Posts Tagged ‘vinyl’

Vinyl’s Good For Your Health (like we didn’t already know that)

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

The idea behind the concept is to create an environment that takes these early Dementia patients back to a time that they hold dear, and the sound of vinyl records play an integral part.

From The Daily Vinyl’s Vinyl Helping Dementia Patients In The UK

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Minty Sony PS-F9 for sale on U.S. eBay

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

This looks very nice, but you’re going to need deep pockets to get this one. It’s already over US$500 with 3 days to run!eBay LinkUpdate: It sold for US$910!

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Posted in ebay, Sony PS-F9 | 5 Comments »


Many reasons for disappearing record shops

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

The UK’s Independent newspaper has an interesting story about the disappearance of record shops in London’s Soho. It’s more complicated than just being a lack of customers.

The revolution that killed Soho’s record shops

Thankfully, Brighton & Hove in the UK (where I live) seems to be going against the grain as usual (which is one reason it’s such a great place to live) and I have recently discovered two new record shops that have opened in the last year: Up Tight Records on Sackville Road in Hove (01273 774 832) and Monkey Music Emporium on Baker Street in Brighton (07814 955 217). Monkey Music is also selling a great range of quality turntables and Hi-Fi. Resident Music on Kensington Gardens in Brighton has also started stocking vinyl again.

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Posted in All things vinyl | 1 Comment »


Back to Analog: Vinyl Holds On

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

No matter how many times people have predicted the death of vinyl over the years, it refuses to go away. Many releases by bands old and new, on small and large labels, are still pressed up as records. It’s not just the older generation that are continuing the tradition, but younger generations are discovering the joys of vinyl’s great look and feel. In a world of the virtual, it’s a reassuringly real medium.

“Analog (or analogue) recording (Greek, ana is “according to” and logos “relationship”) is a technique used to store signals of audio or video information for later playback.
Analog recording methods store audio signals as a continual wave in or on the media. The wave might be stored as a physical texture on a phonograph record, or a fluctuation in the field strength of a magnetic recording. This is different from digital recording, which converts audio signals into discrete numbers. “

Wikipedia

Fed up with the music industry’s rip-off tactics: buy it on vinyl, throw away your vinyl & rebuy it on CD, throw away your CDs & rebuy it on MiniDisc, throw away your MiniDiscs & rebuy it on Audio DVD, throw away your ADVDs & rebuy it as a digital download… People are now realising that the whole cycle is an unnecessary waste of money where the main beneficiary is the music business (rarely the musicians).
Many who dumped their old LPs wish that they hadn’t.

“Remember all that talk in the Eighties when shiny, allegedly indestructible CDs came out, about how the days of the LP were numbered? Well, just recently exactly the opposite has started to happen: it’s the CD, the experts are now saying, that will soon be obsolete. It’s vinyl that’s here to stay.”
The Daily Mail (16/7/09)
“I think it’s very possible that the CD might become obsolete in an age of download music but the vinyl record will survive.”
Alex Needham (NME) via Crave

With companies like The Vinyl Factory keeping the production going, it looks like there’ll be no shortage of great records to play on our trusty turntables.

“This may explain why the archaic LP is enjoying an odd surge of popularity among younger listeners: it’s a modest rebellion against the tyranny of instant access.”
Alex Ross, The New Yorker
“Best Buy is giving vinyl a spin.
The consumer-electronics giant, which happens also to be the third-largest music seller behind Apple’s iTunes and Wal-Mart, is considering devoting eight square feet of merchandising space in all of its 1,020 stores solely to vinyl, which would equate to just under 200 albums, after a test in 100 of its stores around the country proved successful.
Though vinyl represents less than 5 percent of Best Buy’s music sales, the format is growing while CD sales continue to shrink. “

Peter Lauria, The New York Post 27/4/09

Further Reading

A Canadian scientist recently discovered that teens prefer vinyl to CDs.

Rock dinosaurs keep plodding along.

Time: Vinyl gets its groove back

The Guardian (UK) about the increase in UK vinyl sales in 2007.

BBC Blog: Vinyl Hope.

BBC: Oxfam cashing in on record collectors.

BBC: Vinyl production back in fashion.

CNET’s The Audiophiliac Vinyl: Not just for audiophiles?

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Posted in All things vinyl, Retro | 1 Comment »


The Vinyl Factory

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

The Vinyl Factory Manufacture from thevinylfactory on Vimeo.

Vinyl manufacturing in the UK.

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Posted in All things vinyl, analogue | 1 Comment »


How Vinyl is Made

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

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Novel Way To Clean Records

Monday, July 6th, 2009

There have been times when I’ve bought records which could do with a really good clean. In future I might use this approach: to spread a thin layer of PVA wood glue over the record with a credit card, let it dry and peel it off. More information at Audio Karma.Via HiFi Tubes.

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Posted in All things vinyl, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »


Void: Levitational Turntable Concept

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

Here’s a bizarre design concept. Getting the record to float and rotate accurately would be one thing, but then having the ball somehow stay still and follow the groove would be an amazing feat. Anyway, some interesting thinking.

Void: levitation turntable concept

More pictures and info on Design Boom

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Play CDs or DVDs on a record player

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

This wouldn’t work very well on a PS-F5 (due to the linear tracking being set to work with either 17cm or 30cm diameter records), but is interesting none-the-less. Re-purpose those old piles of useless old CDs by cutting grooves in them so they can play on a regular turntable.

Read the full story at Wired

No idea how Aleks Kolkowski is cutting them, but check out this video on YouTube of a homemade rig in Italy:

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Posted in All things vinyl, Related Devices, Weird & Wonderful | No Comments »


Sony PS-Q7 Mini Turntable

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Another great piece of engineering from Sony. I remember these from back in the day.

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Posted in Related Devices | 10 Comments »