[Vintage-Audio] Re Vinyl Vs CDS

[Mike Clarson]

Duane: I agree with you on the computer recording techniques. Interesting
one can purchase a $30 CD player (or, if recording, a $129 Minidisk unit)
and it plays flawlwssly, yet on a $1500 2 GHz computer with plenty of RAM,
it stutters, locks up, etc. I know computers are being used for sound
recording and playback, and I think the secret is a dedicated sound card
with better resolution than onboard ones that buffers so the computer just
has to handle data. As for CD pricing, the list prices for music vs data are
not much different, but after rebates and promotions, the data ones get down
to $0.20 or so, making them a true give away.   

One format you didn't mention was optical recording, i.e. movie soundtracks.
They sounded quite good, even from the 30's and 40's. 

Worth mentioning is that on a local radio station WFMU, they have a weekly
(Tuesday, 7-8 PM) antique phonograph program where the old mechanical only
machines are used to play back recordings on 78's, 80's and cylinders.
Machines are mic'd in the studio. Historical notes on the recording
techniques are also presented. These programs are archived and available to
all (For free, and with no obligation, registering or any other such
nonsense, however donations are cheerfully accepted) via the internet. They
also continue to stream their broadcast as it is happening.
http://www.wfmu.org I have also attended some recent acoustic powered
cylinder recording at Edison Labs in West Orange NJ. A whole different set
of rules from electronic recording! While current techniques blow away the
quality attainable with this very old stuff, it is amazing how good it does
sound on well maintained equipment. --Mike, WV2ZOW