I am not confident that RIAA figures (sans non-affiliated labels) represent the entire market when the market is thinning out this much, but it seems that the physical formats are trending towards the bigger album art:
https://www.bbc.com/news/64919126
Interesting is also that the vinyl sales are growing despite being more expensive than CDs.
Makes me think: How does standard vinyl (packaged in cardboard sleeve) compare to standard CD (packaged in polystyrene jewel case) considering 'environmental footprint'? A CD in jewel case is lighter, I don't know how PVC compares to polycarbonate + polystyrene?
Only looking at weight, it seems to me a CD win. Especially when taking playback length into account (double record vs single CD)
Relevant article in The New Statesman (https://archive.is/3FWod), at least referring to some scientific study.
Producing a CD yields a much lower footprint - but on the other hand, a single-material PVC slate is in principle easy to recyle, while a plastic+metal foil sandwich is not. But then on the other-other hand: does that recycling even happen? The paper part (weighing more for an LP) is something we actually do recycle.
The article also points out that streaming isn't innocuous either. Not by the hour, and also the easy availability of streaming means that consumption goes up. People rather stream from the 'net than download and play locally.
Content creation is part of this. Encoding and storage has a footprint before nobody has ever streamed/downloaded. And more music is released than ever.
Which makes the overall assessment even more delicate - on one hand, if we went back to LPs then footprint would likely go down (much less consumed!), but that isn't remotely realistic. If instead we ask whether the vinyl folks are actually playing their LPs ...? If they aren't, then there is not much substitution going on, and the LP footprint will often come on top the streaming footprint.
Now do the same exercise for video streaming vs music streaming and vs silver discs.
Good to hear about CDs keeping the price down. 8)
Also today's news: Metallica buys their vinyl pressing plant.
https://blabbermouth.net/news/metallica-acquires-vinyl-pressing-plant-furnace-record-pressing
Blabbermouth apparently copypasting a press release for maximum objectivity.
Well, I guess it only goes to prove that you can fool most of the people most of the time!! Especially when you look at the absurd amounts of money being charged for turntable setups that aim to retrieve more information from a geriatric medium that a modestly priced CD player can comfortably surpass. But hey, each to his own and we're all entitled to spend our money where we choose. I'm as good at wasting money on gadgets, etc, as the next person!! ;)
Some vinyl pressing plants use old LPs as raw material (but they punch out and waste the bit in the middle where the label is glued on).
Especially when you look at the absurd amounts of money being charged for turntable setups that aim to retrieve more information from a geriatric medium
You mean like some of these?
(https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/ih8tody-jpg.37752/)
or this, at the bargain-basement price of only $150,000:
(https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uEtC3VdNzyCXLmgRoK8Rvf-650-80.jpg)
If you don't have $150K laying around, this one is only $120,000:
https://walkeraudio.com/proscenium-black-diamond-v/
Indeed!! Amazingly pointless wonders of engineering. ;)
I wonder what them big libraries are using to digitize historically significant sources that exist only as vinyl or shellac.
Probably not inexpensive, probably not that expensive.
You mean like some of these?
(...)
or this, at the bargain-basement price of only $150,000:
(...)
If you don't have $150K laying around, this one is only $120,000:
(...)
I wonder whether any of the (prospective) buyers of these tools are familiar with the tale The Emperor's new clothes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes).
I wonder what them big libraries are using to digitize historically significant sources that exist only as vinyl or shellac.
Probably not inexpensive, probably not that expensive.
Maybe something like this (although this is for wax cylinders): https://www.endpointaudio.com/endpoint-cylinder-machine
1.Laser-assisted adjustable mandrel and optical playback of broken cylinders
2.Cylinder concentricity adjustable to .001mm resolution
3.De-wow reference tone for eliminating additional wow
4.High throughput safety mandrel
5.Easy mandrel flipping for reverse playback of difficult grooves
See also the video at that page. So, probably something with a lot more controls, not at all simple to use and not a one-fits-all-solution. There are quite a few 78rpms at archive.org available captured with 4 different needles, where the engineer recommends one of the four.
edit: for example this one (https://archive.org/details/78_1-my-man-2-ka-lu-a-3-i-found-a-rose-in-the-devils-garden_carmen-cavallaro_gbia0071163). It says
Digitized at 78 revolutions per minute. Four stylii were used to transfer these records. They are 3.5mil truncated eliptical, 2.3mil truncated conical, 2.8mil truncated conical, 3.3mil truncated conical. These were recorded flat and then also equalized with Turnover: 375.0, Rolloff: -12.0.
The preferred version suggested by an audio engineer at George Blood, L.P. is the equalized version recorded with the 3.5mil truncated eliptical stylus, and has been copied to have the more friendly filename.
more edit: here's some details on their equipment https://theaudiophileman.com/george-blood-archive-interview/
No idea why....
¯\_(ツ)_/¯