# I don’t understand the craze for vinyl
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** music
**Created:** [October 21, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923 "2021-10-21T16:34:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 11
### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/202 "2023-03-11T16:07:49Z")
A folded up towel, placed directly under the turntable, always worked for me. There’s probably prettier solutions that just mimic the same idea. People dance next to turntables on shitty floors all the time.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/203 "2023-03-11T16:09:55Z")
[https://www.amazon.com/Vibrapod-Isolator-Isolation-Feet-Model/dp/B003P4SOVU/](https://www.amazon.com/Vibrapod-Isolator-Isolation-Feet-Model/dp/B003P4SOVU/)
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/204 "2023-03-11T16:10:54Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> I wish there was a good & economical way to fix the problem.
But there is!
Look for turntable isolators.
Or just crank up the tracking force!\*
\*note: do not do this!
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/205 "2023-03-11T20:05:45Z")
> [@DSeid](#):
>
> Why does ANYONE buy a CD now though?
Because there isn’t any other way to buy high-quality music any more?
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### Author:  [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/206 "2023-03-12T00:34:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Because there isn’t any other way to buy high-quality music any more?
Just about any lossy song you purchase on iTunes, Amazon, etc is going to be virtually indistinguishable from the same song ripped losslessly from a purchased CD. Unless you’re one of the one in like 200 who has mutant ears, a 256K AAC song is high quality.
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### Author:  [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/207 "2023-03-12T13:05:39Z")
Nitpick:
Spotify does not have lossless. They announced that they were going to have it, but then Apple and Amazon beat them to the punch.
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/208 "2023-03-12T14:52:03Z")
Wow! I canceled my Spotify account a while back and just figured that the announced lossless tracks must surely be available by now.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/209 "2023-03-12T17:23:32Z")
> [@zbuzz](#):
>
> Just about any lossy song you purchase on iTunes, Amazon, etc is going to be virtually indistinguishable from the same song ripped losslessly from a purchased CD.
Ah, I hadn’t realized that it was still possible to purchase music on those apps-- I had thought that they had all moved to a cloud model.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/210 "2023-03-12T18:46:58Z")
I still buy my music on iTunes. Just did a couple of days ago. I understand it, and it works for me. I don’t really understand how streaming works for music.
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### Author:  [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/211 "2023-03-12T23:12:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Ah, I hadn’t realized that it was still possible to purchase music on those apps-- I had thought that they had all moved to a cloud model.
FWIW, according to the RIAA revenue from download purchases are trending lower ever year, down 20% in the last year. Downloads made up 3% of all US music revenue in 2022 which is down from the peak in 2012 of 43%.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/212 "2023-03-12T23:24:56Z")
I’m one of those. I have, I believe, three vinyl records. I bought them from five to fifteen years ago. (A Liz Phair “Exile on Guyville” reissue, a Sleater-Kinney “Call The Doctor” and I somehow don’t remember what the third is.) I’ve never owned a record player ever.
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### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/213 "2023-03-12T23:26:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I’ve never owned a record player ever.
🤯 I owned my first before I was five.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/214 "2024-03-26T22:15:47Z")
> **[Vinyl records outsell CDs for the second year running](https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/26/24112369/riaa-2023-music-revenue-streaming-vinyl-cds-physical-media)**
>
> Some people will never give up a spinning disc.
Some of us are very poor at prediction: many, many years ago I thought vinyl was a dead technology and would soon be extinct.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/215 "2024-03-26T22:22:42Z")
Anything old enough is potentially retro-cool. Clothing fashions, whatever.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/216 "2024-03-26T23:12:07Z")
In other news, buggy whips outsold model Ts last year.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/217 "2024-03-27T00:29:38Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Or just crank up the tracking force!\*
And that’ll only cost you a dime!
.
> [@digs](#):
>
> I haven’t had a working turntable for decades, but bought an album the other day just for the cover art.
By the way, I now have a turntable! My AR turntable would’ve needed twice its worth to fix, so I gave up, bought a cheap one (a $250 all-manual music hall).
And to celebrate, I went out and looked for an album that I’d always have to listen to in order. Decided on _Abbey Road._
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/218 "2024-03-27T00:59:43Z")
Vinyl outselling CDs is really about the almost complete collapse of CDs as a medium for new music… They just don’t really fit any musical niches any more. Vinyl still does for a few.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2024, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/219 "2024-03-27T01:02:02Z")
A huge amount of that vinyl is never played. It’s collected.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/220 "2024-03-27T01:28:37Z")
Yep. My kids have a number of vinyls. I have like … three or four. None have ever been played.
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### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2024, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-understand-the-craze-for-vinyl/952923/221 "2024-03-27T01:41:12Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> Some of us are very poor at prediction: many, many years ago I thought vinyl was a dead technology and would soon be extinct.
Hey, I’ve been saying email is a dead technology and they need to stop grafting other technologies onto it as a stop gap since at least 1998, Guess what the primary focus of my job is in 2024.
> [@hajario](#):
>
> A huge amount of that vinyl is never played. It’s collected.
True, but even if I do most of my playing from the download cards, all of mine gets played at least once. Listened to some this evening, in fact
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