# Hearing an album on vinyl for the first time after you’ve heard the CD/digital

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [November 30, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864 "2020-11-30T23:26:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864/21 "2020-12-01T17:14:45Z")

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> [@lissener](#):
>
> CD players should have a button labeled “vinyl.” When you click it an electronic filter would be applied that adds the “vinyl sound” to the output.

And you have to manually remove and re-insert the CD after side 1 ends.

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**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864/22 "2020-12-01T17:17:38Z")

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> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Kids these days. We fought a war to get good quality music. They don’t know what they have! 128Kbs MP3 and they think they are qualified to judge what is “good quality”. BAH! I have an audio file that is just the pops and crackles off an entire album - i can sell it to them if they want, for that true oldie music experience.

In some ways it surprises me that we’ve come to accept a lower quality in some things but then the convenience makes it worthwhile. I would much rather speak to someone over a landline than a cell phone because the sound is better and there’s less of a delay. But the cell phone is just so convenient.

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**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864/23 "2020-12-01T17:27:18Z")

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> [@bump](#):
>
> Count me in the group that says that CDs were a game-changer back in the late 80s, especially when comparing all-analog records to all-digital CDs. The interim stuff like the AAD/DAD/ADD were much more of a crapshoot, as the only guaranteed digital part was the final mastering.

I was totally on board with CDs as soon as they hit the market. I was a teen and had maybe 5 vinyl albums (I was mostly buying cassettes). However, my dad had an extensive collection of classical vinyl, which we replaced over time on the CD releases.

We did notice the “AAD,” “ADD,” “DDD” designations on the CDs. In fact, some of the AAD CDs had a warning label disclosing the limitations. Pretty much “this sound is going to suck based on what you are expecting.” Sure enough, those CDs sounded pretty poor, certainly not as good as the vinyl. However, the DDD recordings (Telarc, anyone?) were light years beyond any vinyl. So it worked out better just getting newly mastered DDD recordings on CD, rather than trying to track down the exact same version of the vinyl. Easy enough to do with classical music.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864/24 "2020-12-01T18:09:16Z")

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> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> And you have to manually remove and re-insert the CD after side 1 ends.

And there should be a little plastic adaptor for singles.

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864/25 "2020-12-01T18:20:57Z")

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A few random thoughts…

> BAH! I have an audio file that is just the pops and crackles off an entire album - i can sell it to them if they want, for that true oldie music experience.

Hey, **JAQ** , you could lay those over any track you want and sell them as Direct From Vinyl CDs or Digital Files! Double the price for OGG/Vorbis/Lossless… _Ca-ching!_

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> [@bump](#):
>
> Kind of like how cycling weight-weenies worry about 10 grams here and there… the rest of us could just take a dump before a ride and shed more weight than a titanium bottle cage buys you.

My audio-snob friend is also one of _those_ cyclists … and it’s been SO hard not to point out that he’s saving 100 grams by jettisoning his kickstand, but he’s still carrying his 10,000 gram beer belly around…

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> [@divemaster](#):
>
> However, the DDD recordings (Telarc, anyone?) were light years beyond any vinyl.

Fun fact: The first DDD I ever saw wasn’t a high-tech album, it was Ry Cooder (Bop Til You Drop). “The first digitally recorded major-label album in popular music… recorded on a digital 32-track machine built by 3M.”

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**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-an-album-on-vinyl-for-the-first-time-after-you-ve-heard-the-cd-digital/926864/26 "2020-12-01T20:11:33Z")

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> [@digs](#):
>
> Fun fact: The first DDD I ever saw wasn’t a high-tech album, it was Ry Cooder (Bop Til You Drop). “The first digitally recorded major-label album in popular music… recorded on a digital 32-track machine built by 3M.”

That was actually the first pop record that was digitally recorded, even before CDs even existed (it was recorded in 1979). Ry Cooder was never happy with it, and indeed it does lack the warmth of most of Cooder’s earlier (and later) recordings. I like the album anyway, there are some great tunes on it.

> **[Bop Till You Drop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bop_till_You_Drop)**
>
> Bop Till You Drop is Ry Cooder's eighth album, released in 1979. The album was the first digitally recorded major-label album in popular music, recorded on a digital 32-track machine built by 3M.
> The album consists almost entirely of covers of earlier rhythm and blues and rock and roll classics, including Elvis Presley's "Little Sister" and the 1965 Fontella Bass-Bobby McClure hit "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing", on which Cooder duetted with soul star Chaka Khan. Khan also performed on the only or...

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