CD's V Digital?

[Dr.Nightdub]

Another advantage of vinyl: harder for your mates to slip into their pocket. And CDs skip as well.

Just a question, which some of those who understand the science bit may be able to answer: does the fact that so many re-released albums proudly display "Digitally re-mastered" not suggest that what was originally recorded (for vinyl) was what the artist intended you to hear, but what you get after it's re-mastered is what the remixing engineer reckons the artist would've preferred you to hear - in other words, he's interpreting the music, as it were?

[Dodge]

Probably just means they were recorded on ****ty 8 tracks or something doc and now the engineers can get closer to what the artists wanted his/her work to sound like (particularly true when the artists are involved...)

[Soper]

Apart from the sound, I also love the fact that with vinyl, I feel like I am getting my moneys worth, with the nice big cover and everything, and the (on occasion) randomly coloured record.Better than squeaky clean cd's in cheap plastic cases

[sonofstan]

Nice to have unearthed a few more vinyl loyalists around here.
Re, Nightdub's question; mastering is the last bit of the recording process; in the old days the master was a 2 track 1/4 inch tape mixed down from the original 4,8. 16 or 24 track tape, which was then cut by lathe onto an acetate, from which a 'negative' of the vinyl was made. The first CD reissues generally involved simply copying this master onto DAT or Betamax, the problem being that the original was mixed for optimal reproduction on vinyl which didn't necessarily suit the different requirements of a digital medium. This is why the first CD versions of many classics were so terrible - the first CD version of Pet Sounds, for example was an abortion.

To counter this, engineers started going back to the original multitracks and producing a new master from there, If that's all that happens, and if the artist is consulted, then I can't see too much of an issue with it; if you want a CD version of something that sounds as good as it can given the limitations of the medium, then its probably the way to go. JUst be aware it won't entirely reflect the original intentions - but if you simply dub the original master to digital it will generally sound way worse than it did on vinyl over and above the general loss of quality on CD anyway.

edit given the nature of the music business, in many cases, particularly with small labels and in countries such a Jamaica, the master will be long lost by the time someone wants to reissue something on CD - in a surprising number of cases, the CD will be put together from the best vinyl copy available