Technology

I think of this clip every single time Chris Pirillo pops up in pop culture somewhere.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

Just waiting for wax cylinders to come back

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

people are idiots, possibly from inhaling the toxic fumes of unregulated PVC

I enjoy the warmer sound of vinyl but I buy the albums I love on it because of the lack o convenience. I can't shuffle and I have to actually interact with it every 20ish minutes to flip or change discs. It makes me actually listen to music, track order, mix, and properly enjoy the work that went into the whole album making process.

So I use streaming when I just want something on in the background and vinyl when I want to properly listen to an album.

I read somewhere that about 50% of vinyl owners don't have a player. Presumably that 50% only have very few records and bought them for the looks, but still.

The best explanation I've seen is that music is mixed differently for CD/streaming and vinyl.

For mass market, the move has been to mix for louder bass and similar things. The idea being that it makes the music more popular. But it also makes it difficult to appreciate anything but the bass.

On vinyl, you can't max out bass like that, it won't work on the format. So they have to give it a normal mix instead, making it sound better. In theory CDs should sound better than vinyl, but because of the music production trends, it doesn't currently.

Technically CD quality digital is superior, but the recording and mixing can have a lot to do with it. For example, it could be that an decades old Dark Side Of The Moon on vinyl (played on proper equipment) could sound better than a modern remastered CD with maximized loudness (See the "loudness wars").

Vinyl has a slow progression in quality degradation due to friction that creates a certain kind of sound warmth that is pleasing to our ears. This can also be relicated digitally, but the imperfections and feelings associated with the physical ritual actions of loading a record can't.

Vinyl just has more engagement going on despite the sound quality being lower. Kind of like how some people have fondness for fireplaces despite central heating being technically better at maintaining a warm temperature.

Some people confuse the extra engagement with sound quality because a lot of people just don't think things through.

Not an audiophile, but had experience with vinyl and CDs while growing up in the 90s and imo vinyl COULD sound better if you spent a lot of money on high end equipment. But with the equipment us normies had, the cds sounded much better. It had a much lower barrier if you didn't have a large amount of time and money to invest. I'd suspect things are similar now.

I know it's not highest quality.

For me, the imperfect sound is what makes a nicer experience. Slight hum, little pop once in a while, teensy skip, etc.

Not to mention that I'm far more inclined to listen to an entire album because of the need to interact with the vinyl to set the needle and flip sides.

I dug into the RIAA Source PDF the article references for what "other" means:

"Includes CD Singles, Cassettes, Vinyl Singles, DVD Audio, SACD"

I'd assume it is for digital downloads.

If I am not purchasing LPs, I try to purchase MP3s/FLAC that I can copy and move around as I please.

CD is still the only way to buy a digital popular music in most countries.