WSJ: Sony to press vinyl

[GA Russell]

This morning's Wall Street Journal says that Sony will begin pressing vinyl for the first time since 1989.  The plant will be in central Japan.  So I wonder:  Does that mean these albums will be 180g?

The article also says that last year in the UK, vinyl outsold downloads.  I'm surprised.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/groovin-sony-to-press-its-first-vinyl-records-since-1989-1498731044

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/06/30/sony-is-restarting-production-vinyl-records.html

[Scott Dolan]

 

Funniest typo of all time: "Japan currently has one active record manufacturer that makes limited qualities of new releases,"

[Scott Dolan]

It's a little smoke and mirrors allowing them to baffle you with bullshit. The loophole being that downloads have been greatly diminished because most people have turned to streaming. 

Either way, if you compared all digital consumption to LPs the latter would be crushed like a grape under a steamroller. 

[mjazzg]

13 hours ago, Captain Howdy said:

How is that possible?

As someone who grew up with vinyl and was only too happy to abandon it for the compact disc and later digital files, I find this resurgence baffling. 

Many things are happening in the UK that don't seem possible or baffling at the moment....

People who are buying LPs are buying them for the object and the experience. They're probably less inclined by SQ issues and some haven't lived with vinyl long enough to realise the inherent idiosyncrasies that made the CD so attractive. Chances are many are also streaming other music or even streaming the LP's music - different formats, different platforms, different playback situations. They will likely get the download bundled with the LP

Others will go to their grave claiming the SQ is better, warmer, whatever on vinyl (I'm really not interested in getting into that hoary old debate yet again - it's been done to death on this board over many years) and are returning to the format after a CD hiatus.

Any which way, it's just folks listening to music which is a good thing....oh, and record companies finding another way to exploit their product!

[Scott Dolan]

It's a nostalgic resurgence for older listeners that still think all digital files are 96kbps mp3's, and a retro hipster thing for those too young to have been around when you could still buy LPs in record stores that were seemingly on every street corner. 

[Ken Dryden]

In a recent interview with Rainer Haarmann, founder of the boutique LP only label Edition Longplay, he told me that he is having quality problems with European pressing plants, due to their overuse and poor maintenance of the equipment.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Remember that as the LP era was coming to an end, many of these plants closed and the machines were scrapped, while the people that knew how to use them retired, found other work, or passed on. There are still too few machines in existence for the current demand.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Pressing plants?  In Canada, they close (https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/01/04/canadian-vinyl-record-pressing-plant-closes.html) and a week later another opens (https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/01/11/burlington-record-plant-presses-on-with-vinyl-preparations.html).

[Ken Dryden]

Edition Longplay is all 180 gram LPs, with limited editions of 500, plus a smaller amount of @ LP sets with alternate takes. 

He is thinking of switching to limited editions of 50.

[ejp626]

3 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

Edition Longplay is all 180 gram LPs, with limited editions of 500, plus a smaller amount of @ LP sets with alternate takes. 

He is thinking of switching to limited editions of 50.

He should cut to the chase and press them in editions of 1, so that Pharma Bro, Martin Shkreli, can buy them all up.

 

I'm not too impressed with this latest batch of vinyl fetishists.

Edited July 5, 2017 by ejp626

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 7/4/2017 at 7:14 PM, Captain Howdy said:

I've seen a lot of people complaining about bad vinyl -- by which I mean I've seen a handful here and there . It's no surprise, considering mastering and pressing vinyl is much more difficult that manufacturing a CD. Eventually these hipsters will discover all the downsides of vinyl. 

Wait until they get a record with an old label embedded in the vinyl and the store refuses to accept any vinyl returns because the labels won't give the store credit for open LPs. Ahhh... those were the days.

I wonder if any of these new LPs listeners ever had to tape a quarter or two to the top of their stylus to get certain records to play without skipping? Ha ha ha.

[Scott Dolan]

Kinda similar to the old piece of cardboard in the 8-track player trick.