Bust Out That Turntable: LPs Slowly Make a Comeback

While most of us out there have done away with your turntable years ago when CDs became the "killer tech," there are some who still decided it might still be worthwhile to keep the old hunk of junk around for another decade or so. For whatever reason you may have held onto your old turntable, now seems like the best time to take it out as sales of vinyl LPs have been seen increasing up to 89% over the past few years, and artists like U2 and Neil Young continuing to push that trend even further with new release available exclusively on vinyls...

The reason for this boom in LP sales and turntable love? To be quite frank, we're not too sure. However, the increased sales have led to trendy stores to pop up all over the place (kind of like the yogurt craze over the past few years). Or perhaps people are just growing fed up of the RIAA's attempts to shaft them in every which way when it comes to digital distribution.

Either way, we love our small collection of LPs in our bedside milk crate and are considering our vinyl digs up once again at our local thrift store. So, who's in?

(Image: LookingSmug's 365 Project)

(Via: Electronic House)

Comments (11)

I have had my techique 1200's set up in my living room for the past 8 years. I work by a thrift store and I have picked up some good vinyl for 25 cents a pop. I also have my mixer connected to my computer so I can transfer vinyl to digital.

posted by FredEx on April 29th 2009 at 4:16pm
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Count me in!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spins_lps/3438759822/

posted by spinsLPs on April 29th 2009 at 6:34pm
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I love a good HiFi sound. I have a very minimalist Numark turntable with an on board speaker. And I love the treasure hunt of finding a good used album! My most recent find - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

posted by MoxiMama on April 29th 2009 at 6:35pm
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Gosh, Moxi, you just read my current playllist. I love that song! But there's nothing like Deep Purple for me.. :)

posted by ekoshyun on April 29th 2009 at 10:39pm
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We've got vinyl - in my house it never left. It just sounds better.

We've got everything from early The Beach Boys and Simon and Garfunkle to Depeche Mode, Aphex Twin, and Tv On the Radio. Most of the bands I like are releasing their albums on vinyl. Some are even being re-released (Radiohead.) It's awesome.

http://embritadesign.blogspot.com

posted by EmmieB on April 30th 2009 at 9:36am
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We have a basement full of records (don't worry, we also have a dehumidifier) and turntables in the basement as well as one in the living room. Its been our primary method of listening to music for many years.

I'm working on phasing out CDS entirely right now and using a small desktop for movies and digital music, running through our old component stereo for amplification. Records sound better, but most of our stuff from the 90's is in a digital format of one kind or another.

posted by standupstapler on April 30th 2009 at 10:01am
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I don't buy CDs anymore... only vinyl or digital for me. I found I wasn't listening to CDs, but I was increasingly putting my turntable to use. Besides the better sound, I like the whole process of putting records on and listening. It's not music you can put on and forget about, because you have to flip sides!

I'm in my mid twenties, but I grew up with a father that played vinyl occasionally, so I've always had a fond place in my heart for it. He gave me an old turntable of his when moved into my first apartment, and I've been collecting vinyl since.

posted by dinosara on April 30th 2009 at 1:33pm
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Rather than paying for crappy 128k iTunes , I find most record labels offer free 328k bitrate (and sometimes lossless!) downloads for free with the purchase of an LP. It's usually a few dollars more, but you get great vinyl and and decent quality digital version for your portable media player.

win win!

posted by therobbstory on April 30th 2009 at 1:42pm
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@therobbstory: I saw this trend emerge a couple years ago and I think it is one of the coolest solutions ever. Buy an LP and get digital for free! It truly is the best of both worlds and the content is absolutely superior to any of the online music bit-barns.

posted by RJHD3 on April 30th 2009 at 11:50pm
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PS: Interesting related article from LA Times published a day prior to the Electronic House one sited above.

Behold the incestuous world of internet journalism. Now I feel the circle is complete.

posted by RJHD3 on April 30th 2009 at 11:55pm
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The reason for the LP boom is obvious to anyone who's listened to the same album release on the same equipment compared to CD: vinyl sounds better. A good LP has more dynamic range and better resolution than a CD. If we ever see the proliferation of high-quality lossless music downloads (24-bit resolution, 192 kHz sampling) then the LP might fade away, but CD's 16-bit resolution and 44.1 kHz sampling rate can't compete with analogue. Of course, if you're more concerned with convenience than sound quality, it's a different story.

posted by paulg on May 14th 2009 at 4:14pm
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