What's made you grumpy today?

[Nickslikk2112]

Think this might be going to landfill soon to be replaced by a good hifi plus vinyl.

I just can't imagine ever going back to vinyl. Like all oldies, the album covers(art)were great but to me the vinyl experience was superceded by the new cd technology and now streaming services. Turning over the record after 3 tracks, the dust collector, spray and plastic jackets good riddance. But you can tell me it sounded warmer.

Gah! CDs get CD rot, streaming can get cut off at any time and diddles the artists.

With vinyl, should the world go severely down the pan you'll still be able to to a Macgyver and cobble something together to play it - of course it'll be a single play, but with a big collection you'll last

[The Picnic Wasp]

Think this might be going to landfill soon to be replaced by a good hifi plus vinyl.

I just can't imagine ever going back to vinyl. Like all oldies, the album covers(art)were great but to me the vinyl experience was superceded by the new cd technology and now streaming services. Turning over the record after 3 tracks, the dust collector, spray and plastic jackets good riddance. But you can tell me it sounded warmer.

Gah! CDs get CD rot, streaming can get cut off at any time and diddles the artists.

With vinyl, should the world go severely down the pan you'll still be able to to a Macgyver and cobble something together to play it - of course it'll be a single play, but with a big collection you'll last

This was the idea I dramatically failed to convey. I haven't played vinyl for years, but I don't recall it ever letting me down, unlike every other more modern device I have bought/used since. Cassette and CD players have frequently chewed, skipped or given up the ghost, with innards which are beyond my ken to attempt a repair. My old Technics amp from the early 80s still functions so if I buy and hook up a turntable I'm good to go and the collector in me will also be happy again. I'd imagine that at some point in the future there's bound to be a worldwide streaming meltdown but I'll be ok with my antique system and chip fat generator.

[Nick]

Think this might be going to landfill soon to be replaced by a good hifi plus vinyl.

I just can't imagine ever going back to vinyl. Like all oldies, the album covers(art)were great but to me the vinyl experience was superceded by the new cd technology and now streaming services. Turning over the record after 3 tracks, the dust collector, spray and plastic jackets good riddance. But you can tell me it sounded warmer.

Gah! CDs get CD rot, streaming can get cut off at any time and diddles the artists.

With vinyl, should the world go severely down the pan you'll still be able to to a Macgyver and cobble something together to play it - of course it'll be a single play, but with a big collection you'll last

This was the idea I dramatically failed to convey. I haven't played vinyl for years, but I don't recall it ever letting me down, unlike every other more modern device I have bought/used since. Cassette and CD players have frequently chewed, skipped or given up the ghost, with innards which are beyond my ken to attempt a repair. My old Technics amp from the early 80s still functions so if I buy and hook up a turntable I'm good to go and the collector in me will also be happy again. I'd imagine that at some point in the future there's bound to be a worldwide streaming meltdown but I'll be ok with my antique system and chip fat generator.

Never letting you down! I lost a good few albums to heat warping, especially when left on the back seat of my mini in the summer, very sorry to lose "Live in the heart of the city" Whitesnake,a double album. Needle scratches across tracks, scratches when pulling/pushing albums back in their sleeves. You can tell me there are special messages in the run out grooves I may miss though.

[captainkurtz]

It's the nostalgia aspect of vinyl as well.  Drop that needle down and the modern world melts away.

[Slim]

Nostalgia's nice, but for me - convenience and audio quality are more important.

[Thenop]

I just like physical media, I have cds as well but don't spend anywhere near the amount of time playing them. I like the activity of playing vinyl. Music I not just use as background, I actively listen.
Also: if you take care of your LPs they will stay in pristine shape. I use poly lined inner sleeves (change them out if they come with normal ones) and I - and this may come as a shock - do not expose them to heat or sunlight.. Also I clean them when I have new or used vinyl which stops my stylus from being ruined in no time.

When it comes to streaming, well there's a lot to be grumpy about really. Some artists get it right, they put original versions, newly remastered / remixed versions, expanded versions whatever they have on the streaming services. Some of them don't bother to even check what they put on. And there's the rights thing, having more than 1 record company might result in having half a catalogue online, which is not good.
I use Tidal these days, maybe slightly less of a catalgue than sh!tify has but at least it's lossless. And the interface doesn't look like it's been designed for a 12 year old. Or by a 12 year old for that matter.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Always nice to start some good natured debate but as I said above, I don't currently play vinyl. These thoughts came to me during the state of flux I was in trying to reinstall my Sonos gear, failing miserably for nearly two days. I finally got somewhere as I can operate the system to a degree using my iPad but not my phone. This process made me think that I sort of get vinyl technology. A needle scrapping across a carved surface picking up information from the microscopic imprints in the grooves and transferring them into electrical signals for an amp to enhance and drive air from speakers. It all makes sense in an albeit miraculous way. Streaming is just black magic and uncontrollable by normal human means. I've always loved CDs too. I bought Somewhere In Time on its release before I could afford a CD player as I was desperate to be a part of it all. But again it's technology beyond imagination. Lasers in a box turning dents into 1s and 0s I guess. Nothing to see here and unfixable for the average guy when it all fails. Vinyl allows a bit of tinkering with styli, cartridges and belts so it's a bit like owning a classic car. Tweakable until the big end goes. Also, it's usually quite safe to leave LPs in cars in Scotland.😂

[Slim]

I don't think there's a debate really - if you're fond of the large physical media and the ritual and you like a cosy veil of warm, muffly distortion in front of your music, vinyl's for you.

If you prefer the playback medium to be transparent, you want to hear the artist's creation more accurately, you don't want your music to wear out, you're not fond of surface noise, you like your music to be readily portable, quickly accessible, indexed and searchable - clearly digital's for you.

Horses for courses.

[David L]

I don't think there's a debate really - if you're fond of the large physical media and the ritual and you like a cosy veil of warm, muffly distortion in front of your music, vinyl's for you.

If you prefer the playback medium to be transparent, you want to hear the artist's creation more accurately, you don't want your music to wear out, you're not fond of surface noise, you like your music to be readily portable, quickly accessible, indexed and searchable - clearly digital's for you.

Horses for courses.

Explained in your inimitable way.
Thoroughbreds choose digital, jackasses go for vinyl. Hee-haw
 

[pxr5]

I put an order with BT for an upgrade to full fibre on the 8th August. This is when I found out they were switching me to EE for mobile and broadband. Anyway an Openreach dude came to our house a few days later to pull the fibre through. However our patio was blocking access to the trunking and he told me he'd have to arrange another team to do the access work (he couldn't do it apparently).

Roll on to yesterday when I had to ring EE about a mobile billing issue and as we chatted he asked about switching BB to EE. I told him I already had and was waiting for the cabling work to be done and he offered to transfer me to the connections team. Long story short, it seems the whole order was cancelled with no reason why - this despite the outstanding order showing in my BT account with a supposed engineer visit today. On my account it's still saying the old landline and BB will cancel down on Saturday - heads will roll if that happens. When I told the call handler that an OR engineer had already been out he couldn't believe why that had happened. Of course complaint raised and the connection team will call tomorrow to redo the order.

I'm mulling over what compensation they can give me (always got to get something out of these situations right). If I hadn't rang EE, then the connections team, I'd still be in the dark sat here waiting for nothing to happen.

This was all to be done before we go on holiday at the end of the month - not happening now of course. Gits.

[Nickslikk2112]

Trains.

Made me grumpy on Thursday when my train to Norwich was delayed by 15 mins at Chesterfield due to an earlier points failure. It then got progressively later for no obvious reason and was then terminated at Ely. Probably down to driver exceeding his hours. Overpaid Wanker.

Coming back from Norwich, before brekkers I checked trains were running, all OK. Post Brekkers no trains between Norwich and Ely due to a trackside fire. Arse. Got to station early, trains to Ely then my way weren't running but ones to Stansted Airport were, so we got on one to Ely. Only for what would have been our train to Norwich then turning up - albeit ten minutes late. Nearly got back to Chesterfield in time only for train to stop outside station because the train in there couldn't shut its doors!

But there was a really fat woman in a wheelchair on the train, how she'd got on I don't know, but she couldn't use the loo as her wheelchair was too wide to fit!

[Fishy]

Heating on.. in august ffs..weather shit and cold...

[pxr5]

Re-ordered BT full fibre again last week after the saga noted above. Installation date was to be 09 Sep. Just had a text from BT this morning saying the the order has had to be cancelled again - something to do with their 'back-end systems'. What a joke for a company like BT/OR. Compo is rising lol.

What was really funny was a text from EE 30 mins before saying they are working  well with my order and it will be on schedule. Poor, poor service.

[captainkurtz]

Re-ordered BT full fibre again last week after the saga noted above. Installation date was to be 09 Sep. Just had a text from BT this morning saying the the order has had to be cancelled again - something to do with their 'back-end systems'. What a joke for a company like BT/OR. Compo is rising lol.

What was really funny was a text from EE 30 mins before saying they are working  well with my order and it will be on schedule. Poor, poor service.

Had lots of BY WiFi installations at different addresses in the last few months - absolutely diabolical service in all cases.  Utterly useless.  Like almost everyone post covid. 

[The Picnic Wasp]

I don't think there's a debate really - if you're fond of the large physical media and the ritual and you like a cosy veil of warm, muffly distortion in front of your music, vinyl's for you.

If you prefer the playback medium to be transparent, you want to hear the artist's creation more accurately, you don't want your music to wear out, you're not fond of surface noise, you like your music to be readily portable, quickly accessible, indexed and searchable - clearly digital's for you.

Horses for courses.

My Facebook news feed showed an electron microscope photo of a stylus in a vinyl groove. I have to say it looked a pretty brutal contact at x 1000 magnification. Unsurprising that a degree of unwanted sound is generated. I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that I was sent this. The world's just one big algorithm.