I saw this earlier on CNN.com and found it quite interesting, especially knowing there are quite a few vinylphiles here like myself.

(CNN) -- Chuck Thieroff of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, couldn't escape the Beatles in the early 1960s. He would hear singles such as "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" what seemed like a thousand times a day on the radio and the sound just knocked him out.

Not long after being introduced to the British sensation, Thieroff bought two Beatles albums. Before long, he was hooked on vinyl.

Since he started collecting more than 45 years ago, Thieroff has traveled the country looking for the perfect LP. He currently owns around 4,000 albums, but at one time his collection exceeded more than 25,000 records.

Vinyl records are still a big part of Thieroff's life today, as he currently sells and trades albums. He recently started writing a blog about his collecting adventures called "In Search of the Sound".

CNN asked iReporters to tell us why they love vinyl in an era of digital music. Dozens of responses came in from people of all ages. Some had been listening for decades, while others fell in love with LPs after discovering their parents' or friends' collections.

iReporter Neil Azevedo, general manager of Drastic Plastic Records, an album store and record label in Omaha, Nebraska, fell in love with vinyl at age 11 when he bought the record that he says changed his life, The Clash's self-titled album.

"MP3s are to listening to music as McDonald's is to supper," Azevedo said. "It'll keep you from starving but is in no way meant to and only approximately touches on the authentic experience of what [listening to music] can possibly be."

For many, the need for vinyl in today's world of digital music seems obsolete, but those, like Thieroff, who still listen to vinyl, say that nothing can replace the authentic sound they hear every time they place the needle on the wax.

"I just love records," Thieroff said. "I love how they feel in my hand. I love the liner notes on the back cover. I love the musty smell of a stack of LPs in somebody's game room or garage as I search for a new treasure. I love putting a record on the turntable and placing the tone arm on the vinyl as I await anxiously to hear some new song that I have never heard before or perhaps an old song that I haven't heard in years."

Vinyl might never be what is once was due to the popularity and convenience of digital music, but it's not dying anytime soon. Vinyl sales increased 33 percent from 1.8 million in 2008 to 2.5 million in 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan. And though that accounts for less than 1 percent of all music sales, it is a record high for vinyl since Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991.

Some iReporters predict that if anything will be dying out soon, it would most likely be the CD. Vinyl aficionados say records hold more sentimental value than CDs do.

"[Vinyl] is much more tangible and personable than clicking skip or scrolling through lists of songs," said iReporter Tim McGuire from Marietta, Georgia.

Jason Krutzky, a musician from Atlanta, Georgia, joked that vinyl might even outlive the MP3.

"I've only had my MacBook Pro for a year and it's already crashed once, so, technically, my records have already outlived all my MP3s once," he said.

iReporters shared that they preferred vinyl over other music formats because of the distinct sound it produces, the participation role involved with listening to vinyl and the alluring visuals that adorn album covers.

"There is no sweeter sound in music than that vinyl crackle," says former radio promoter and A&R representative Beth Alice from New York City. "It's kind of poetic, balanced and imperfect at the same time. A digital track may have the perfect sound and timing, but it hasn't got the soul of vinyl."

Most agreed that digital music is convenient, but it's not they way the song was made to be heard. Most music was and still is recorded with analog technology and does not transfer perfectly to a digital format. And since vinyl is not instantaneous -- it takes extra time and effort to play a song -- it makes you appreciate the music more than listening on an iPod does.

Caroline Grand, a 14-year-old who recently discovered vinyl after finding a collection of records in her grandmother's attic says, "I love the experience of listening to music in the exact format in which it was originally produced ... [The artists] intended for [the songs] to be played on vinyl records, not flat MP3s. Vinyl takes more work. You have to flip it over and set the right speed. I like that user participation part."

Record collectors and listeners also enjoy the extra perks such as the artwork on the album cover or the extra poster or knickknacks that sometimes come with an album.

"I have a four-record Nitty Gritty Dirt Band greatest hits that have something like 16 panels, original poster art, rare photos, etc," comedian and musician Zach Selwyn said. "You can't get that in an MP3 or CD."

iReporter Damo Musclecar, a musician from Melbourne, Australia, found an oversized dollar poster when he bought a copy of Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Babies". "These are things I would never find inside a CD...I like these kinds of things. I feel I am being rewarded for making such a purchase.

"But perhaps the best part about vinyl is that it's tangible, iReporters say. It is something you can hold, unlike an MP3. Because it is tangible, it holds more meaning than a file on your computer.

"Vinyl prompts you to look at the cover, turn it over, read the notes, pass it around. Has anyone ever passed me an MP3 and said 'look at this'? Not so much," said iReporter Noel Mayeske from Atlanta, Georgia.

Mayeske, a father of two, said he's making sure that his two little boys know the wonders of vinyl. He proudly shares that his son is one of the few 6-year-olds with a turntable and a collection of 45s. For Mayeske, vinyl will live on for many more years, "at least in two little boys from south Atlanta!"

vinyl was great until you got a scratch. and had to buy a new copy.

or it was left out of the jacket, and warped.

certainly vinyl made it easy (sorta) to go from track 1 to track 3 without playing track 2, but cd is so much easier, and mp3 well....

I'll never forget how one day I bought a new George Harrison lp....and there was a manufacturing defect so one of the songs skipped. I brought it back to Sam Goody for another copy. and it skipped just like the first one. same with the 3rd and 4th copy.

not that cd's arent immune, they can skip too if you get scatches on them.

the ONLY thing i miss about vinyl is the album covers. usually they held a wealth of information, or the inner jacket had the lyrics, or the picture had hidden messages.

I don't remember hearing popping and cracking before 1987-88. I honestly think there wasn't any, only occasionally. But then it was hell. At the time I thought new vinyl was worse quality . It got so unbearable that Christmas 88 I got my first CD player ans completely stopped playing my LPs.

It was hard because I had quite a nice LP collection and only a few CDs at the beginning.

Today, in my 40s I still buy CDs like I'm possesed. I don't miss vinyl at all. I still keep one or two hundred albums I never got rid of somewhere in the house.

And yes, artwork is the only thing I miss. Lying on the sofa, listening to that new album and studying every corner of the cover, reading the names of every person involved and such...

Oh my

PANDURITO said:

And yes, artwork is the only thing I miss. Lying on the sofa, listening to that new album and studying every corner of the cover, reading the names of every person involved and such...

I think some people miss having the passion to take the time to do this more than the vinyl itself.

BlackAdder7 said:

vinyl was great until you got a scratch. and had to buy a new copy.

or it was left out of the jacket, and warped.

certainly vinyl made it easy (sorta) to go from track 1 to track 3 without playing track 2, but cd is so much easier, and mp3 well....

I'll never forget how one day I bought a new George Harrison lp....and there was a manufacturing defect so one of the songs skipped. I brought it back to Sam Goody for another copy. and it skipped just like the first one. same with the 3rd and 4th copy.

not that cd's arent immune, they can skip too if you get scatches on them.

the ONLY thing i miss about vinyl is the album covers. usually they held a wealth of information, or the inner jacket had the lyrics, or the picture had hidden messages.

I bought Lovesexy and it skipped too... but I found out later that if you have cheaper needle and arm, that bass notes can pop the needle and make it skip. That might be what was happening with the Harrison LP.

Once in awhile I will break out the vinyl collection for my kids. Then I take them over to grandma and grandpa's house so that they can see and hear, if we are lucky, some old 8-track recordings.

Always have and always will have that special love for my Vinyl ...

I have several friends who either refuse to help me move or will specify, "everything but your records". Yes, I looooove vinyl! And it makes me SOOOO happy that sales are on the up.

ME.

..after stumbling across old records of mine i thought had been gone for over 24 years..

was told they had been sent to a brother of mine who lives in NY..

from another thread in music non-prince, because it got me to wondering what could be out in the back room in thos shelves of albums>>> 'jack's records' (my stepdads)

i looked thru all of them just to see what was there...

and discovered MY records in the midst of them!!!!!

and all that time i thought they were irretrieveably gone..

MJ's thriller, Jackson's victory, Dr Hook's greatest hits,the stray cats,

the poodles..there were a few that werent there..

peb319 said:

ME.

..after stumbling across old records of mine i thought had been gone for over 24 years..

was told they had been sent to a brother of mine who lives in NY..

from another thread in music non-prince, because it got me to wondering what could be out in the back room in thos shelves of albums>>> 'jack's records' (my stepdads)

i looked thru all of them just to see what was there...

and discovered MY records in the midst of them!!!!!

and all that time i thought they were irretrieveably gone..

MJ's thriller, Jackson's victory, Dr Hook's greatest hits,the stray cats,

the poodles..there were a few that werent there..

I have my vinyls in the basement, and once in awhile I look through it and wonder why I saved one album over another (did I really need to hang onto that Pable Cruise record?...Hall and Oates?..what was I thinking) and I'll find a chestnut like a rolling stones boot, or....:shy: Chocolate Box on vinyl:shh:

ufoclub said:

BlackAdder7 said:

vinyl was great until you got a scratch. and had to buy a new copy.

or it was left out of the jacket, and warped.

certainly vinyl made it easy (sorta) to go from track 1 to track 3 without playing track 2, but cd is so much easier, and mp3 well....

I'll never forget how one day I bought a new George Harrison lp....and there was a manufacturing defect so one of the songs skipped. I brought it back to Sam Goody for another copy. and it skipped just like the first one. same with the 3rd and 4th copy.

not that cd's arent immune, they can skip too if you get scatches on them.

the ONLY thing i miss about vinyl is the album covers. usually they held a wealth of information, or the inner jacket had the lyrics, or the picture had hidden messages.

I bought Lovesexy and it skipped too... but I found out later that if you have cheaper needle and arm, that bass notes can pop the needle and make it skip. That might be what was happening with the Harrison LP.

My Lovesexy album skips too, and I know it does not have any scratches in it. I think it might be the way it is mastered?

I love vinyl. I am listening to some right now.

Vendetta1 said:

I love vinyl. I am listening to some right now.

Whatcha spinnin'?

jone70 said:

ufoclub said:

I bought Lovesexy and it skipped too... but I found out later that if you have cheaper needle and arm, that bass notes can pop the needle and make it skip. That might be what was happening with the Harrison LP.

My Lovesexy album skips too, and I know it does not have any scratches in it. I think it might be the way it is mastered?

I think I might have one that skips, too! That would be the way it was pressed. Interesting.

I might also have three copies of the I Wish U Heaven 12" and two of SOTT 12". I've just straight worn them out over the years and can't bring myself to toss the old ones.

ernestsewell said:

Vendetta1 said:

I love vinyl. I am listening to some right now.

Whatcha spinnin'?

Right now, the best of New Birth.

Even though I grew up in the CD Generation (which is now becoming the MP3 Generation), I would love if we could go back to having Vinyl listening..I like the fact of owning a Physical thing for music, it gives everything a better feeling..You could actually collect the music and have something to hold, can't do that with MP3's sadly. Although people sitll collect Vinyl, it's more of a Collectors hobby more than anything.

Anyone else a bit saddened by this whole aspect of Non-Physical music?

PurpleColossus said:

Even though I grew up in the CD Generation (which is now becoming the MP3 Generation), I would love if we could go back to having Vinyl listening..I like the fact of owning a Physical thing for music, it gives everything a better feeling..You could actually collect the music and have something to hold, can't do that with MP3's sadly. Although people sitll collect Vinyl, it's more of a Collectors hobby more than anything.

Anyone else a bit saddened by this whole aspect of Non-Physical music?

Newer music doesn't mean jack to me, but stuff from the 70s and 80s.....just looking at those album covers spark wonderful memories in me.

jone70 said:

ufoclub said:

I bought Lovesexy and it skipped too... but I found out later that if you have cheaper needle and arm, that bass notes can pop the needle and make it skip. That might be what was happening with the Harrison LP.

My Lovesexy album skips too, and I know it does not have any scratches in it. I think it might be the way it is mastered?

I bought a copy of Lovesexy and had this issue of skipping, so I got another one, in near-mint condition. Same problem.

^^^ Bad stylus?

ernestsewell said:

^^^ Bad stylus?

It really sounds like there must have been a bad pressing. Since four or five people have already mentioned the same problem. Be interesting to compare where it skips and what numbers are etched on the vinyl. I do have a copy that plays just fine, though.

Cerebus said:

ernestsewell said:

^^^ Bad stylus?

It really sounds like there must have been a bad pressing. Since four or five people have already mentioned the same problem. Be interesting to compare where it skips and what numbers are etched on the vinyl. I do have a copy that plays just fine, though.

I actually tend to agree, esp if the skip is in the same spot(s). I never bought things after 1986 on vinyl because I was in the Navy and doing other stuff. Of course I've went back and bought things since. I do not have a copy of Lovesexy on vinyl though. Now I'm interested to get a copy and see what happens. I do have the three 12" singles from the album though.

Can some of you guys w/ the skipping Lovesexy album find and print the numbers etched on the vinyl, and where the skips are? Might be an interesting comparison for folks.

ernestsewell said:

Cerebus said:

It really sounds like there must have been a bad pressing. Since four or five people have already mentioned the same problem. Be interesting to compare where it skips and what numbers are etched on the vinyl. I do have a copy that plays just fine, though.

I actually tend to agree, esp if the skip is in the same spot(s). I never bought things after 1986 on vinyl because I was in the Navy and doing other stuff. Of course I've went back and bought things since. I do not have a copy of Lovesexy on vinyl though. Now I'm interested to get a copy and see what happens. I do have the three 12" singles from the album though.

Can some of you guys w/ the skipping Lovesexy album find and print the numbers etched on the vinyl, and where the skips are? Might be an interesting comparison for folks.

I'll do it tomorrow - just for giggles. Don't feel like listening to both albums right now. I don't remember which one has the skip.

I will never give up my vinyl and my turntable...NEVER!

I still buy records and play them. I love looking at the album art and reading the notes, plus some albums even had artwork and lyrics on the inside sleeve and a big ol' poster too...good times.

I can barely see the details on a cd case without glasses,

People there's nothing wrong with the vinyl... it's the turntable/arm/needle.

I found these tips online, but I'm sure Warner's knew how to master their albums. I got a new needle for my turntable back in 1988 and Lovesexy didn't skip in Eye No anymore.

"Here's my suggestions:
* center the bass frequencies - if you have things like two different simultaneous bass lines panned left & right or stereo chorusing or flanging effects on the bass it will make it extremely difficult to have your record cut with a hot level because if bass freq's aren't phase coherent the groove will actually become narrower in these parts leading to the potential for a skip.

* tame sibilance - it's a really good idea to run a de-esser on any vocal tracks that have a lot of sibilance. esses and t's can produce a burst of high frequencies which will just distort when played back on vinyl. The solution the cutting engineer can do to make sure this doesn't happen is to just put the whole mix through a de-esser - but it's a lot more transparent if you can take care of this during the mix instead.

* avoid excessive high end!! - ultra high frequencies above 15kHz tend to just cause distortion if there is a lot of them and if there are way too much of them will actually smoke the cutting head! Avoid boosting any of the highs above around 8kHz on your mix. If you are looking to add "presence" or brightness focus your boosts in the upper mid areas around 3-6kHz.

* don't clip your wave forms!!!! - clipped wave forms with squared tops will often break up really really quick when transferred to vinyl master at a hot level. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to clip your wav forms on a pre-master destined for vinyl. While it's a popular way to achieve extreme average levels for a CD master it will actually make the cutting engineer cut your record quieter than if you're wav forms have nice natural rounded tops. I've seen lots of people introduce clicks and pops into their master because they clipped their audio way too excessively and didn't notice it because of their crappy monitoring - so I think it's best to completely avoid this problem and make -0.3dbFs your output ceiling.

* go light with the limiter!! - while a little peak limiting to tame the big transients can actually be a really helpful for keeping even levels the current squash settings used on a lot of digital masters will actually make things distort more quickly because in overly limited material instead of the peaks on the vinyl master being nice round bottom transients all the upper mids are forced to the top too . Remember dBfs does not translate into dBvu!!! - the levels that go to your vinyl master are actually set by the cutting engineer - so if you're questioning how much limiting or compression to use communicate with the cutting engineer and let them apply what they see fit to do.

* keep it "clean" - any distortion in the digital realm tends to become more noticeable when transferred to vinyl

* sequence thoughtfully - the inner grooves will always be a little more susceptible to distortion than the outer ones - so it's always a best idea to keep the cuts you want to be the hottest for the 1st or 2nd tracks and have the last track on the side be an instrumental or acapella or quieter passage.

* keep the side lengths realistic. For max level (around +6dbVu) on a 12" "competitive" dance single keep the side length to around 12 minutes max for 33-1/3 and 9 minutes max for 45rpm.

For LP sides I'd say make 26 minutes a side your maximum unless you want to possibly encounter problems with scuffing and low signal to noise ratio when the records are pressed. With long sides remember that the cutting engineer must make a compromise between bass response and level in order to fit more grooves onto the side - so if you want a really long LP side remember that you'll probably have to sacrifice some of the low end.


Hope that helps.

Best regards,
Steve Berson"

ernestsewell said:

^^^ Bad stylus?

I don't know. It's an old system, definitely, but I use it for a couple of hours pretty much everyday and don't have a problem with any album except the two copies of Lovesexy I have.

Yes, i still listen to it, i have over 100 tracks released on vinyl, always sounds better on plastic than cd.

Marvelette said:

ernestsewell said:

^^^ Bad stylus?

I don't know. It's an old system, definitely, but I use it for a couple of hours pretty much everyday and don't have a problem with any album except the two copies of Lovesexy I have.

do you recall what part skips?

As I've mention before . . .

As much as I love vinyl, I wasn't listening to my collection, maybe 20 percent if I was lucky. Thank goodness for the digital media servers.

Vinyl was the way to listen to "All My Dreams".

I also have the only copy of The Shining soundtrack I have ever seen on vinyl. I don't even see that on Ebay. It must be ultra rare. Got it in 1983 in a bargain bin in a mall record store.

Too bad I wore it out listening to it over and over!

I still have vinyl AND 8-tracks.

I don't play them as much as I used to, for fear of ruining them, but I love my stuff.

My "West Side Story" LP molded in a flood.

*Remember having to put a nickel on the arm to keep a record from skipping back in the day? I used to do that with my Jackson 5 45s.