Why Americans Are Returning to Vinyl, Books and DVDs
 

Why Americans Are Returning to Vinyl, Books and DVDs
From record stores to bookstores, more Americans are ditching streaming and screens, rediscovering the joy of owning physical media in a digital age.
Let's hope this grows and continues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LxX3p0kQG4

I find myself turning to hardcopy more and more often. Although I love my technology I'm more concerned with efficiency. I've now got so much information stored on my PC's and network drive that it's quicker to just reach for a book, manual or notebook. I despise scrolling through giant poorly indexed PDF manuals looking for information. I find myself reaching for the file cabinet more and more. It's all scanned and backed up on the network drives, but easier to find in hardcopy ..... not to mention I can pick up a manual and carry it right to the location I'm doing the work.

And I'd rather stick in a cassette of my favorite music than fiddle with a menu looking for my stuff when I'm in the car.

I don't purchase anything I can't physically hold. The only time I use digital is if it comes along with a physical purchase. I used to be heavy on tech when I was younger, but when you see how easy it is to remove or for someone else to gain access to it, going physical is the only way you will go.

I love when my new copy of Hagerty's Driver Club magazine comes in the mail. I would still rather read a book or magazine than read online. I am almost 64 so I guess it is just the way we always did it. My son vert seldom reads unless it is online. Different times.

Goes around comes around!Tom

Searchable pdfs are fine for work, technical.

Books for hobbies, for true Ref info. AI search results ruin the veracity of the found info. Need to Refs to be obvious,

Vinyl and cassettes are a mainstay here. Just getting into CDs and See-more than once DVDs

I'd rather hunt with my 100-year-old Winchester lever actions than my high-powered rifles with scopes! As Tom stated, what goes around comes around!

Obsessions come and go, I wouldnt read much into it.

I remember there was a period of time where vintage Levi's were huge both here and in Japan. People scouring thrift stores for old jeans and selling them at huge markups. I was in Herculanium, one of the cities that got got by Mount Vesuvius. Its a Roman city, but at the time the fad of the populace was ancient Greek culture, so you have this Roman city with a bunch of artwork of Greek gods.

I do go out of my way to try and buy the Xbox or Playstation games I play. I know Game Stop is going to rip me off on trade in, but at least I have something that has a little value, unlike a digital purchase. Its crazy to me that there is zero markdown on the digital copy. Waaay back when Amazon was mostly a book store they lost a class action lawsuit about that. They were selling Kindle copies of new release books at full new hardcover prices.

Convenience always wins. Even when people recognize they are being bilked on ownership, if you make it easy or cheap enough for them they will take you up on it. You cant expect the mass populace to go back to changing a record to switch an album, when Spotify will make a playlist of all your favorites. Even amongst people who have cool vinyl collections, I would bet most of the music they listen to is via their iphone. You cant carry that record player around with you while you work. But I love seeing people be able to have small businesss built on their passions.

Its no surprise that as time moves, people collect the things from their youth either. Eminem has a huge casette collection. Im sure people younger than that will collect CDs. Ive heard people in the car market say the same. While the hobby on the whole is healthy, prices are fallings for 40s-60s cars and rising for 80s-early 2000s. The golden era muscle car years stay healthy .

I always buy hardcopy of my music, but I won't buy vinyl anymore. I hated the clicks and pops of that era and won't go back. The convenience of playing the music is not there either with vinyl. Back in the day I would record the vinyl onto cassette to play in the car, etc. I had a high-end cassette recorder to do the job, AKAI GXC-760D, Dual turntable, Shure V15 type II cartridge, (I think) tracking at under 1 gram, so the copy was the best I could make.

When CD's came out, I mothballed the turntable equipment but still used the cassette for copy before CD players were in cars. Nowadays I typically play mp3's from a thumbdrive. Still make use of a 5 disc CD player usually during the holidays.

Still have my LP vinyl collection also. Haven't played them in decades.

George

George

I also still keep my old transistor and I.C. databooks since I do a side gig reverse engineering old hardware and the data for old devices may not be available online, especially from defunct manufacturers.

George

LPs, books, and DVDs are the only things I keep. Actual reading, listening, and watching is the only way to live.
As for reading, I have a huge library of science fiction and mysteries. My latest 2 are Lee Childs and his Jack Reacher novels and Stuart Woods and his novels.
As for both, once you start reading them your are hooked. Lee Childs passed Reacher on to his son. Stewart Woods passed away, but some authors are continuing his legacy. Of which are still great reads. Check out Stuart Woods on the internet and you'll see how prolific he was. If you buy one of his be ready for him to rule your days and/or evenings.

I own a restoration shop, so naturally I lean towards the older resources for some of the technical information. When a car comes in for major work, I sometimes go online to find related factory material to assist us in the repairs. When faced with an option of downloading a manual or buying a physical copy elsewhere, I buy the physical copy. I have found that they are invaluable. Like knowledge, it can't be taken away.

I believe many people are fed up with how temporary and unreliable digital information is. I know I am!

If you want a digital collection of music or written information you have to have pay to have a copy in the cloud and two copies on hard drives. Then you need to replace the hard drives every 4 to 5 years as the hard drives will fail. The same goes with notebooks or pads.

I have books my mother owned that I read, along with records and cassettes I bought in the 70's that I still enjoy.

Personally I really enjoy listening to a complete album the way the musicians created it. Not mixed up in a bunch of other songs and commercials.

When you spend the majority of your days staring at screens at some point most folks reach a point of never wanting to see another one again.

I have to admit I have uploaded all of my music Cd's to my Iphone apple music.
532 of them, loss less high quality it's a 'backup phone' just bought a portable DAC and a new set of headphones from Audio Technica a upgrade from my 30yr. old DJ set og Sony's and it a great sounding system portable.
Never before has mankind been addicted to a device like the cell phone.
They walk on the streets with eyes peering at it 24-7.
It's just refreshing to me to see younger generations of people wising up to that fact.
Life is short get offline and enjoy REAL people.;)

I spend most of my time in hotels . Smart phones , streaming , my kindle have changed my quality of life on the road dramatically. About 5 years ago my company issued iPads and it replaced 23lbs of publications that I carried in a separate bag . I’d rather have a book in hand but my kindle with ability to download from my library is so convenient. I’ve never owned vinyl , disliked tapes and hated CD’s - I never purchased many . I seldom turn the tv on in the room . Matter of fact , at home , if it wasn’t for my wife , I wouldn’t have a use for a tv. I’ve met quit a few younger people at work that don’t own them .

I have gone the other way.

I started my carburetor database in 1966 on IBM 80 column punch cards !

Since that time, I have scanned an untold number of resources, entered data of which I had hard copy (not ai), written my own retrieval programs, organized my own indexes, etc).

Currently have 136 GB of carburetor data on my computer (and yes, it is backed up on two additional computers, and two external hard drives, one off-site.

I can find any tidbit of carburetor information which I actually have quicker on my own computer than I can find the correct book, let alone find the proper page.

As to data from the internet, I want at least a photocopy of the original source. Ai (actually As) has totally destroyed any credence that the internet may have once possessed.

For those of you wanting hard copy of carburetor data, I have thousands of pounds of original books which I no longer need.

No possible way could I run my business using only hard copy.

As to music: the last record player I had in an automobile was in a 1959 Ford that I owned in 1964~1965. But I do have a nice stereo system and hundreds of vinyl records at home.

Jon

I used to download music with Google onto my phone, over 500+ songs. then one day they said they were not going to support that feature any longer, and they recommended I sign up for Youtube Music. There was a class action lawsuit, but I missed the deadline to sign up for it. But that was $500+ gone because they didn't want to just leave the app around. Ever since then I have not paid for a digital only product.

On the technology front, we just got Starlink for backup internet for the coming snow/ice storm in TN. Of course we wouldn't really need it if the wife didn't insist on watching TV constantly.
I can typically get the info I need from the cell phone during outages.

LastoftheThinkers;6600870]Keywords in bold.

I have had my music on apple ITunes for 25 years.
Over 500 albums and songs, I upload many from CD's.
It's way better than most music apps. Apple ain't going anywhere.;)

Although I do stream music these days, I come from a generation that owned music and built my first stereo system from Heathkit and Knight Kit when I was 13 years old. Over the years I amassed a huge collection of Reel-to-Reel tapes, Digital Audio Tapes, cassette tapes, CD's, Albums, and 45's, to a point where I had to develop a data-base and print a binder to tell me where to find the song or album I wanted to listen to. All of that stuff took up a lot of space and was heavy to move, degradation of tape was a concern, and equipment was expensive to replace.

15 years ago I transferred all of my analog music to digital as well as the CDs and DAT tapes. Took me 2 years to transfer 18k of my favorite songs from all the formats onto a hard drive. I also spent a lot of time cleaning up the vinyl pops and clicks. Then I sold all the equipment and the media.

I had used iTunes, but at that time iTunes became unstable after 7k songs, so after wasting time with Apple, I switched to a Windows software called Media Monkey. I can instantly play any song from a playlist but unlike iTunes I have complete control over the software file system, and the interface is fully customizable with none of the Apple nuances. The software also stores and displays images of all the album covers and 45 jackets as well as lyrics while the song is playing. I can change the skins in Media Monkey to view a fully operational reel-to-reel tape deck if I want to relive the old days.

I am Mr. Analog and have 500-600 albums and some select reel to reel releases. I won't argue that analog is best as to each their own. I find warmth and dimension (depth) to the sound. And I dig the big format original graphics as a bonus.

Many people believe records sound better than CDs due to the analog nature of vinyl, which can create a warmer sound and a different listening experience. However, technically, CDs can reproduce a wider range of frequencies and have less noise, so the preference often comes down to personal taste and nostalgia.
I sure don't miss the pops and noise of records.

There is SO much of history being Re written by Ai and INCORRECT, all this "Physical evidence" is sure needed, songs, or books because Ai cant put ANY correct pics and dialog with their videos, and people Believe it!

Absolutely true Sir.
People aren't as smart as they once were.
Thank "smart phones'.

I have always been a "physical media" guy;
I have never cared for e-magazines - I don't like being tied to an electronic device.

I have a record collection, but that had it's genesis in a hand-me-down record player, and being able to find LP's for $1 and under...
I started with cassettes in the late 1980's, and although I still love tapes, I stopped buying tapes in the early-ish 1990's ('93-'94), and swapped to CD's...

I loved itunes when the iPhone 4 was a still fairly up-to-date device;
Back then, you could rip your cd to itunes, and put it on your phone... in recent years Apple has quite aggressively pushed it's users away from owning media, to needing to buy it from itunes to play on their device...
This pisses me off.

I can could the number of songs that I downloaded without owning the album on one hand, and have fingers to spare;
Even those songs, are now owned by me in a physical form - which in my mind legitimizes my having them...

I do have one Foo Fighters track which was a free download-only track, and one Smashing Pumpkins album which was released as a free download-only (not made in physical-form) album... but I burnt that SP album to cd ;)

I miss my magazine subscriptions, and am grateful that there is at least one magazine for me to physically flip through and read...

I am increasingly annoyed by the prevalence of AI replies with google (ect) searches - I'd look stuff up in a book if I could... and I have a library to back this up.
(if we ever build a house, my wife and I are determined to have a dedicated library.)

We don't stream movies that are not included with a streaming service - we would rather buy a DVD over pay to stream it;
I chalk off the cost associated with a streaming service akin to what used to be a cable tv bill - I didn't own the shows on cable tv, and I don't own stuff we stream...

I for one never stopped buying records (moreover CD's), book's, or DVD's.

I still like being able to upload Cd's to my I tunes account and being able to easily rip a play list to CD for my player in my Beamer.