Preferred FORMAT???

[slayerhatesusall]

I like cds the most, then records, then cassettes, cdrs last. I don't like cdrs much due to the fact they usually look really cheaply made and can degrade even if you take good care of them, I rarely would ever buy a cdr release unless it was by one of my favorite artists and it didn't have any other physical release.Tapes are good for some genres like noise but I will only buy an album on cassette if it doesn't have a vinyl or cd release. Vinyl is fun to play and the large artwork and records look very nice, but they can be really disappointing in some cases when they have too much surface noise especially.
Cds are my favorite since they pretty much always sound great since you can play them thousands of times with no degradation in sound, look nice if not as large as a record sleeve and therefore don't take up too much space on the shelves.

[ypatingasisburys]

Vinyl is of course the most physically appealing format for artwork and fetishism, although the supposed vinyl audiophile lobby makes me laugh when they are seemingly unaware that 99.9% of modern vinyl has been mastered digitally.

Seconded, and furthermore - said people are also generally 'in the dark' to that fact that most of the modern releases they are buying have been captured/recorded to anything but a truly analogue chain..more often than not, straight to the project/bands home computers. In essence, this format which is seen by some as the absolute(!) is in many cases nothing more than a flat and linear sounding  'Lp3', if you will. ;)

All formats serve their purpose!

[Zeno Marx]

artists and labels looking to press records...

https://thevinylfactory.com/news/apollo-transco-vinyl-lacquer-fire/

The scuttlebutt is possibly no more 7" lacquers, which would imply a 12" lacquer used instead, which would also raise all the costs even more for a 7".  GZ uses DMM mastering, unless paying for a higher quality package, which doesn't use such lacquers but also sounds different.  DMM has its resource problems too, like where to source the cutting heads, but that is an aside.  Quite an ugly situation for the virtues of vinyl.

[totalblack]

artists and labels looking to press records...

https://thevinylfactory.com/news/apollo-transco-vinyl-lacquer-fire/

The scuttlebutt is possibly no more 7" lacquers, which would imply a 12" lacquer used instead, which would also raise all the costs even more for a 7".  GZ uses DMM mastering, unless paying for a higher quality package, which doesn't use such lacquers but also sounds different.  DMM has its resource problems too, like where to source the cutting heads, but that is an aside.  Quite an ugly situation for the virtues of vinyl.

This is of course terrible news and will cause issues for lots of people in North America for sure, but I've started the process for getting several records cut since this fire happening and have been told that there will be basically no repercussion at least in the plants\mastering studios I use. I imagine that something new will pop up or Apollo will rebuild before this becomes too huge of an issue. Funny enough I remember talking to someone a few years ago who mentioned that this bottleneck with lacquers was a massive problem and if something was to happen it would be pretty serious

[absurdexposition]

I've definitely heard of a few US labels having to shelve their 2020 release schedules. Where there's a will, there's a way, though. And there's enough money in the industry for someone to come along and fill the void.

Whatever happened to that magnetic tape shortage? Seems like everyone's been pressing tapes as often as usual.

[Eigen Bast]

Iirc the factory that produces the chemical needed for magnetic tape is back online

[brutalist_tapes]

i would say... CD for albums, 7" for EPs, cassettes for demos/promos/smaller releases... although i like all three formats. i don't care for novelty formats like 8-track etc. at all

[Endlösung]

long releases or releases with crazy frequency responses: Compact Disc for sure.

shorter/niche releases: Cassette

[Bleak Existence]

Cassettes for listening and also for recording

[host body]

tapes and vinyl, depends on the release which. mp3 is fine too. fuck cd's, i always just rip them and put them in the shelf never to be touched again

[deutscheasphalt]

1. tape
2. CD

[diigitae]

minidisc(but there are no scene who use it=
vinyl cd

but the main question is hearing the music

[cr]

Don't want to start a new thread, so I take this one.
Just read on a news site, that the first time since 1986, in the US market there were more vinyls sold than CDs (232,1 to 129,9 Million $)
Somehow interesting, but not completely unexpected, I guess.

Still nothing compared to the streaming services - all in all 4,8 Billion $!