djThunderfunk said:
djdaffy1227 said:
That's about the average price for a 45 in 2018. This isn't 1984 anymore
Considering the price they had for the 12" Reissues ($12.98), $9.98 for a 7" is high. It's not like it's 180gm or even colored vinyl (I got the black one).
My store also has a couple LPs I haven't picked up yet, but, I'll never pay $28.98 for the Purple Rain Remaster LP. I don't understand what the point of that one is. It's stupid to port a new digital remaster to vinyl. The original pressings sound great (since they were actually mastered FOR vinyl), the new remaster sounds so bad I haven't listened to the CD since the day I bought it. If I want to listen to the album on vinyl I'll play the original. I would love to have the new one in my collection (the silver cover is cool looking), but, since I'll never play it, the most I'd pay is the $15 range. Now, if they put out a 2LP set of disc 2 from the deluxe edition, I'll drop some $ for it, but, I'm not interested in a 5LP box set of the whole deluxe edition. I paid less for the Deluxe 3CD+DVD than they're charging for this horrible sounding single LP. Just sayin'..
They also have the 4Ever 4LP box set. That one is niiiice looking, but, $58.98 is again more than I'll pay for essentially 1 song that I don't have on vinyl yet. I might have to ask for that one for my birthday or Christmas...
I guess it's a good thing that I still have my collection of original vinyl, it's all in good shape and still sounds great. The only way I can justify these prices is for stuff I don't already have on vinyl (bring on Black Album, D&P and all the albums that never got a vinyl release originally!!), and even that, is pushing it.
The truth is, I'm not sold on the quality control for vinyl production these days. A friend of mine buys lots of new vinyl. Every month he's handing me a stack of his newest hauls and asking me to needle-drop a digital copy for him. Some of them sound good, but just as many sound bad. When a brand new record doesn't sound as good as a 30 or 40 year-old record that has been played quite a bit, there's a problem. I don't know. Maybe most of the people buying new records are playing them on a cheap turntable hooked up to the same shitty speakers they listen to mp3s on and can't tell the difference. I listen to vinyl because in the best conditions, I prefer the sound over digital. When it's not the best conditions, when the vinyl doesn't sound "better", why bother?
I realize that some buy vinyl to collect, not to listen to (I buy for BOTH reasons). For those that keep their records sealed, never to be spun with a needle in the groove, I suppose these issues are not important. Of course, I know you're playing yours, daffy!
[Edited 6/1/18 8:34am]
You're right about new vinyl. As much as I love the idea of collecting vinyl, I'm finding that the quality control in a lot of newer pressings is lacking. I don't even consider myself to be an audiophile or a stickler for perfect sound, but if I can hear the flaws in a pressing without even listening for them, it says a lot.
A few years ago, I bought the AudioTechnica LP-120 turntable. The first album I played was the Cocteau Twins' Heaven or Las Vegas remastered pressing. I had just taken the shrink wrap off, so I was playing the album for the first time. I played the first 2 songs and kept thinking the low end sounded muddy. The third song sounded like they used a compressed MP3 as the source. So, I thought to myself, "Well, maybe I didn't set up the turntable correctly." I spent the next couple hours rebalancing the tonearm and making sure the turntable was level and making all kinds of crazy adjustments. The album still sounded muddy and compressed. After I played a few other albums that I had played before, I realized it was just a shitty remaster and pressing.
I also bought both of the Cure RSD picture disc releases this year. The dics have a lot of surface noise and pops throughout, even though it was the first time I had played the records.
I wish they'd just re-release a lot of older hard-to-find albums on vinyl as is without remastering the albums. Why remaster something that was mastered for vinyl in the first place?