I feel troubled about posting this in this particular thread, but many will see this as a positive influence of the current market.
I am intrigued (maybe not - possibly devastatingly depressed - BUT, I see a trend from which we not be able to recover) by the fact that streaming music has risen so much in such a short time.
Notice how physical media sales are quickly vanishing from the market numbers. While some of us have noticed the trend in recent years, these numbers are quite depressing to me.
I have to assume that the eventuality exists that streaming media will soon replace physical media as a main source for most peoples' music and video needs.
Link to RIAA numbers Here:
Without physical copies you are at the mercy of those providing the content which is something I find troubling
City close by, a big shop (part of a chain) selling records and CD's disappeared.
But, the past two years, also two more specialised shops appeared.
Maybe the tide is turning a bit.
I know of no new ones, but there are a few that I visit regularly. I'd by more vinyl if I ha a decent player, though; for now, I buy CDs.
It's the same with ebooks. I don't mind them per se--after all, it's possible to read them--but they can't compete with a physical copy that you can hold in your hands and leaf through.
How about buy vinyl when you can find classics in great shape, because they are becoming rare. Then as time moves on, you will be even more motivated to invest in some sort of decent turntable.
Honestly, most any modern $500 table/cartridge combo using a median quality preamp will generally blow away a typical mid-fi quality CD set up.
If you have a truly hi definition speaker and amplifier system, I would spend more money on the preamp/phono stage. If your budget can approach the thousand dollar range for a turntable (I have a fairly mid level Music Hall that I invested about half that on, many years ago) and approach half that for a cartridge (I actually have a number of cartridges, each one has its own strengths. Choose a decent one and do your best to set it up properly. You will be amazed!), you will never regret it.
What you might come to regret is that keeping LPs pristine just before play can become its own level of insanity. Just clean them thoroughly when you buy them, (especially brand new ones), store them carefully and dust and De-electrostatic them before playing. Everything will be fine.
