CDs vs records (1988) | RetroFocus 

guess that's about the same we pay for a new LP now

@@wuzihuzi Yeah that's about the price of last LP I bought, but I will only get one if I enjoy the whole album overall. I stream all my other music which would be one or two singles from an album. I can get it cheaper on ebay, and vintage shops, but may not be the best quality.

Min wage in California in 1988 just rose to $4.25 that year. So 4 hours of work to buy one record. Today minimum wage is $12 so 4 hours of work would buy 6 months of unlimited music, yet people today say "oh we don't make enough"

@@amunra4015 As if records are the only thing people buy. Price of housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, etc.. have all gone up massively, quality of life for middle class have been steady declining.

@Billius Madroggen More demand will lead to more production, the economy will only flourish if regular people have spare money to buy stuff. Economy stagnate if the 1% hoard all the wealth.

spock lol same. I prefer the hard copy.

Seriously? 😂

😂😂😂😂😂😂lets face it bro! $0.99 is almost $1, thats alot of money 😂

spock but that $0.99 is only to listen not to own.

spock i'm the type of guy who has music playlists and if I like a certain handful of songs from an album then I would actually by the cd

Yep and its severely harmed the industry...

@@markdp1983 And yet, they're all still millionaires. Boo-hoo. Boooo-hooooo.

Yea that’s why in the 2000 pirate Bay took off

The only ones that suffer these days are the music executives that were raking it in. If you look at music celebs today and 35 years ago the lavish lifestyles are about the same.

And the music shops themself are no more.

Yep I used to tape songs from 2SM.

I used to record songs off the radio. Often the radio DJ kept talking until the vocals almost started.....so I had permanent recording of his talking at the start of that song! In other cases, I'd miss the first bit of the song if I suddenly realised it was a song playing I really wanted.......but wasn't quite ready with the tape or button!

As we did. Cassettes were the most common format among Gen X in 88. Record players were mostly a thing from the 70s and was in the mid 80s a bit outdated already. There was a small, compact cassette/radio player in every teenagers room. I never really understood the comeback of the vinyl among Gen X as most of us abandoned the format already in our teenage years.

@InSomnia DrEvil 50.....give or take.

That was so me lol

also proving that technology changes the world & that you have two choices: keep up or get left behind.

They have fixed the system since then. Own everything, and nothing can go outside your control.

Also proving that no-one gets paid anymore for the music, especially the artists and musicians

I`m 52 and I remember when CDs came along. It was strange because we thought nothing could top vinyl and cassettes so most of us were skeptical to it. Even record store owners hated CDs and many even didn`t want to display them or advertise for them the first years. It just shows how conservative we are when it comes to changes in culture.

@@simonfivez2947 most income from any artists is in ticket sales for live concerts. Was like that 40 years ago and it is still like that today. Them not getting as much income from the sale of digital copies of music just makes them actually have to perform instead of sitting around for decades collecting royalties. Shows who has talent and who just wants a single hit for fame and money.

I think I'm from the last generation of kids that taped the radio to make mixtapes

I think I'm from the first generation.

Ibn Yahud i was a teen in the late 90s.a bunch of my music was taped off the radio or taped from another cassette. I remember my first album was the Joshua tree that was on cassette and taped off a tape.

Taping off the radio back then is just like illegally downloading music today or using a youtube to mp3 converter.

@@SanaSamaha Nah, taping the radio and downloading music off of RU-vid for personal use are both legal as long as no copy protection is circumvented.

Don't laugh too hard. Your overweight body will rip your needlessly tight clothing.

@@TotalTuxedo wtf

@@TotalTuxedo gottemm

@@TotalTuxedo jeez haha

Captain Zane I thought I misheard her initially, so replayed that line a few times. It’s not something I recall hearing on Home & Away or Neighbours in the 90s.

namakudamono But pretty much how every other Aussie was speaking at the time

It was ace to hear that!

Yeah we used the word spastic or spaz all the time

Now you can't even say it without someone spazzing out

I was 14 in 1988 and it was the best time to be alive, life was simpler and people were friendlier.

@@tefllife2024 I was born in August 1988, and glad to know that. If I can come back to 1988

Oliver M . It was pretty good all the way into the early 2000s. It was just simpler in the 80's and 90s.

@@hestiapetrina9522 to think that while I was browsing through some record store, you were being delivered! Lol. Yes, I have some of my best memories back then!!!

@@robertt9342 yep till about 2004, I think.

I was gonna say that too

3:28 listen to this then.

Refer*

@@Kage-jk4pj honestly never notice that, but thanks for reminding me of this great clip 👍🏻

It was mostly english speaking people who called it that. The rest of us called it CD from get go.

I do that at my record store. Today

Because it's the 80ssssssss, man. :P

Newtown in the 80s

I didn't even notice.....

Sold out

Did you never do that as a youngen in Australia?

Yeah, CDs were the "rational" choice, but nowadays that's streaming. Vinyl and cassettes just have a certain coolness factor that cds just don't have

Vinyl also has longetivity factor whereas CDs are prone to damage by mere scratching, dust etc. Streaming actually leases you music which is temporary. Even downloaded and stored music has shelf life of 5-6, possibly 10 years. Apart from this the rapid technology and hardware switches makes it impossible for such format to be useful. On other hand vinyl lasts longer, sounds clearer, the mechanism is manual and dont require memory or internet connection, technology switches dont mean anything as long as you have people who can repair the players. The huge advantage streaming has is the budget which makes the music available to largest demographic of music consumers: young people. The largest disadvantages vinyl has is the unavailability of graphic media. If you love to collect and preserve music and have extra money only then vinyl is a good option.

I've got an old Sony Ericsson Walkman phone from 2007 in my bits and bobs drawer and the songs that have been downloaded and stored still work 14 yrs later

Last I checked a vinyl record was like $68 from JBHIFI

@@kunaljanvalkar2850 Vinyl is just as prone to scratching, probably moreso, and dust is an even bigger problem. I'm not convinced they sound better, only different, and certainly not different enough for me to go through the process of cleaning the record, putting it on the player, flipping it over after three or four tracks and packing it away afterwards. The only thing they have going for them is their elaborate packaging. As for cassettes, the OP must be joking.

I was born in 1988 I am now 31 will be 32 in October 😁👍

I was born in 1988, 31 now, 32 in December, and still bachelor. 😊😊😊

@Patrick Van der Werf they still don't teach math properly in future I guess.

I was born in August 1988 and now 31 have 2 sons.

I was -6 years old in 1988

Yep and a ugly mullet too

Brown Street Boy for life..

More like fast food was expensive just like the music back then.

Mr. Chopsticks ha ha that’s quality

I was 31 in 88 and 80 kilos we were alot fitter and thinner back then as there was a lot more labouring work you could just apply for and learn on the job none of this " do you have a resume".

@@michaelellams9105 I was 16 in 88 and I remember the job market as I worked through high school . It was a good era

half as much as understanding it...

In 1988 I bought a blank recordable cassette for about $2 and taped songs from 2SM.

And steal our school lunch from the supermarket.

I have such vivid memories of being 9 or 10 in ‘87-‘88 in my bedroom with the cassette deck on pause waiting to record songs off American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. Lol. That was before I found triple J. If you had the dual tape decks you could make a mix tape of all your favourite songs. I’d spend hours making tapes and writing the song names on the sleeve of the cassette cover

@@IDontTalkToCops same here.

@@IDontTalkToCops im the same age ... recording from the radio was frought with danger though .. you always had the chance of having "dinner's ready" in the middle of a song you were recording!

Well Oakley is making Frogskins again, and Reebok do Pumps from time to time. Just get onto those and pump INXS from your Torana and bang, you're there.

*Richard Marx "should've known better"* not Rick Astley, your ears deceive you LOL 🤣

They aren’t talking about the song in the background, please watch the video before commenting.

@@SpectreOZ 3:00

@@TheGreenDoggoOfWisdom Well how would I know the song playing in the back ground if I hadn't watched the video? 😜 Additionally the original comment has been edited who knows when? Perhaps after my initial reaction? 🤔

@@SpectreOZ I don’t exactly remember what was in the original comment, but it still said something about the Rick Astley records in the background.

Yep. Your social clique in high school and early adulthood was kinda determined by what music you liked.

You nailed that one.

@@stewartwozniak7933 what music you GOT

Its funny, I don't think this shift changed THAT long ago either - maybe within the last 10-15 years.

True. The music you liked was very much connected to your personality and style and you rarely had friends that liked other types of music than you did. If you were at a party and people had pop songs over the speakers and you put on a metal song you were possibly thrown out lol.

The basic marketing formula was how to get the most blood out of a stone. With online ordering now, goods are more competitive, but services still stick to the old formula, (plus real-estate costs for businesses).

I remember getting Spiceworld for my 8th or 9th birthday and seeing the $34.99 sticker from Brashs on the back. Didnt mean much to me then! Bloody expensive then and now!

You're both so wrong...

@Nemesis You need to look outside the mainstream world.

@Nemesis What did you listen to back in the day that you liked? I'll see if I can offer some suggestions.

Yes, also the laser disc movie which got 4 times bigger disc than musical CD.

Remember cassingles?

We got our first CD player in 1989.

Lol.

It was probably something that would have saved the music industry!!

then he just said yeah.

@@Godsecution I meant after that, they cut him off.

he was about to follow "yeah" with "i reckon so", but they edited it out because he wasn't sitting in a shopping trolley.

I had about 4 records in 1988. Now I have thousands of songs all on my phone!

Don't forget that back then people were not buying expensive smartphones/computers/Tablets back then...

It costs MONEY to record an album, to pay the session players, to pay for the studio equipment, for the appointment to record, to press the album onto CD or vinyl, I agree, if I enjoy an artist's tunes I don't for one second think they owe me a free album, only entitled douchebags think that!

Sounds like you are the reason why music sucks today. If you loved doing it you wouldn’t wine and complain about it. You care more about the money it seems

Taylor seems to have recouped her costs. Maybe consider branding yourself an dorky underdog while being breathtakingly fit and gorgeous

At this time, the “world wide web” wasn’t available to the general public and it also predated the 14.4k modem, let alone the 28k. The only thing we saw at the time was the change in preferred media.

CDs are still 20 bucks or more, an album on iTunes is still 20 some. The only thing that's changed is our habits, most people just buy singles now.

Prices didn’t drop at all.

Why is it suprising, the net made them free

The problem with MP3s & now streaming is sound quality. Still can't beat CDs or LPs through a good hifi. A lot of the people getting into music these days won't know what they're missing

Actually not sadly

Not sadly! I miss the the regular jaunt to HMV, Insanity and the like. You can't emulate that on a computer.

Yep, I used to love going to Missing Link & AuGoGo on payday.

True, but for the best sound quality through a good hifi, that streamed music & MP3s don't cut it.

Seapin1 I agree, it feels like illegally downloading music was just a fad because while I’m sure people still do it, streaming services make it so much more easier to just play what you want at an instance. With that being said, Vinyl sure has made a comeback in recent years partly because of what you said, it being better quality but I’m sure it also has to do with nostalgia.

It's easier to pay subscription and forgot about it.

Well, in the past the record company and artist suck our money to buy CD. Now, it's OUR customers' right to have free song with good quality songs by our own hand not by the money. In the old CD time, the most valuable CD with the best acoustic quality AGAIN still MJ. The rest musical artists belongs to B level including Queen, Bin Jovi, Nerana, whoever in 80s. Still MJ the best and worth buying CD.

thank god lmao I still remember those ads that would play in movie theaters trying to tell you downloading music is a worse crime than murder

@bench training Really, that was a thing back then. How funny trends can be. Cool at the time, weird later on in the future.

@@MargotHypnos haha remember planking? That's going to be fun to explain to the next few generations.

Yeah we pushed friends around especially if they were to wasted to walk after a night out and when we needed groceries take it back.

Hahaha... Which ones? Can't you see those MESSY LONG HAIRED STYLE at the beginning at studio? I lost interest on those UGLY but favor the light VIOLET shirt girl. Never change and still spot such neat and clean girl.

they're your moms, buddy!

Not anymore they're not

As long as you don't mind the hair ;)

Remember video disc players? The video disc was about the size of a record.

@Jojew thank you random troll :)

a lot

@@juniormilly3650 lol how many accounts do you have?

@@MrBibi86 He has alot.

@Jojew He went to public school in a garage pail 😂

No such thing as pc back then, hey.

What are you talking about? I lived through the 90s, and brand new CDs were $15 and cassettes were $13.

@@PJVids83 Those kids are Australians

@@PJVids83 Not true, i worked in one of the first big places to sell cd's in inner city Sydney, all new releases of major artists were $25:99 to $29:99, if you wanted a double album like Floyds the wall, it was $34:99.

@@PJVids83 Wrong Philip. paulisdead is correct.

@@aus80srockradio94 They were £19.99 where I lived me old mucker

Made me also think of Off The Dish, with Cameron Daddo, in the afternoons, too. I miss the 80s so much ❤

Less impact from the us!

Yea it's crazy, was born in the 90's too and can only remember a couple of times in my childhood where I saw vinyls being played. CD's totally took over in the 90's. The funny thing is how vinyl sales actually overtook CD sales for the first time since 1986 just last year in the US and I guess the trend is same in many countries. Personally I buy vinyl now too if I want a physical copy. Mostly because you get to see a bigger cover art, but I do occasionally play them as well.

Still lots of terrific album cover designers working today

hullstar242 exactly.

Much better art than what was on the Edison wax cylinders

@@hullstar242 Good to know friend, I worked in a record/cd store as a young teen & there wasn't the same impact putting out cd's as there was albums, the square footage really packed a punch for the displays & unless you go into specialist music stores now, it's just not the same. I miss going into Phantom or Red Eye Records, it was a blast, but hey, digital music is convenient & here to stay.

She was so far ahead of her time lel

find out if she's been on ApexTV

its not like its the 1880's.. Youth culture in many ways hasnt changed that much since 1988. Plenty just gets recycled...

Were the hell you get z🤦 you mean millennials. Also a lot of clothes from the 80s can still pass today. People just over stereotype 80s with big highlighter colors when it wasn't all really like that much.

and the glasses

I noticed that lol it's weird he had a whole music career separate from the internet ever existing lolol

Boys Okey. Chicks... 89% ERRRRR AND YUCK. LOL

I remember him from Home and Away!

You're right. I seem to remember always paying about $28 for CDs & LPs were about $18 I think.

@@Seapin1 That is correct!

The $29.99 you wrote sounds about right, I remember that being the price tag on CDs in Brashs Pitt Street when I'd come in and browse.

@@tefllife2024 Yes I did plenty of browsing too - because buying a CD was a financially big decision due to the prices (and being a school kid with no money, LOL). Even remember put CD's on lay by!

@@aus80srockradio94 I bought Roxettes "Look Sharp" as my very first CD. My mum flipped that I paid $30 for it. For the next few weeks all I got is continuous lecture on why I'd pay $30 for a small disc with music. She did signs of the crosses and oh my god he's taking drugs, he must be on drugs. Lol.

artists have to work alot harder to make their money now and actually tour alot more.. you can't be a studio musician anymore and just bring out an album every 2-3 years and make a couple of music videos and you are done.

​@@MrBibi86​ The internet has allowed other forms of revenue from music releases though that dont always relate to direct sales. It may not be as much as touring, but like wise its much easier to distribute music through modern electronic means both in is construction and world wide reach without needing the calibration of entire groups of artists and professionals/workers to put it together.

An artist can make more money from all the different music platforms. An artist would get around $2 per CD/Record sold (due to extra costs involved) whereas they get $1 every 100 plays on music platforms. For comparison, Britney Spears sold 600000 copies of her album In the Zone on the first week, which gets her $1.2 million in revenue (at the rate of $2 per record) whereas pretty much all popular musicians today produce and release their own music and get hundreds of millions of views on multiple platforms, raking in hell of a lot more than 1.2 million. To be exact, $3.3 million if they get 100 million play on ONE song on Spotify, RU-vid, Apple Music and google music platforms. That times 12 for a 12 song album. Not to mention, this is quite a conservative estimate for today’s biggest artists.

Like everything else the blend between capitalism and technology negatively affects with increased competition. Emerging artists begging people to hit up their insta

why is that a bad thing? it shifted from recorded music to live performance. i dont understand why so many people think that making money with music MUST come from recorded media... also, nowadays you can download production software for free, so in a way, yes, it does fart out of thin air

Yes, there was a time when people would actually pay money to listen to "Never Gonna Give You Up."

The very first Rick Roll televised.

Hahaha NEVER HEARD OF THAT GROUP NAME IN 88. But I will check it up since you brought it up. MJ was already famous back then.

Hahaha that music was still not known for me and not my type, compared with Miami Vice theme song got more vibe than this dull midi music or EDM in 21 century.

Even 99% of modern people don't know what FLAC is lol

you have grown

Let me guess "you was born in the wrong generation "

Did they end up suffering? I don't think they did.

Iconic 😆

internet

There are different Australian accents depending where you go in the country.

Also Blame It On Australian Kids constantly watching American TV shows . Believe it or not the TV shows you watch can actually affect the accent you have

The whole world is being americanized

dm9542 🐑

It wasn't

It's pretty much the same in Australia. There are thousands of thrift and charity shops (called op-shops here) that sell CDs for 2 or 3 dollars, as well as specialised 2nd-hand CD and vinyl places. And most of the bigger chain stores have discounted CDs.

Cds cost 1 dollar here in Norway 2022. At second hand stores. I always buythem when I find something good. Cds will one day be Cool again. Just wait.

That's admitting you're a sucker. Typical consumer.

Yeah, they're still $15 but what $15 got you back then is a lot more than it does now. If the price of something isn't increasing over time, it's actually getting relatively cheaper

Dressed like the Fonz

cloverfield911 lol yes it was