Interesting the WAM and PFM both went wild about this article. Are most people here digital rather than vinyl fans?

The article read to me as it being a fruitless goal trying to start collecting vinyl fresh. I have 40 years worth thankfully

What do you mean "go back to being a highly marginal activity"? Vinyl was the mainstay of music for many more years than CD or digital. If anything's a fad then it's cd / digital if you're judging it on quantity / time.

There'll always be a place for the best quality in any field, and so I think vinyl is fairly safe.

People may begin to realise what a con digital music is, especially given that you don't actually own anything permanent when you pay to rent a music file, and end up with an inferior product. Just like DAB radio, it's a step backwards in terms of true hifi.

Lawrence

I love both mediums. It is good to see new vinyl being released a lot more. In terms of SQ both are very capable when done right

I felt the article was pretty realistic but to get a handle on how popular vinyl is today, (I've published this before) have a look at the graph in this link.

m.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30250358

It rather puts things into perspective, don't you think?

I am an out and out vinyl fan and will always buy a vinyl copy in preference to a CD or digital download, but in the process I have had both excellent results, but very many disappointments. By example, many Speaker Corner recordings are sub standard either through crap vinyl or poor original source recording causing noises that should not be present on the disc. A number of so called re-mixed issues have been disappointingly inferior to earlier versions. By example, the very latest re-issue of Pink Floyd albums on vinyl have the upper treble suppressed, causing a lack of cutting edge to the sound. I bought three of these LP's and after one listening will probably never listen to them again because they are flat and soft compared to the original and cheap production version. I have had the same experience with the £350 box set of Beatles library in stereo (not heard the mono version which I understand is well regarded). Absolutely flat compared to their much earlier 'breadbox' re-issue library that was produced on lightweight poor quality vinyl but nevertheless sounds superior to this latest edition. At £350 for the set, this is a major disappointment and my version will remain unplayed as I continue to enjoy the earlier 'breadbox' version.

However, there are many new re-issues which really sound great and also new production stuff that I enjoy owning and listening to. Whether the vinyl industry will survive considering the cost of building new pressing machines is very much another matter. Referring back to the link I posted earlier, clearly, the level of production and consumption of the product is very low and presently facilitates audiophiles the likes of me and you. I seriously have my doubts that this part of the industry will be sustainable especially considering that disregarding the likes of MP3, you can now download very high resolution audio files which really do sound very very good. Even I will be jumping on this band wagon soon using the 'Slice' refererred to on another thread.

Love good vinyl, will continue to buy it, but don't expect the honeymoon to last.

My experience with Speakers Corner appears  to be quite the opposite. Have you tried Crime Of The Century, Joe Cocker, Transformer, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Horses and Santana releases? The digitally mastered Stereo Beatles are disappointing though not really bad. Later 70's early 80's Beatles are not ideal in other ways. At least the reissues have better bottom end. On the other hand the Mono AAA box is outright superb as are the AAA stereo reissues of the Blue and Red albums. These show what the Stereo albums should have been. Labels to generally avoid are the US based Friday Music and 4men with Beards though they can produce the odd decent remaster. MOV generally use digital sources so I only buy their reissues of 90s onwards albums that are scarce and expensive for originals. Even Back To Back (Universal) are producing some decent sounding discs from analogue tapes. Plenty good new vinyl about and Steve Hoffman forum is a good place to find information on mastering and pressing quality.

Oh well, you have another view. To be honest, I can't be bothered to argue with you. Pointless and a waste of effort. I don't agree. End.

I had precisely this sort of discussion with an old friend and work colleague from decades ago. As a result of being a real astute guy in buying and selling companies he has become exceptionally wealthy. He was always an audio nut (and car nut) and now has the money to indulge that to fantasy levels.

He has gone for streaming, and has a music server and D-A that would make most of us weep. But being of a technical bent, he has found that the thing that releases the music is the clock. He has ended up with a clock module that costs more than most mere-mortal high end systems. He now reckons that it has the musicality of vinyl, but with more resolution and no background noise. He also likes to be able to find music easily, rather than trying to find a CD or record in a massive collection, particularly when it is put back in the wrong place, or worse is in the wrong jewel case.

But to get there he has had to expend a serious amount of money. Now of course you can certainly expend a similar amount of money on a deck, arm and cartridge, and it would be an interesting exercise to do a shootout at the tens of k level. But that is not what most of us do; being subjective animals we have our own subjective preference. I have a large collection of CD's, and since getting progressively back into vinyl have built up many hundred records (mostly charity shops, with some new buys). I reckon that I listen to vinyl perhaps 80% of the time and CD 20% at present.

Craig

Hopefully vinyl will sustain it's modest resurgence enough for most new titles to be available in the format. I think that is possible. Not because vinyl sounds better. That plainly isn't the reason for its new popularity. It may survive because it offers an opportunity for a marketing technique called "price skimming". Like with a book, where the product is really the words written, you can sell that same product to different people at different prices. Some people pay £20 for the hardback, usually the first to be available. Some £10 for the early release quality paperback. And some £5 for the eventual penguin version. Same product - different prices. 
In an industry troubled by piracy, and stolen revenues, the opportunity to "skim" a part of the market with a premium version is going to be spotted by any competent marketing manager. 
The consumer appeal responsible for the recent growth I think will sustain now it has become apparent. It is based around the tactile experience, the relationship with the media, and to a degree the collector aspect. 

Does that create a market for a relaunched PT anniversary? That was the question for the 2nd pint. I think not. The new market is for modestly priced players. But maybe it provides an excuse for a nostalgic flagship. Maybe. 

In terms of TT model choice the fat is at the expensive end of the market. In terms of model numbers sold it probably doesn't involve hi-fi quality decks at all but Chinese OEM direct drives and Crosley type players. I'm sure the biggest selling decks that you could call hi-fi are the entry level Project and Rega models. That stands to reason as relatively few people can afford or even want to own a mega priced TT. Answer is of course there is a place for a PT Anniversary in the market as long as it is built to more exacting standards and  does not try and price itself up with the Latest LP12 versions or SME 30. Some of Arthur's 'cheaper' and more idiosyncratic designs have restricted their sales on appearance/practicality alone. 

As for record sales and SQ - The industry is beginning to recognise there is a substantial niche market that plays vinyl on grounds of superior sound. The majors are now releasing many titles that are not just a CD on vinyl. If the perception that most vinyl buyers pay to just display the discs persists we would end up with vinyl MP3s full of crackle and pops. Some vinyl releases unfortunately do follow this description but thankfully it is now a minority.