Vinyl Outsells CDs For the First Time in Decades

Hmm, I have Scary Monsters on RCA. I forgot that might have some value.

 

What is the truth about Covid? Pull the plug. We're toast

 

Oh the vinyl buying suckers!

 

So more money is made from record sales because records cost a lot more, doesn't take a genius to figure out this would eventually happen. The ''fact'' that it took this long for it to happen says a lot, call me when more records than CDs are actually sold.

 

Does anyone know if the playback of cd's causes them damage with each spin? It is my understanding that a stylus dragging across a vinyl platter's grooves causes a little degradation with each play, but what about a laser on a compact disc? Are you 'burning' the cd with each playback, just a little?

 

Yes, I am a tennis fan, and having a vinyl version of a digitally recorded album is kind of like if the French Open, which is traditionally played on a red clay surface, were to switch to a concrete surface but paint the concrete red so as to look like the traditional clay surface, LOL.

 

There are some CDs that I have played pretty regularly for over 35 years, and I've never noticed that. To my ears, all my oldest CDs play exactly the same as they did when I bought them back in the 1980s. I've never been unfortunate to get a disc with "CD rot" or anything like that.

I assume that my ears have changed more during that time than the CDs have, LOL.

 

Seriously? Even the RIAA doesn't award gold or platinum records based on revenue, but rather units sold. I've never heard anyone ever discuss the sales of a single or an album in any metric other than units sold. As in "Born in the USA has sold 15 million copies". I've never heard anyone ever say "Born in the USA has earned $300 million in sales revenue". Ever.

Now, that's not true of other forms of entertainment. E.g., I follow movie box office, and regarding movies, it's the opposite - movie box office is almost always discussed in terms of dollar revenue grossed, not tickets sold. The common language is "Toy Story 4 made $200 million at the box office this past weekend", not "Toy Story 4 sold 27 million tickets this past weekend".

But in music, it's all about the units.

 

I mainly listen to vinyl and still buy 1 or 2 a month, but I have been seeing this article with the same headline "Vinyl outsells CDs for first time" for several years now. I call BS

 

Planning on it, thanks.

 

I buy used CD's to vinyl at about a 10 to 1 ratio right now. Too cheap to pass up.

Not sure how long this will last of course, given that unit sales are obviously still dropping. But right now it's still a buyer's market, as long as there's CD's for people to donate / sell cheaply. I will say that at boot sales, lot more CD's five years back than I see lately.

 

Look at the report....huge drop in CD units sold. If that continues (and I thought it wouldn't, I thought it would have leveled off by now) then vinyl stands to sell more units than CD's by next year.

Wish I knew why that drop was so huge. I'm guessing it wasn't necessarily consumers, maybe it was companies that stopped buying them...offices, schools, libraries, etc. I know my local county stopped buying CD's for the library system about two years ago.

 

If that happens so be it, i'll continue to buy both formats, but i wouldn't be so quick to make any future predictions based on the results of anything that happened in 2020. In case some people haven't noticed it's been far from your typical year, and we're only three fourths of the way there.

 

What about all the choads in this thread with the, “Enjoy your clicks and pops, vinyl buying suckers.” comments? Much worse.

 

Anyone else incredibly disheartened to see members of an audiophile forum crapping on the last two physical media music formats in existence??

 

I don't recall anyone talking like this in the 80s. Honestly, I don't think most people talk like that except for a small minority of music lovers.

 

what's your number? i'll give ya a call in a few months when the end of year sales are in.

 

To think this all started when the record companies decided to phase out the 45 RPM record.

 

cool story. i take out the pretty splatter vinyl of the album that was released this week. maybe in 40 years someone will be spinning the new black vinyl version of that album.

 

People never talked about how vinyl was a superior format. That debate was reserved for the various tape formats. But, you did have the stereo fans vs. the quad fans. Most non-audiophiles just bought whatever format suited them. The tapers either chose cassette or reel-to-reel.

I know one guy who used to buy the vinyl album and the 8-track tape versions of the same title so he could play one at home and one in the car.

 

the format wars are so boring at this point, but as a mostly vinyl guy i love all the comments about buying used cds. uh, we're talking about new album sales here, folks. i could brag about all the 25 cent records i bought back in the day during the cd boom.

 

and now in many cases you can buy the vinyl album and you get a free download for the car!

 

I'm just glad I know how to rip CDs and make needledrops. I will not be confined to playing a record at home. I don't like streaming.

 

i have enough in every format to keep me busy. records, cds, tapes, 8tracks, mp3s, rtr...

 

They’re so cheap because they’re worthless...