Poll - Digital or Vinyl?

[Input_1]

Just saw that coki thread about urban ethics going out as digital,
http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=201483

i see a lot of people on the boards who are buying vinyl, thought i'd whack up a poll to get an idea of numbers of people buying what.

As a vinyl guy, does anyone else feel it's a but strange that a lot of label heads are playing digital live/ on radio but still push out vinyl on the label?
not hating, just saying. i know a fair few DJs who still go 100% vinyl, mala and so on.

discuss/

[vishes]

Keep the faith. Nuff said.

[dubloke]

*SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT*

Soundcloud

a mix i've done for a night down here in brighton.

I have nothing against digital mediums, most of my friends play serato or CDs, however i personally prefer the feel, sound and the general experience of buying vinyl. like when you buy a new record and the sleeve is tight around the record when you pull it out, or when you find a bargain in a record shop. also a persons record collection is impressive, whereas a list of names on a computer isn't really (for me anyway) There are obviously lots of drawbacks to vinyl, I'm pretty sure im going to have a fucked back from carrying records over one should, and the constant worry of carrying a silly amount of moneys worth of records around with me, but its a sort of addiction. There was a really good quote from someone a few years ago on here who said something along the lines of "vinyl is an addiction, and no amount of 1's and 0's is going to change that" Also what with money being tight for everyone at the moment and so many new tunes, cutting dubs must be a stupidly expensive pasttime, so i think the trend of alot of big names changing to digital is understandable seeing as they have to keep up with the times. luckily im not a good enough DJ to get sent dubs and i mainly play quite old stuff so i dont have that problem

Another thing is the technical problems I have with playing vinyl is getting silly now. Played a gig on saturday night where one of the decks only came out of the left speakers which meant I clanged my first mix infront of one of my djing idols, never really see too many problems with CDs though

[exfox]

I'll be the only one saying CD (or am I?).
I know that might seem weird. But as someone who:

a) still buys loads of records from many other genres (from noise rock to ambient to abstract hip hop)
b) does not live in england, and therefore has to pay higher shipping fees for buying vinyl (especially since france gets a £5 extra postage from boomkat)
c) is still a student, and rather poor at that (though it allows me to get to the highest french scholarship echelon, a lot of that money goes to pay bills)

I just do not have enough money to spend on all those singles I'd like to buy. But as I still want to support the producers I like, I buy CDs whenever they come out. Obviously this is quite frustrating because it means you miss a lot of tunes (still wish I could own Pangaea's Router...), but you can still get a lot of them through compilations, etc. And I think I'd be even more frustrated if I bought vinyl and just could not afford 1% of what I'd like to buy. Plus - once again, it might seem weird -, but I happen to like CD as an object... Might have to do with the fact that I've been buying CDs ever since I was 13, that is to say for 7 years now. But I cannot deny that I like seeing all my Rinse CD mixes standing next to each other on my shelf.
I just wish more labels would release compilations like Hessle Audio and Hotflush did recently (though I'm broke right now. So I guess I don't have to complain either.)

[Input_1]

Apologies guys, just added CD as an option, so it's cleared the past votes. my bad there! revote when u can.

[Input_1]

*SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT*

Soundcloud

a mix i've done for a night down here in brighton.

sweet selection here. love those old eski cuts, really need to get myself to a few record shops and online to stock up on old grime cuts.

There was a really good quote from someone a few years ago on here who said something along the lines of "vinyl is an addiction, and no amount of 1's and 0's is going to change that"

+ very good point about old tunes. i love a lot of the new releases from a load of different labels, but because i'm young, i've missed a lot of old tunes. so i'm going back, getting to know, finding some gems.

[hendramarshall]

a) still buys loads of records from many other genres
b) does not live in england, and therefore has to pay higher shipping fees for buying vinyl
c) is still a student, and rather poor at that

i am all of these things and i still buy vinyl, all the spare money i have goes to it essentially... so i wouldnt say its terribly efficient but i just love having them. also wouldnt say i buy loads of records from other genres but there is a decent mixture of house, old hiphop, reggae, disco, jazz etc in the bag for sure

edit: though i gotta say you are right abt not being able to afford all the tunes i want... not even close... kinda makes the collection more special tho when i have to think extra hard abt weather i really want a record or not.

[exfox]

a) still buys loads of records from many other genres
b) does not live in england, and therefore has to pay higher shipping fees for buying vinyl
c) is still a student, and rather poor at that

i am all of these things and i still buy vinyl, all the spare money i have goes to it essentially... so i wouldnt say its terribly efficient but i just love having them. also wouldnt say i buy loads of records from other genres but there is a decent mixture of house, old hiphop, reggae, disco, jazz etc in the bag for sure

edit: though i gotta say you are right abt not being able to afford all the tunes i want... not even close... kinda makes the collection more special tho when i have to think extra hard abt weather i really want a record or not.

hmm, I don't know. To each their own I guess; might also have to do with the fact that even though I now listen to more electronic music than other genres, I was an indie rock fan in the first place, and thus am perhaps more of an album guy? I don't know. Still, the fact is there: I have now over 450 CDs in my collection and not a single vinyl ! I guess in the end it's all about one's taste and musical background - which is also more interesting than the format he collects his music in, I believe -.

[hendramarshall]

a) still buys loads of records from many other genres
b) does not live in england, and therefore has to pay higher shipping fees for buying vinyl
c) is still a student, and rather poor at that

i am all of these things and i still buy vinyl, all the spare money i have goes to it essentially... so i wouldnt say its terribly efficient but i just love having them. also wouldnt say i buy loads of records from other genres but there is a decent mixture of house, old hiphop, reggae, disco, jazz etc in the bag for sure

edit: though i gotta say you are right abt not being able to afford all the tunes i want... not even close... kinda makes the collection more special tho when i have to think extra hard abt weather i really want a record or not.

hmm, I don't know. To each their own I guess; might also have to do with the fact that even though I now listen to more electronic music than other genres, I was an indie rock fan in the first place, and thus am perhaps more of an album guy? I don't know. Still, the fact is there: I have now over 450 CDs in my collection and not a single vinyl ! I guess in the end it's all about one's taste and musical background - which is also more interesting than the format he collects his music in, I believe -.

yessir i absolutely agree with you on the background thingy... as someone who DJs there is nothing like the feel of mixing vinyl and that is a HUGE part of why i buy it!

[JBoy]

Obviously it depends on the purchase. If its a single or ep then definately the vinyl version, theres just something that i love about collecting records. I do purchase a lot of cd's though and the guys right when he says its nice to see a series such as the allstars cd's all lined up on a shelf. Whats the fun in buying digitally, if i want something on my ipod, i'll just rip the cd onto itunes.

[exfox]

a) still buys loads of records from many other genres
b) does not live in england, and therefore has to pay higher shipping fees for buying vinyl
c) is still a student, and rather poor at that

i am all of these things and i still buy vinyl, all the spare money i have goes to it essentially... so i wouldnt say its terribly efficient but i just love having them. also wouldnt say i buy loads of records from other genres but there is a decent mixture of house, old hiphop, reggae, disco, jazz etc in the bag for sure

edit: though i gotta say you are right abt not being able to afford all the tunes i want... not even close... kinda makes the collection more special tho when i have to think extra hard abt weather i really want a record or not.

hmm, I don't know. To each their own I guess; might also have to do with the fact that even though I now listen to more electronic music than other genres, I was an indie rock fan in the first place, and thus am perhaps more of an album guy? I don't know. Still, the fact is there: I have now over 450 CDs in my collection and not a single vinyl ! I guess in the end it's all about one's taste and musical background - which is also more interesting than the format he collects his music in, I believe -.

yessir i absolutely agree with you on the background thingy... as someone who DJs there is nothing like the feel of mixing vinyl and that is a HUGE part of why i buy it!

gotta agree with you on this. though I don't DJ myself - wish I could -, I can totally see how you would feel better mixing vinyl, with your hands in direct contact with the music, than CD or digital. Though I do not complain when I see CDjs or digital DJs - as a listener, I believe the most important thing is what you hear, not how the artist is playing it -, I can understand why mixing vinyl just feels better for the artist himself.

[Input_1]

good too see everyone's opinions on this!

agreeing with the whole physical collection vibe, cd or vinyl. my collection is growing fast, love having them there in my room, seeing the sleeves together, the artwork on EPs/LPs. it's like an extension of yourself almost, your music. much prefer a big stack of records than a list of names on a screen.

[hendramarshall]

much prefer a big stack of records than a list of names on a screen.

yes this! also exfox, i agree what you hear is the most important thing and thats also a reason i buy vinyl... for that warm, crisp sound a good pressing provides.

[DZA]

Can only get old grime on vinyl so i vote vinyl

[Input_1]

much prefer a big stack of records than a list of names on a screen.

yes this!

along the lines of what dubloke said first!

[exfox]

agreeing with the whole physical collection vibe, cd or vinyl. my collection is growing fast, love having them there in my room, seeing the sleeves together, the artwork on EPs/LPs. it's like an extension of yourself almost, your music. much prefer a big stack of records than a list of names on a screen.

this.

@hendramarshall: I'm no audiophile myself, so I must say this does not really count for me - though I know a lot of people would agree with you on that, personnaly I'm not that attracted to that "vinyl sound", though I totally respect that most people would enjoy it -. When I said that the most important thing is what you hear, I primarily meant the tune itself, rather than the quality of it. Though once again, I can see how people would prefer how vinyl sounds - just not my thing

[triggy]

I've bought it all in my past, Cds mainly for Rock, metal, more live music mainly, apart from Rinse releases and a few Compilations etc. Digital and vinyl for Dubstep. Vinyl is obviously lot more more nice though, for reasons that have been explained on this forum thousands of times before so I wont go through again. It just feels alot more natural and nice, I tend to only get digital for dubstep if I wouldnt play it out at a gig (I have quite a small room so all space counts for something.) Pressed 2 of my own tracks to vinyl a little while ago and nothing compares to that!

I really dont think the Urban Ethnics release should be released digitally, theres not really any need.

[Input_1]

. Vinyl is obviously lot more more nice though, for reasons that have been explained on this forum thousands of times before so I wont go through again.

Pressed 2 of my own tracks to vinyl a little while ago and nothing compares to that!

yeah yeah, hopefully digital vs analogue war number 718783718637 wont break out on this one hahaha.

can't imagine what that must be like, hopefully i will do the same one day.

[garethom]

Since I started collecting vinyl, it's the only way I truly feel like I own the piece of music. Since it's a lot more expensive than digital, I spend a lot more time listening to the music before making a decision on buying it, so every piece on my shelf has real value to me.

When I'm buying digital tunes, because they're so cheap, I hardly think before making the purchase, so whilst I do have a lot of tunes on my hard-drive (all of which I like), nothing beats the tracks I have on vinyl. Not really seriously into producing, but would love to have even one release on it one day.

[NRHc]

I'll just say that before I knew about dubstep and bass music in general,I was a tnuc who downloaded music for free on the internet and I was being a complete idiot about it(like saying to people wow! youre stupid you can download this for free on the internet!!)Then I've discovered dubstep and bass music and at the same time discovered all of the vinyl culture and the respect this scene has,and it changed me completely.I was mad not being able to listen to dmz exept in mixes and whatnot.So I went to my local music store,bought two stantons and an Ecler mixer.Started buying vinyl and DJing.Now I even produce and make tracks I can be proud of.All of this because of the DMZ crew and the Vinyl only policy that they have.So anybody saying that this is stupid and they should go digital think about it... Over the sales they will lose,If they convert 20 people like me to go buy all this stuff and to start to build a vinyl collection,then it's well worth it!
So all I've got to say is:
Thank you Mala,Thank you Coki and Thank you loefah for having me discover the wonderful joys of vinyl
(sorry if some parts aren't clear,my primary language is french)
Halfbak3d