Fenxy

I never had a chance to buy LPs since that was before my time (yes we had them in the house) so I don't understand what is truly being missed, but I can say it seems more nostalgic than anything. Things are too damn big to keep anywhere.

That's the whole point, they were big enough to experience...to look deep into the cover art, gawk at amazement at the inside covers, read the liner notes and the lyrics...

It took all of 2 seconds to rip the shrink wrap off as opposed to the 1.64 hours it takes now to get all the security crap off.

You truly missed out on some days junior. I rejoice in my old age and old school ways.

I was a dj when I was in college, and I loved going to the record store. I lived a couple blocks away from one and used to go there on a weekly bases going through albums, looking for new music, and burning a lot of cash. It was awesome, so I can totally understand where that guy is coming from. Now I don't have time to dj anymore and no longer have the equipment, so I obviously don't buy LP's anymore. But I miss the record buying experience quite a bit.

I did this with CD's in the early and mid 90's, before we had computers that could handle decoding mp3s realtime. I agree there's something to the size of an LP that gives it another feel, however not all is lost.

Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails released their Ghosts I-IV album in a lot of formats. I got a limited edition that was $70. It came in a sturdy cloth covered box, within a large art book (we're talking about 10x13") two cds, a Blu-Ray with the imagery and surround sound mixes, and a DVD with the source tracks for you to remix.

That was something to get excited about. Additionally, NIN is not on a label and is handling almost all of their own production, so the only leaks that happen are the ones they want to.

Hmmm, well I'm old enough to remember and have bought plenty of vinyl (and I mean plenty - it got a bit silly really!). The main reason for buying it was the music. It was nice when the package was well done and the artwork was nice - I appreciated it - but it was a secondary consideration after the music.

I made the change to CD's fairly early, during a time of people moaning about them being small and the artwork not having as much impact as something 4 times the size. And now we have almost done away with physical product all together and if you buy an album online, you get some files, sometimes including a PDF for the booklet that would have come with the CD.

This is progress and good progress. I could get sentimental that I miss having shelves full of stuff gather dust, or I could just be happy that it's in my power to listen to anything in my collection at the click of a mouse or a button press on a remote control (thanks to a Squeezebox).

Because compact discs and vinyl are effectively dead, then there's no reason why each album released can't have a dedicated web site so that your music player can pick up dynamic information about it and large high resolution images as it's being played. There is a lot of scope for this kind of thing really.

So good riddance old physical products as far as I'm concerned.

I still get excited when albums are released by artists who I know go away and take time to make something they love.

It was nice when the package was well done and the artwork was nice - I appreciated it - but it was a secondary consideration after the music.

Valid point, it's definitely about the music first. I've spent hours trying to find album artwork for my iTunes library though, since I normally have it open in cover flow mode and still like looking at album/cd covers for the art.