craigb
If 8-tracks return, I'm finding a time machine out of here! 

Especially if they splice up previously non-spliced songs. 
 
I always thought "so what's the big deal with some blank space at the end of side B of the tape?" Oh yeah, some bean counter (non-music lover) saw a .003 cent cost savings per unit.

One of the first experiences hearing something other than lower fidelity for me was Santana's Abraxas on 8 track inside a Chev Impala that a friend of mine brought to Australia from the US.  The sound system in that car was immense and the music sounded quite incredible, at the time anyway. I was about 14.  There is my connection to the 8 track, which did not really take off here at the time.
 
And to James I have been lucky to own a very high quality turntable from the 70's and still going strong today. There are some spectacular albums to hear such as the Sheffield Lab series from the 80's. Direct studio mix to cutting lathe. (no Tape multitrack at all!) There is an amazing Dave Grusin album recorded this way. ('Discovered Again'. The line up is awesome and the way they are all playing is ridiculous , ...good)   It makes your turntable really shine.  And kick transients so fast you would not believe it. Dark Side still sounds amazing to this day to me.  Many electronic albums sound awesome on vinyl.  Analog synths and vinyl is a marriage made in heaven I think. 
 
The Pre Amp you plug your turntable into is also pretty important.  The more money there the nicer everything sounds too.  The RIAA equalisers inside many Hi Fi amps are pretty good, but an all out external expensive RIAA preamp is better again I feel anyway.  I blew over $1000 on one in the 70's! Sounds damn nice though.  So many nice albums to listen to.

Covered in dust and forgotten about within 3 months - calling it now ! 

Jeff Evans
And to James I have been lucky to own a very high quality turntable from the 70's and still going strong today. There are some spectacular albums to hear such as the Sheffield Lab series from the 80's. Direct studio mix to cutting lathe. (no Tape multitrack at all!) There is an amazing Dave Grusin album recorded this way. ('Discovered Again'. The line up is awesome and the way they are all playing is ridiculous , ...good)   It makes your turntable really shine.  And kick transients so fast you would not believe it. Dark Side still sounds amazing to this day to me.  Many electronic albums sound awesome on vinyl.  Analog synths and vinyl is a marriage made in heaven I think. 
 
The Pre Amp you plug your turntable into is also pretty important.  The more money there the nicer everything sounds too.  The RIAA equalisers inside many Hi Fi amps are pretty good, but an all out external expensive RIAA preamp is better again I feel anyway.  I blew over $1000 on one in the 70's! Sounds damn nice though.  So many nice albums to listen to.

Thanks Jeff! I ran the turntable through my Midas board to boost it and then into a pair of Atomic CLR wedges (at 500 watts each)! Listening to Styx's Man in the Wilderness CRANKED in an acoustically treated room. wow. Just wow. And to be able to do that without any bass causing the needle to skip! Man, if I had a time machine I would go bring my old self and my record collection forward to listen in my studio.
 
Man, I am falling in love with just LISTENING to music again! :)
 
I have a signed copy of Dark Side of the Moon hanging on the wall. I think I'll pull that down next and give it a spin. Then it will be Kiss' Rock and Roll Over - which was my first rock album. I actually have my vinyl collection but it's been the attic for 15 years and I'm not thinking it's survived, but I'm going to fish it out and check...

paulo
Covered in dust and forgotten about within 3 months - calling it now ! 

maybe, but certainly not before I blow a shload on albums... 

Jeff Evans
One of the first experiences hearing something other than lower fidelity for me was Santana's Abraxas on 8 track inside a Chev Impala that a friend of mine brought to Australia from the US.  The sound system in that car was immense and the music sounded quite incredible, at the time anyway. I was about 14.  There is my connection to the 8 track, which did not really take off here at the time.
 
And to James I have been lucky to own a very high quality turntable from the 70's and still going strong today. There are some spectacular albums to hear such as the Sheffield Lab series from the 80's. Direct studio mix to cutting lathe. (no Tape multitrack at all!) There is an amazing Dave Grusin album recorded this way. ('Discovered Again'. The line up is awesome and the way they are all playing is ridiculous , ...good)   It makes your turntable really shine.  And kick transients so fast you would not believe it. Dark Side still sounds amazing to this day to me.  Many electronic albums sound awesome on vinyl.  Analog synths and vinyl is a marriage made in heaven I think. 
 
The Pre Amp you plug your turntable into is also pretty important.  The more money there the nicer everything sounds too.  The RIAA equalisers inside many Hi Fi amps are pretty good, but an all out external expensive RIAA preamp is better again I feel anyway.  I blew over $1000 on one in the 70's! Sounds damn nice though.  So many nice albums to listen to.

OK Jeff having had some time with the turntable I can say that I could see dropping $1k on a good turntable at some point!
 
I am absolutely HAVING A BLAST listening to vinyl. I have hit most of the stores in town at least once and I'll get the rest of them. As I write this I am listening to side 2 of Kiss Alive and my love for this album is reborn. 
 
I don't think vinyl is superior. Deadmau5 or Morgan Page - I just couldn't imagine their amazing music sounding the same on vinyl. But for music that was ORIGINALLY RECORDED to be released on vinyl - too me it is how the music is supposed to sound. It is a thrilling experience to hear the music the way I once heard it, only in much higher fidelity (and a tuned room!).
 
The act of selecting an album, cleaning it, cleaning the stylus, getting out your glasses to find a track - it brings back the thrill of LISTENING to music for me. It's a conscious decision and a bit of effort to listen to something, so you think about what you want to hear and you make it happen. When I do this, music moves from background music for other activities to be about listening to the music - really listening.
 
For the first time I listened to Michael Jackson's Beat It and Billy Jean off of a new re-issue of Thriller on vinyl. Almost made me cry - this is one of the best mixes I've ever heard. Had I experienced his music this way before, I absolutely would have seen him before he died.
 
peace! :)

That is a pretty nice turntable you have. Unless you are getting motor or platter noise or the motor speed varies or something, I would put the money in a very good cartridge/stylus. They can make a world of difference, so long as you set it up properly. The turntable just makes it go 'round. Plus, if you do get another turntable you should be able to move the cartridge over.
 
But yeah, some vinyl records are still magical. I can put on Joe Walsh County Fair and I'm instantly transported back to the 70's and stoned. It's not the same as playing from some newfangled digital source. :)

DrLumen
That is a pretty nice turntable you have. Unless you are getting motor or platter noise or the motor speed varies or something, I would put the money in a very good cartridge/stylus. They can make a world of difference, so long as you set it up properly. The turntable just makes it go 'round. Plus, if you do get another turntable you should be able to move the cartridge over.
 
But yeah, some vinyl records are still magical. I can put on Joe Walsh County Fair and I'm instantly transported back to the 70's and stoned. It's not the same as playing from some newfangled digital source. :)

Cool - no noise from the turntable itself - so perhaps a cartridge update in the future! :)

Hi,
 
My Pioneer 12D (don't remember the numbers right now) lasted 35 years and went through 2 rubber bands! The cartridge was the Stanton 685EEE, that cost over $200 in the 70's, but the quality of its sound was too good to not enjoy.
 
When the Pioneer died, about 5 or 6 years ago, I got me a Stanton T.92 which now goes for around $250, and it was over $300 dollars when I got it. The cartridge that it comes with stinx and I want to get a better one!

Jeff Evans
The Pre Amp you plug your turntable into is also pretty important.  The more money there the nicer everything sounds too.  The RIAA equalisers inside many Hi Fi amps are pretty good, but an all out external expensive RIAA preamp is better again I feel anyway.  I blew over $1000 on one in the 70's! Sounds damn nice though.  So many nice albums to listen to.

The RIAA EQ part of the circuit boils down to literally a handful of simple electronic components, although apparently not everyone historically used the proper component values and thus messed up the EQ curve by varying amounts(assuming the curve used when the disc was cut was the proper one in the first place). 
 
The rest is just a preamp with clean gain to bring the cartridge signal up to a sufficient level.