What did you enjoy more if you experienced all of them, buying new LPs, cassettes or cds?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by 80steen, Apr 20, 2022.

  1. 80steen

    80steen John McClane Thread Starter

    Location:
    West Virginia
    I enjoyed shopping for all three at different points, based on what my player was at the time. In the early to late 80s I bought LPs and it was great having a big physical product to own. In the late 80s and very early 90s, I switched to cassettes and that was more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I kinda dug my rows of cassette tapes and even the fact that they didn't take up much space. I also recall when digitally remastered music and box sets was still being put out on cassettes. I had a few cassette box sets which was really cool at the time. Naturally, I moved on to cds and although I probably enjoyed buying individual cds the most, because it was a better investment, the agony of rebuying most of my vinyl and cassette collection was a struggle that most of us experienced that took years. But I guess CDs still win because I knew I was also getting the great convenience of skipping tracks and it being much more difficult to malfunction. Plus cd box sets are the best.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2022
  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    In 79/80 I started buying music ... I was all about records. I never liked or trusted cassettes.... I think I bought 10 or less in my entire life, except for blanks for the 4-track recorder.

    I never had an issue with records, except the odd flaw here and there.
    When cd's came out I jumped right onboard, I was young, working, living at home and had a disposable income, so I got a player, and started the hunt for cd's in earnest.

    In the early eighties i was buying records and cd's, based on what was available.
    I would have just bought cds, but sometimes they weren't around, so a record would have to do.

    As for which I enjoyed most?
    It was about the music.
    I prefer cd's, because for me personally, a well produced and mastered cd is a way cleaner and better sound than a record... but there is a nostalgia attached to records which isn't likely to go away.
    Cassettes .... meh, still don't like them
     
  3. fishcane

    fishcane Dirt Farmer

    Location:
    Finger Lakes,NY
    I picked LPs but nothing beat getting a buncha fnew XL-II 90 Dead tapes from a trader in the mail
     
  4. Nimby

    Nimby Rotten hound of the burnie crew

    Location:
    Lewis, Scotland.
    My preference was always for LPs, I didn’t start gathering a CD collection until the late 90s, and didn’t give up on LPs until I moved a long distance and had to majorly reduce the bulk of my possessions.
    Cassettes were for ROIOs, and undergound releases on obscure Cassette Labels, a world of which I’m still a part.

    sleeve artwork was always much better on LP format, plus sometimes there’d be a huge poster included. With CDs, such posters remain small.
     
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  5. healter skealter

    healter skealter Human animal

    LPs.

    The 'no surface noise' novelty of CDs was initially attractive, but soon wore off when I realised that even noisy vinyls provided a better sound quality.

    I predict zero votes for cassettes.
     
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  6. dsdu

    dsdu less serious minor pest

    Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
    The feeling of the Edison wax cylinder in my hands on hot sunny days while riding back home in my horse and buggy is one that can never be beat by any of those newfangled technologies.
     
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  7. Whizz Kid

    Whizz Kid Forum Resident

    I go back to early 1970s for my first records… started with 7” singles and then LPs as I could afford them… so obviously that is my most fondly remembered experience. There was a whole lifestyle built around the saving for, the shopping for, the carrying home and opening of beautiful new LPs… pouring over the cover art and spinning the records. I was always a bit uptight about caring for, cleaning and filing my albums… it amazed me how other folks were a whole lot more… erm… cavalier about it. LPs had their downsides of course… inherently fragile and not very portable… but they were plentiful and relatively cheap to buy… until the time around 1976 that I was convinced that only UK imports of everything would do.

    I got on the CD bandwagon along with everyone else… but it was never the same. Even at the time, I was suspicious of the hype and the supposed high-tech scarcity that resulted in the crazy high prices. There was definitely an element of 1980s yuppie consumerism involved… buy this new shiny space-age thing because, well, you can!! They came in a “jewel” case… they must be valuable. Sure, they sounded great… but it was never the same record-buying experience.

    Pre-recorded cassettes I never ever understood… never bought them at all. Poorly manufactured (labels printed right on the plastic??), cheap packaging, and the sound of the tapes was terrible… always seemed blah and Dolby NR-ed to death.

    I did do a lot of home recording on blank cassettes, tho’… there was a whole twenty+ years when that was the only way to take your music with you, especially in the car. Those were great sounding… particularly the CDs transferred to tape.
     
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  8. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
    I enjoyed the music. Format was irrelevant to me in the beginning. I eventually settled on CDs, but was happy to listen to music in any format.
     
  9. Gary the Aggie

    Gary the Aggie Forum Resident

    I can’t say buying cassettes for me was ever “enjoyable”. I mostly did it to have a mobile version of an LP I already owned.

    CDs were fun to shop for, but I missed the large form of the 12” disc. By the time CDs came along, though, I was well into my 20s and with career and family my days of lazily shopping the local record shops were gone.
     
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  10. NettleBed

    NettleBed Forum Transient

    Location:
    new york city
    I bought all of them new, as I've gone through periods where each has been my primary physical media of choice.

    I can't say I considered the experience different, as I was always buying them for the music, and buying one format over another doesn't make that much of a difference to the experience, when buying new (the topic of this thread) If forced to choose I guess I'd go with CD, as I was buying CDs during the 1990s and most of the 2000s, during peak era of record stores, and so most of my memories of liking a certain band and heading over to the record store to buy the new releases (and other stuff!) and talking with clerks and generally basking in the record store experience happened during that time.

    For buying used, IMO, nothing beats the experience of hunting for vinyl, but that's out of scope for this thread, I guess.
     
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  11. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    I think people forget how little music was available during the vinyl and cassette days. As long as you were into meat-and-potatoes Classic Rock and Top 40, you were fine. Blues, jazz, classical? Not so much unless you lived in a big city or college town. I mean, you couldn't even go to a well-stocked mall store and find a James Brown record, much less a Bill Evans or Glenn Gould.

    With CD, even our tiny local music store would stock classical titles and the latest jazz and blues reissues.
     
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  12. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    I always liked flipping through LPs. CDs just weren't the same and I preferred buying them online for the most part. Cassettes were for trading shows.
     
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  13. jacden

    jacden Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Cassettes for me, simply because it was my format of choice as a impressionable pre-teen in the mid 80s. I later advanced to records and CD's, but nothing could ever surpass picking up that latest Duran Duran tape with my hard-earned pocket money.
     
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  14. dryjoy

    dryjoy Brother In Sound

    Location:
    Bournemouth, UK
    I voted LPs, although most of my vinyl shopping back in the early 90s second hand. It excites me hugely though. Hope that counts!
     
  15. AnalogJ

    AnalogJ Hearing In Stereo Since 1959

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    The experience of getting a new, anticipated album from a fave is tops in my experience. Period.

    But as far as the presentation aspect goes, an LP makes for a far more interesting experience than the other formats. How many times are you inclined to read the notes of a cassette or CD, with their practically microscopic sized text. LP package designers work hard to make the package look as great as possible. It's rare to get elaborate packinging with a CD or cassette (although not unheard of).
     
  16. mopper

    mopper I hang out in record stores

    Location:
    Netherlands
    I recently bought a cassette. My first in the 21st century.
     
  17. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Records for sure. Bought my first LP in 68, Magical Mystery Tour, if anyone has heard of that one. Buying records was a magical experience back then when I had no money. I've only purchased one pre-recorded cassette, Mike's Murder, because I couldn't find it any other way. By the time I started buying CDs, the thrill of buying was greatly diminished. Every so often an album might be released that I was thrilled to buy, but when you're buying a couple cds a week, it's not a thrill.
     
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  18. steelinYaThighs

    steelinYaThighs "I'll be dancin' on Diamonds..."

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    I had to vote for CDs as They've always been my go-to music medium--they are ideal as they can be played at home, and in the car, and I have no complaints about overall sound quality. Despite this, I do love the warm sound of a well-pressed record--and I'm the type that doesn't mind a bit of clicking or hissing as that only makes the listening experience more intimate and real. Records also get extra points because their artwork/gatefolds present all of that in a large, accurate manner.

    I have absolutely no use for casettes.

    - siyt
     
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  19. Kingsley Fats

    Kingsley Fats Forum Resident

    I started buying LP's in 1970 & I'm not sure cassettes were available then, not that it matters as the only cassettes I bought were used ones..
    There are many down sides to cassettes but the big up side is that they are much more portable than LP's.
    When CD's came out I started to replace my LP's & cassettes.
    I like the artwork & gatefolds etc of LP's but I like my music without pops, crackles & hiss. The notion that this makes the listening more real is utter nonsense IMO.

    I haven't bought or played an LP for decades.
     
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  20. steelinYaThighs

    steelinYaThighs "I'll be dancin' on Diamonds..."

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    "The notion that this makes the listening more real is utter nonsense IMO."--And that is YOUR opinion, geezer. Off to ignore with you and your opinion(s).

    - siyt
     

  21. Lol, are you really that upset? How can you exist in a world of differing opinions otherwise?
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2022
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  22. All the formats have been enjoyable

    8 tracks always meant cars and movement, that is how a lot of classic 70s albums are burned into my memory. Cassettes served a similar purpose in the 80s. In time I replaced most in those formats with vinyl, then CDs, funny how it has looped around.
     
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  23. Doctor Worm

    Doctor Worm Romans 6:23

    Location:
    Missouri
    LPs are my favorite, mostly because of the bigger artwork and the sense of scope. I grew up with CDs and still have a soft spot for them, so getting a new one still brings back memories.
     
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  24. DeafDumbAndBlindKid

    DeafDumbAndBlindKid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stranded in Iowa
    LPs. Tearing the shrinkwrap off, opening the sleeve, looking at the art, reading any liner notes, lyrics, and credits. Such an experience.

    Notes like Townshend thanking "Remy Martin Cognac for saving my life by making the bloody stuff so expensive" were so revelatory.
     
  25. Kingsley Fats

    Kingsley Fats Forum Resident

    Funny to be called a Geezer by someone who seems so attached to a format that is nearly 75 years old & a technology that is over 160 years old.
    Even funnier that my opinion gets such a reaction.
     
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