Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t cdnow.com used to sell vinyl? I realize that theyve now become a part of amazon.com but aren’t there anymore major companies out there selling ze records?
what is this crap?
…seriously.
goddamn.
Hot Topic sells records, if you’re into the type of music that Hot Topic would sell. (I honestly have no idea what the name of that type of music is. I go in there for some of the clothes, and have no interest in the rest of whatever “scene” your average Hot Topic shopper might be into.)
UBL.COM is a website a lot like the All Music Guide. They offer vinyl there from time to time.
You have to LOOK, man. Major companies won’t do you any good, you have to check out the independent record stores in your area, or better yet, the ones across town. Buying vinyl is a pursuit these days.
BAH…Don’t buy records from Hot Topic. Hot Topic is the most evil corporate entity since Wal-mart. Jesus, they charge about 40 dollars for a pair of Chuck Taylors(available for around half that at any sports store).
Amazon doesn’t sell records anymore? That surprises me. Try Sam Goody and Tower, but there’s lots of mom and pop online stores that sell plenty of vinyl. You can find a lot of new releases at ebay as well. For indie releases, there’s always BOMP! Records Get Hip Subterranean Records and the biggie, Mordam Records. Like Moo said, its a pursuit, but once you figure out the ins and outs, it becomes as easy as buying CDS at the mall. Cheaper too.
Jon
Not so long ago, there was a lot of talk in the media that vinyl was coming back since music connoisseurs missed the “snap, crackle, and pop”! I have to admit, the oldies just aren’t the oldies without that, but…
Also, a friend used to buy only Japanese imports of vinyl LPs claiming “they were higher quality” (prior to CDs). I couldn’t tell any difference.
Anyone know anything about these two questions?
- Jinx
If you have to ask, you’ll never know!
Jon
So, by this I presume you are saying there is a definite difference? I think my friend was paying $15-$20 for an imported LP…just to have the CD kill his justification for such an expensive collection of imports.
Don’t blow up at me 
…but did this happen to you, too, Nitro?
- Jinx
I love vinyl, and there’s all sorts of arguments on both sides of the CD vs Vinyl debate with all sorts of statistics that prove nothing either way.
Its a psychological thing.
Vinyl sounds different, but whether its technically better or not doesn’t really matter. I don’t necessarily LIKE pops and crackles, and I try not to let that happen to my records, but occasionally it happens, and, yeah, that becomes part of the personality of that record. You get to know that pop after the guitar solo on the third song on side 2.
Records have a lot of personality. From the cover art, to the stuff on the back cover, from the label, to the empty spot on the vinyl just before the tonearm automaticaly resets itself. A lot of the time there will be something cool, funny, or meaningless etched there.
Sometimes, the vinyl is colered too. Fer instance, the first Flipper (The SF band not the dolphin) Lp is on translucent orange vinyl with black leopard spots. You don’t get any of that with a CD.
I’ll leave it at that. I started to write a long boring speech about vinyl, but, its late, I’m tired, and I’ve forgotten the question already 
Jon
Sites like classicrecords.com have recently taken to re-releasing genuine classic albums on the most modern state of the art audiophile vinyl available - at least 200grams per platter. They actually find the original, original, ORIGINAL publishing master tape and they cut a new silver nitrate mother, which then cuts father which can press up to 800 3rd generation copies. The first 20 or so they keep as copies to run off more copies if need requires.
I’ve got Physical Graffitti from there and to play it on my $3,000 turntable is just bliss. It’s the fact that they use the true master tapes and that they cut a new mother pressing and you can play a 3rd generation audiophile vinyl pressing without ever once going through a digital software process - it’s just totally way cool in my opinion.