This is a sad state of affairs for me. First, we lose Tower Records here in NY, and now Telarc. One of the best, if not the best company making high quality recordings for years, is now going to out source. I really don` know what to say at this point. People here were passionate about the music. There isn`t much of that going on today in the other companies.

Thus, the lack of anyone making recordings using the Blu-Ray format. Where is the music industry going?

People that love sound and music, including the young, LOVE high-def reproduction. They just need to hear it.

The labels are stuck to being a number on stockholder's spreadsheet. We all helped to create that trap. We can all sit and cry over the loss of Telarc, an moan about a younger generation, but Telarc should be commemorated instead for what it gave us over all these years! It had a fantastic life. There are many passionate young people who will become audiophile gear owners because they love music. This site may not believe it, but, thank god Michael Bishop does!

The editor's pathetic ignorance is on display in this quote. He has no business calling anyone else "stupid" when he excretes crap like this:

"In the mean time, audiophiles are left sifting through bins of filthy, played out LPs in what remains of dingy record stores trying to convince themselves that some how the high signal to noise ratio and lack of dynamic sounds better than HD audio because the majors are just too stupid to repackage their music in an HD format that people could repurchase their entire back catalog of music in at least one more time."

No need to play "filthy played out records" when there are more than 10,000 new vinyl titles out now (of new indie bands---all of which insist on a vinyl release of the their latest-- and high quality reissues) sold in well-lit indie record stores and available on line. New vinyl sales more than doubled last year while CD sales sank. True the total is still relatively small, but then so are Mac sales vs. Windows computers, but who's got the mojo? as are 42" and above HDTV set sales compared to the weenie size HDTVs. So what? Amazing that in 2009 despite digital downloads, the vinyl trend is way up and the demographic gets younger. There are reasons for this the editor isn't interested in exploring because for some reason he's bitter about who knows what? HD music for download is the future for digital and the labels are responding. High quality sound has never been an interest of most young people---or good food or wine for that matter. These are acquired tastes as people mature. Always has been and always will be. The need to pick fights between vinyl vs. HD digital audio and home theater versus high end two channel audio is the sign of a small, compartmentalized mind. This is a great period of time despite some gloomy news, because you can get what you want as never before, be it analog or digital. Why picks format fights? The bandwidth is going to allow for higher and higher resolution, while the lower storage costs will allow us to acquire huge catalogs of high rez music and store them conveniently and safely. Digital spinning discs were always a bad idea--especially low rez CD quality ones. They are no longer needed. Spinning analog discs will always have a place in the mix. A young generation of vinyl enthusiasts is proving that right now They like the format and they like the sound:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/19/eveningnews/main4364986.shtml
http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2127350,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702369,00.html
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/06/02/vinyl_goes_from_throwback_to_comeback/
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Vinyl-Retailers.html
http://www.startribune.com/business/22846884.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article4276829.ece
http://www.businessreport.com/news/2008/jul/14/going-spin-tchn1/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/28/groovin-on-vinyl/
http://ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2008/07/27/6276081-sun.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0801/p13s01-algn.html
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-vinyl18-2008aug18,0,4100184.story

Said the German novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,

"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action..."

It is appalling that yourself, the publisher of a respected online resource, could be so biased, so ignorant and so inherently incorrect. It is hard to imagine that such an industry insight could be uninformed as to the state of high-resolution music reproduction, but it seems frightfully so.

"...sadly predictable as audiophiles are becoming senior citizens having never inspired a younger audience to share the same passion for music..."

The millions of youths across this nation, albeit the world, with thousands of songs loaded onto their iPods are experiencing a wider range of musical genera than any generation prior to them. While hard to imagine, 320kbs MP3s sound better played on an ipod than the teens of the 1980s could have ever hoped for from their hissy tapes and cheap Walkmans. Audiophiles know that record and turntable sales are climbing, due to the dissatisfaction young people are finding with their lifeless digital media.

"...the lack of video leaves Generation X and even the younger Generation Yers without the video content that they know and love from formats like MTV, video games, DVD-video movies and the all-important source of entertainment in their life - the Internet."

With college admissions skyrocketing and young writers being published left-and-right, I'd wager that the generations X and Y are doing well enough with books and non-interactive media. The notion that today's youth "need" video or animation to be interested is simply absurd.

I'll let the Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr add his take,

"“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”

Frankly Mr. Del Colliano, that is all you have proved here. Learn your field and be a professional. Sweeping generalizations and assumption prove nothing to educated minds.

PNK

Mike,

Good to see you reading even if you need to insult me. For the record I am a publisher NOT an editor.

There is NO question that there is a resurgence in Vinyl but the numbers are insignificant. According to published reports from the RIAA on 2007 sales vinyl sales were up from 900k in 2006 to about 1.3m in 2007. Percentage wise - that is HUGE. Volume wise, that's not much of anything. In comparison, after returns CDs sold 511m units (albums). Downloads sold 809m units (singles, I would assume) - Source RIIA yearly sales report.

Let me be clear - its FUN to collect vinyl. I love the large format. I love the liner notes. I like the warmth of the analog sound as I look for more and more things in my personal life that are "analog". I think we are ALL too plugged in these days.

With that said - Vinyl is a 100% inferior format even to the Compact Disc. Even the ABSOLUTE BEST turntables costing $20,000+ suffer from high signal to noise ratios. Even worse, vinyl suffers from a lack of dynamic range in comparison to CDs. Its just not there. In comparison to what can be done (and for the most part isn't) on Blu-ray Vinyl is nothing more than a hobby much like audiophila has become a geek hobby NOT a luxury purchase. That saddens me.

With that said - if anyone wants a LARGE collection of rock records my music editor is selling about 4k LPs in Santa Monica. Email me directly if you want to learn more. I am sure someone could have a LOT of fun listening and caring for these records as the collection is a labor of love. Personally, I sold my collection of record to Brian Morris at the House of Linn in the UK. Nearly 100 Jimi Hendrix records alone. Beatles. Floyd and Zeppelin. It was a cool collection but I didn't have room for it and I will wait for a real format like HD downloads (C'mon Music Giants) and or Blu-ray. But that's just me and I am as you call me "Pathetically ignorant" so what do I know right Mike?

Peter,

WOW. Bold comments. Is there any room for another opinions without personal attacks in your world? You remind me of Newt Gingrich.

You are going to LOVE my upcoming feature about how younger generations (specifically Gen Y) are wasting their Audio and Video money on college. YES - I SAID IT ---- COLLEGE today is a waste. Kids end up buried in debt. They can't buy homes. They can't buy cars. They can't buy much of anything when the Internet has opened up SO MUCH more access to information.

Jerry,

Good to see you're coming on strong with more sweeping generalizations. I merely critiqued your article, albeit strongly. Your readers will note no capitalized words in my responses, just relevant quotations.

"In the mean time, audiophiles are left sifting through bins of filthy, played out LPs in what remains of dingy record stores trying to convince themselves that some how the high signal to noise ratio and lack of dynamic sounds better than HD audio because the majors are just too stupid to repackage their music in an HD format that people could repurchase their entire back catalog of music in at least one more time."

With its "high signal to noise ratio" vinyl still outclasses the commercial issues of popular music thanks to its relatively uncompressed dynamic range. Furthermore, when I buy the LP I feel like I've purchased something substantial with big liner notes and nice artwork, etc. CD sales are plummeting thanks to downloads having taken over the market, and no one is really keen on buying a whole bunch of back catalog AGAIN when a new HD format comes. Downloads will have replaced physical digital formats by 100% within the next couple of years, leaving vinyl as the only physical format left. It won't be huge numbers, but so far it's enough to keep the pressing plants pretty busy.

New vinyl releases keep me pretty happy these days as well! I've picked up new material from Death Cab for Cutie, Vampire Weekend, She & Him, Beck, The Mansfields, Jay Reatard, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, The Mars Volta, Fleet Foxes, and on and on. These LPs sound WAY better than their commercial release CDs, and with my USB turntable I'm able to download the music into iTunes and listen on my iPod - yes: digital recordings of records sound better than commercial issue CDs.

You know what I'd like to read from you? A big article where you visit various of the successful pressing plants and interview the management, ask about why they are so busy. Maybe you should interview the guys from Warner Brothers especially - they've spearheaded the juggernaut-side of the vinyl equation with tons of new releases and re-releases. That would be an article worth reading!

Chris

Chris,

I am glad you are finding some records to keep you going in this odd time for HD audio. I know Ken Taraszka and our former editor Bryan Southard are WAY WAY WAY into vinyl these days as a fun way to collect music that is affordable and easy to do.

Please keep in mind that this so-called Vinyl resurgence is nothing more than a statistical blip. CD sales are in the shit-can without question as they should be. CDs aren't HD. They don't have video. They don't (but could) have surround sound. They aren't good enough to be worth $18. With that said - according to the RIAA's 2007 report they sold 510,000,000 units to vinyls 1.3 m (up from 900k in 2006). Can we keep this in perspective? Vinyl is for enthusiasts and collectors - not for mainstream use. Downloads start with a market of 173,000,000 iPods and God-knows-how-many other MP3 devices and servers. We need music in an HD format for those devices not a vinyl resurgence because we all know CDs sound better than LPs but that's not the argument. I am suggesting 24/192 audio does ALL of the stuff people THINK LPs do in reality. Simply put - there is more zeros and ones (billions more) to make a more "analog" sound. More zeros and ones means a more accurate reproduction of the master. Its simple math yet the labels aren't addressing it but I AM!!!!!

I will leave an article on a record pressing plant for my new fan, Michael Fremmer and Stereophile. With all due respect to their historical importance in the world of audiophile - I am shooting for something more. If I were to do any feature it would be on HD Giants and Elliot Mazer or Mr. Bishop from 5/4 records. In fact - count on it...

Jerry

Mike and Peter

Wow, where do I start………

Michael,

As one of the biggest gurus in vinyl, I must attend to you directly. Here is one article on the resurgence of vinyl you might have missed that I wrote for Modern Home Theater dot com.

It is from Modern Home Theater, a magazine Jerry Del Colliano published, written by myself, HTR’s associate editor. Yes, I do run vinyl rigs, and love them, but even you must admit they have pluses and minuses. They do have a warmth and ease to them I often do not find in digital playback until I scale to the tops of the tallest mountains of digital players. One such player sits in my reference rig right now and I can clearly say it has so impressed me that I may have to reconsider an ultra high end turntable for my reference rig.

I am not bashing vinyl, in fact I quite adore it. I grew up with it.

I am also realistic.

The one thing that has consistently made a new format pass has been convenience. Vinyl, it is in no way as convenient as a music server or even a CD. DVD won out over VCR as a more convenient format. Sure, it offered better surround sound and video, but we all know that isn’t the real reason. You could drop in a disc and it would play, no ‘Be Kind Rewind’ for DVD. Want direct chapter access? Well, it was there with DVD as well as CD, do you all remember trying to fast forward to the part of a movie you wanted to show your friends? How long did it take? How often did you over shoot the scene? I agree with your point that vinyl will likely keep a hold, albeit small on the market for some time, I am not sure how long that time will be.

I don’t know how to best segue into the attack Peter made on Jerry, claiming that;

“320kbs MP3s sound better played on an iPod than the teens of the 1980s could have ever hoped for from their hissy tapes and cheap Walkmans”

Peter,

I Have owned a dozen iPods, I truly support the iPod for what it has done in making music more accessible to the masses, which is good for all of audio, especially the upper end. I might have to disagree that any iPod sounds better than my TOTL Walkmen® of the mid to late 80’s for the same reason Michael Fremer is so incensed by this article. In those days, we were recording analog and if you think an iPod has great signal to noise ratio, then you need your hearing checked now!

College admissions ARE on the rise, but why? The job market is so soft that high school grads are often looking for any way to better them selves. Lucrative construction jobs are down as the housing market tanked (in case you hadn’t heard!) so many who would have been ready to work are now stalling their entrance into the labor force. In this regard, I agree with Jerry. I am an anesthesiologist. I have to wonder if I would have gone into this field in the current climate. Cost of education has more than double what it was when I graduated, while reimbursement is significantly down. Why do you go into a field you work 80+ hours weeks, knowing you will make less and less each year, yet the education to get into that field costs more and more???? I know we all want great health care, but tell me why would anyone take the job I do knowing they will only make less and work harder as the years go on?

Education is the crux of turning our economy around, but are we as Americans doing anything about that??? Schoolteachers earn so little as to be in the poverty level in most states. Let me say that again.

Teachers are paid below poverty levels in most states.

You want to stop ignorance Mr. Katsafanas? Work towards educating our children so they are capable of sustaining this nation of ours! Dr. King would have been appalled that we put so little towards our children, yet so much towards war. IF you truly believe "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” then get on your senators, congressmen, president and every other politician because they are violating everything you claim to believe in!

Peter, in the words of Ice Cube….

“Check yourself before you wreck yourself”

Hey everyone, let's just chill out. Mr. Katsafanas was too harsh, but Dr. Taraszka's response is an attack as well. Let's just let it go..

Mike