Walmart & Vinyl

[theSven]

I was walking around Walmart this weekend and stopped by the electronics section to reminisce when I used to look at electronics in stores like Walmart, KMart, Target, Meijers, etc as a child. I look over next to the blu rays and see vinyl records and under the records were record players! I don't remember ever seeing record players as a child, it was cassette tapes and later came CD's. I found it wild that Walmart is now selling vinyl and record players! Is vinyl really making a comeback or is this a message from the Hi Fi gods that I should be looking at vinyl instead of all this time I'm investing in digital?

I guess the bigger question beckons are you still spinning, converted to digital, or have the best of both worlds?

[technodanvan]

Whenever I'm at Target I always swing by the music section just to see if there is anything new I hadn't heard of yet. They often have a fairly decent vinyl selection, usually a good mix of new and old. I still buy vinyl now and again but a bit less so than I used to, and always online for some reason.

I still do not have a record player, but I'm in no real rush to buy one as frankly I'm too accustomed to gapless playback via Roon and other means. Many of my metal albums involve four or more LPs and I'm not sure I'd like having to get up every 20 or so minutes to change them out.

I think I'll probably give up on records long term. If I ever move from CDs it'll be to purchase high-res online...or low-res albums from iTunes that just cannot be found anywhere else.

[theSven]

If I had a collection of vinyl I would highly consider backing it up digitally. Then take advantage of streaming that with Roon. That would be the best of both worlds if I had some vinyl.

[technodanvan]

I guess I'm not sure I can get behind that. Sounds like a lot of work just to get an analog-ish sound!

[JonMarsh]

I’m the poster child for those willing to go to a lot of trouble for some things, but I’m with you on this. My last vinyl rigs were pretty high end at the time, but what I preferred most back then was pro open reel tape. Vinyls has some rather specific colorations including changes to the phase response that people may come to like, but it’s not what I’d consider an archival medium.

[theSven]

You just shot my balloon out of the sky here Jon. I think I'm going to need a JonMarsh 101 on approved archival mediums...