the long Box fro Danzig's album was so fucking cool looking

And I can't believe I'm writing this reply, because most of you have proven highly unreasonable in the past.


And I hardly think that max needs to be compared with a fascist, Everyneurotic, simply because he writes credible, known facts about vinyl degradation and the associated storage issues.
http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/sho...37&postcount=7
Why do so many seem to have such a stong aversion to objective information? It's simple physics. Diamonds are harder than vinyl. Be sure to factor in the heat too of that diamond needle rubbing against the groove at a high rate of revolutions per minute. Which points to the whole reason industrial diamond tips are used on the stylus. Any other material would quickly melt from the heat and require constant replacements.
Case in point: As everyone knows, if you accidentally bump the record arm with even the slightest force you get a scratch on the record. Well, the same thing happens to the groove, albeit to a much lesser extent, every single time you play the record. With use over time, the dynamic sound of the record album becomes compromised as a result of the wear.

but my "Trees OUtside The Academy" vinyl picture disc is sooo pretty!!!!!!!!

I buy whatever format is most convenient.

There's no doubting that the picture disc is cooler to have than the regular vinyl, and much cooler than the cd or, of course, the cd-r.

And going back to the previous post, the above is the reason why many collectors prefer the heaviest vinyl available because the groove's integrity takes longer to compromise from wear. And it's the reason why many pro DJs get heavy vinyl and use the best turntable(s) available that are equipped with ultra-thin cantilevers.


Really now, Danzig?:)

I was a high schooler re-formed metalhead and man that cover was great, black with the white danzig skullllll

A brand-new vinyl, preferably heavy grade, is always gonna sound best, provided it's played on good equipment. But unfortunately, one just isn't able to play the record album all that many times before the natural dynamism resulting from the peaks and valleys of the groove starts to get worn.
And sometimes, records somehow start to sound better with a little (but not too much) wear. It's my understanding that real archivists and audiophiles get the vinyl and make copies to reel to reel, cassette, or nowadays, lossless wav copies to cd-r or dvd-r, and play those; and they just store their record albums with the associated care necessary.

Although, as is the case with any medium, there can be serious differentiation due to manufacturer quality, a cd played on good equipment sounds great as well.

On the b-side (flip side), nothing lasts forever anyway. The best medium available is gold-plated cd-rs, and they are expensive.

But if you really love an album, I suppose it's worth the investment to rip the vinyl lossless into the computer and put it on gold-plated cd-r as soon as you buy it.

I appreciate all formats...I listen to most music in my car, so cassettes and cds are obviously what I use most. Gotta love how cheap used cassettes are tooooooo.

Recently I've purchased 3 cassettes:
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
P.M. Dawn - Of the Heart... [I'm listening to it now]
Sonic Youth - Goo

I'm willing to buy anything I've ever wanted on cassette that's reasonably priced.

I paid a dollar each for the last two. Bought 'em at a bookstore of all places.

ooh i want loveless on tape. i have it on vinyl and i love love it

I bought it from a seller at Amazon.com. It sounds unbearable in my dad's mid-90s Nissan Pathfinder. The melodies are really buried and the noise is so loud. But on my stereo and in my mom's [newer] car, it pretty much sounds the same. I'm honestly waiting for the tape to get fucked up in a chopped & screwed way.

i used to have thousands of tapes back in the day and even though a lot of them didnt have lables or just scribbles on them i knew what was on each one just by looking at it (most of the time). they lived all over my room stacked on top of eachother like some kind of brick house about to tumble which they regularly did. i miss my tapes.

Yeah , sometimes I change my typography just to recognize each one with one glance.

What happened to your tapes??

when i moved away they got put in bags and dumped somewhere by my father who doesnt really care about sentimental value etc. i found them again a few years ago and spent hours listening to them and laughing at all the memories i had with them. also years ago my ex spilled lemonade on them all so some where ruined.

Do you still talk to your father?

seem like there is not yet a solution :D

here is what i do (i m still doing it to keep my 600+ cassette alive):
buy a new cheap cassette walkman or player, use it as a cleaner, play the tape before put it to your regular cassette player.

why it have to new and cheap? new, to make sure it wouldn't eat your tape; cheap, (since it works as a cleaner) so that you wouldn't feel the pain if the tapehead is gone cause by the dust/ whatever from the tape.

play the tape more offen can make it last longer too :)

btw, i own a JVC mini hifi date back from 2002, the playback sound of the cassette of the mini hifi significantly sound better then the cd. no bullshit. i leave to one of my pal due to intensive traveling in the past 4 years.

when i was in atlanta, i found "made in usa" on cassette for $3.

i've always read that vinyl doesn't biodegrade, so if one collects records for archival purposes (instead of recreational listening), they should be fine. This is why the US national archive stores keeps archives of music on wax, instead of cd's. cd's break down over time and get scratched if you just look at them the wrong way.

with that said, i'm a fan of all music formats, as they all have their strengths.

I got Sonic Death for $1

whooooaaa! i think i may have paid 20-something for it, but it came with "Confusion Is Sex," too.

in grunts and the occaisional hello.

on a totally different topic, way back in Chicago I handed Thurston a cassette version of my band's demo (besides the cd itself). I did it because I heard he never listens to cds and sometimes just gives them away.

It was kind of surreal but he took it.
Not that now my band is any better. Eh.

let's revive this thread! This is basically in reply to this post by NYCgaf16 where he said:


Can anyone explain me why all of a sudden cassettes have become so popular again? Yes, I liked cassettes when I was young (eighties/early ninties), to record stuff from the radio, and later I would rent CD's from the library and copy them onto cassettes, and whenever I got tired of them I would record something else over them. But buying new records on cassette? I hardly ever did.


This was at a time when there were still walkmans, and no iPod, or even mobile phones. Does anyone still use walkmans, the real original ones where you would put a tape in it, and all of a sudden the sound would be warbled and you'd open the thing and it was one big spaghetti mesh inside. And you'd have to use a pencil and try to recover the darned tape?



I got rid of all my tape collection like 10 years ago, because I didn't have a cassette player anymore, and if I wanted to record something, I would use CDR's. Or just transfer it to mp3's.



Now since a couple of years, artists are releasing stuff on cassette only. It's really bizarre to me. One of my favorite local labels Jesus Factory brings out many of its releases only on cassette nowadays.

I’m sure many thought cassettes fell away into nothingness much like 8-tracks did long ago. For me, it’s a medium I’ve always cherished! Making a mixtape and trading it for one from: Glice, Pookie, Danny Himself or many others here at SYG or with total strangers from around the world......the energy exchanged is personal and hard to duplicate. Being able to share/discuss here at SYG made it all the more fun. Personally, I backed off cassettes a bit when I no longer had a vehicles that had cassette players......but I’ve always had home tape decks!

When I saw Wolf Eyes earlier this month, they had two “tour only” cassettes at the merch table. Being able to take home something only available at shows, only listenable on a tape deck and having a brief discussion with John Olson at time of purchase......it’s a tangible memory NOT duplicated via a download or streaming service.

The number of cassette only labels is staggering. I’m assuming there must be some sort of profit for someone because tapes are selling out, often times before ever being released.

SONY has a new Walkman that’s soon to be released......for $500
If you can find old Walkmans at pawn shops or 2nd hand stores, I suggest buying any you find cheaply priced, because they are going up in value. Oh - Goodwill is a great place to score used tape decks. I picked up at Yamaha for $5 when visiting my cousin in Abilene earlier this year.

Speaking of value, many artist understand that a segment of the music buying public isn’t interested in purchasing $30 vinyls.