until now no customs duty has been charged. But the shipments are usually not very big. Say within 100 USD. I have recently ordered for above 100 USD (4 LPs). The shipment is supposed to go out sometime this month because one album is not yet released. I'll keep you informed if I have to pay. But I am getting these LPs to my address in Germany. I don't know about the conditions here in India.

Regards,
Jochen

Does anyone in India order vinyl from acousticsounds.com or musicdirect.com DIRECTLY?

Shahrukh,
A few days ago I connected my old Cassette deck to my main system for the first time and listened to a pre recorded tape of some movie with A R Rehmans compositions. I was pleasantly surprised to note that if I did not know better, it could have been a cd I was listening to. Really good. I cant however say with any certainty if it was as good as LP, but yes it sounded pretty natural and easy on the ears. Prithvi was with me and he too was surprised at the quality. Still have a few cassettes thank God!

Really? Never ever liked the sound of a cassette. Always felt there was something missing - even those Chromium ones. Nonetheless, I have all the music of my teen years still stored on cassette - so if there's ever a revival...

Jeeves schrieb:

Shahrukh, A few days ago I connected my old Cassette deck to my main system for the first time and listened to a pre recorded tape of some movie with A R Rehmans compositions. I was pleasantly surprised to note that if I did not know better, it could have been a cd I was listening to. Really good. I cant however say with any certainty if it was as good as LP, but yes it sounded pretty natural and easy on the ears. Prithvi was with me and he too was surprised at the quality. Still have a few cassettes thank God!

Jeeves Bhai,
I just love that Cassette deck you have. To me its next to your TT...CDP comes third

abhi.pani schrieb:

Jeeves schrieb: Shahrukh, A few days ago I connected my old Cassette deck to my main system for the first time and listened to a pre recorded tape of some movie with A R Rehmans compositions. I was pleasantly surprised to note that if I did not know better, it could have been a cd I was listening to. Really good. I cant however say with any certainty if it was as good as LP, but yes it sounded pretty natural and easy on the ears. Prithvi was with me and he too was surprised at the quality. Still have a few cassettes thank God! Jeeves Bhai, I just love that Cassette deck you have. To me its next to your TT...CDP comes third :)

Now I'm really curious!

Shahrukh schrieb:

abhi.pani schrieb: Jeeves schrieb: Shahrukh, A few days ago I connected my old Cassette deck to my main system for the first time and listened to a pre recorded tape of some movie with A R Rehmans compositions. I was pleasantly surprised to note that if I did not know better, it could have been a cd I was listening to. Really good. I cant however say with any certainty if it was as good as LP, but yes it sounded pretty natural and easy on the ears. Prithvi was with me and he too was surprised at the quality. Still have a few cassettes thank God! Jeeves Bhai, I just love that Cassette deck you have. To me its next to your TT...CDP comes third :) Now I'm really curious!

Haan bhai...you should be.

yes, but cassettes did give good quality sound. I remember as a child and as a teen my dad bringing excellent cassettes for us from europe, jazz and classical. I remember one cassette in particular, abba's greatest hits he had picked up in london. very good recording ! Others from decca, verve, were good. Some indian ones were downright horrible.

Transferring LP's to cassettes, I remember good quality cassettes would capture a lot of the LP magic.

As a child I remember the best quality he always got from germany and switzerland.

Manek.

I had a set of BASF Cr02 cassettes.....yeah the memories of them were good..but tape hiss always got me a bit irritated as did the clicks and pops in LPs. hence i really loved the cds

Arj

Basf, scotch, teac, I was very fond of. Sony was what I was happy with most of the time.

Probably what bothered you was the hiss ? But then we did have the 3 bias and eq settings along with dolby on most good decks to optimise on the type of tape.

Good days I would say.

Haven't heard the large spool tape for many years but would love to. Music from the large format tapes was just superb.

Manek

There was "Dolby NR" for that hiss Arj!

well you have it now. i was an audio ignoramus in those days

Arj

In those days to one did have dolby B and then dolby C.

Manek

I recently found an old TEAC spool deck ....you wont believe this....in a friends loo in his office! He seemed relieved and grateful when I asked him if I could take it away!
Anyway the sad part of the story is that it is unrepairable as many parts are not available.

I understand.. i was just admitting my absolute ignorance !!!

was a sports jock in those days