But that’s a 50p increase on an LP worth a tenner, £1 on a £20 LP. It hardly warrants cheap plastic mouldings in cardboard packaging costing nearly 30 quid, esp [repeating myself here] when the same product on a different plastic moulding is a fiver.
Well that’s a different thing altogether to my post above, which is only pointing out that in real terms the cost of an LP hasn’t changed that much, and arguably has actually reduced in price since vinyl’s heyday.
Whether you think that price is worth it (now or ever) is a different thing altogether.
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Of course CDs are simply cheaper to produce, manufacture, package and ship. In fact a LOT cheaper for all points.
For example there was an article in HiFi News this month that was talking about the skill and time it takes to cut a vinyl master… you’ve really got to know what you’re doing.
Overall you can churn out CDs for a lot less than vinyl albums. Of course there’s also a degree of additional markup simply because it’s perceived that TT owners will stand a little extra on the price. 
and don’t forget that CDs are much more robust and you can often take a punt on a second hand CD without a worry, but not vinyl. For a while I dabbled about coming back into vinyl (about a decade ago) and tried a few second hand vinyl discs but they were all rubbish… even the ones called ‘like new’ or ‘mint’. In the end I decided you had to go for 180g new to have any chance of getting a good pressing! Then you come up against the price issue!
I know rather a lot about vinyl production, having issued an LP on my own label. It is a complex, time-consuming and very expensive process – rather more involved than a simple “plastic moulding in cardboard packaging”.
It’s extremely rare for a vinyl record to sell 100,000 or more copies these days, and vinyl is now a cottage industry (even for the majors), with runs of 500 to 2,000 the norm. The few decent pressing plants still left are working at full capacity – so they can charge what they want. Then there are storage and transport/distribution costs, which are considerable, and of course nobody uses recycled vinyl anymore.
Of course some people are taking the mick, but if you shop around you can find fairly priced vinyl - there are outlets other than HMV or the River. And CDs cost literally nothing to produce – that’s why these days they’re so much cheaper than records; also, their perceived value is lower, so the format cannot stand the Kind of upwardly elastic pricing that vinyl can.
As I said, a vinyl record is expensive to produce if you’re doing it properly. If I sell or wholesale my band’s LP for £14, I’m barely breaking even. As a business, we’re entitled to make a profit so we can invest in our artists. Personally, I think £20 or so for a well-pressed LP is fair value…
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I had a look around a HMV store & noticed how cheap some CDs were compared to vinyl. I love vinyl but couldn’t justify buy one record when I could get 4 CDs for similar money. I will buy vinyl but at the moment I don’t have a problem feeding my new (old) CD555 with new music material. As already said in the thread , CD players and CDs are a bargain at the moment so you might as well take advantage of the situation while it lasts.
As for paying the same amount for a download at CD quality for the same or now more than an actual CD - what are these jokers smoking.
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Absolutely - Qobuz CD quality download prices are often 200-300% or higher than the CD new from an online source - I guess some would argue they can’t be bothered to rip and the time saving/hassle offsets the cost but it really is a joke.
Qobuz I feel (perhaps other vendors) are also missing a big market for CD quality downloads when there is no hi-res available - few people are going to spend £13 for a download if they can get the physical CD and rip it for £4. I also don’t understand why their Sublime subcription tier does not offer discounts on CD quality, only hi-res - again they are missing a captive audience when there is no hi-res available and people simply buy the CD.
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Yes - this is one of the great mysteries of modern time.
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OH is a big fan of charity shops both donating to and buying from, and a good use of my time when we’re in one is to go through the CDs. These days they’re often some for £1, or 50p each etc. At that price there’s no risk; buy a few, rip them, donate them back next time we’re passing.
Of course, to be 100% legal, you should delete the rip if you give the cd back
If you want the last cd in jazz like me, the cd download is a bit less expensive vs the cd on amazon or other sites.
The hirez is in general a bit more expensive vs the physical cd, but globally on same level price.
LOL!
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Some also send them back if their top notch replay finds flaws. Still there are lots of people who may not notice.
As one who has only recently got CD replay delivering I’m happy to save a bit on new vinyl.
Phil
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Where are you buying them from? I’ve bought a fair few over the past year or two and haven’t had one that was warped.
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It does make me chuckle to hear audiophiles, who are happy to spend what most sane people would consider ridiculous amounts of money on HiFi kit in order to reach audio nirvana, complain about spending relative peanuts 20 to 30 quid on an LP.
As has already been pointed out, producing vinyl records is a complicated and skilled artisan process. Vinyl records have never been cheap and in the early days were mostly the preserve of the well healed. I remember reading that in the very early days of recorded music, an appointment had to be made to visit HMV and audition records served by a sniffy attendant!
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Btw HMV is these days a place I strictly avoid. The last time a few years ago I wandered into a local branch and was pleasantly surprised to find a fairly good selection of LP’s, I bought half a dozen or so different titles and genres and they were all promptly returned for various quality reasons.
In my view better to stick with independent specialist retailers online or in the real world who give a damn.
Yeah, they were a dying breed but optimistically there does now seem to be a growing number of good independents alongside those surviving shops.
Digital audio is fine and dandy for convenience and low cost but for me nothing beats rummaging through the racks and chatting with store staff who know their onions.
To go back to the question posed by the OP it could be argued that digital audio, particularly streaming, is what has slowly been killing the golden goose, causing the decline in the real world record shop and resulting apathy toward recorded music amongst the mainstream.
That bird is already out of the coup
Discogs entries for the ColdPlay Vinyl I have in the collection - bought at the time of release (2000, 2002 and 2005, so 15-20 years ago) for mainstream prices at that time.
All 3 are Mint/Mint, so a value of £150 for the 3!
There is still the odd bargain around new of course. I just paid £9.18 for “An Abandoned Orchid House” by Talitha Rise from the River. But overall I agree with Richard, I don’t feel albums on vinyl are more expensive in real terms than they were when I started buying them in the late 70’s. The reality is that access to music has become far cheaper, which is maybe why many artists struggle financially these days. Not Coldplay of course, although I profess to rather liking the new album which Santa brought me for Christmas.
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I am buying CD first these days. They have a decently working back-end for the business side so even small artists mostly gets paid, there is a large library of content available and if you take some care ripping you get the best sound on offer for home listening. Or you can keep it simple, with still top sound quality, by using a good CD-player.
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Review on audiophile vinyl companies on Stereophile. Revinylisation.
The effort put in vinyl production. Review by Art Dudley.
But they cost much more than 20 euros…