TL;DR: no & no

ADHD hyperfocused version:

I have been buying records since 2007/8. I had been buying only CDs before (& the odd cassette), also got into minidisc although never bought an album, I just enjoyed having the chance to make longer mixtapes. Then the iPod came and changed everything.

I was a music promoter in my town, putting on live gigs and having DJs performing between sets. I started getting into DJing again (had done it between 98-00) and had a mate move in with me with a pair of 1210s and a mixer. We’d play music all day everyday and have house parties all the time.

IMO: the best format is purely subjective.

Records are great for the larger artwork (and rolling on) but not a format for travelling.

CDs are better than records in the sense that you don’t have to get up and flip it to hear the other side, although hearing an album as two parts is an interesting experience (only when artists thought about their albums this way). CD walkmen were not as good as a cassette walkman.

Cassettes were bang on for making compilations, especially for passing on to others and sharing music. I used to rent CDs from the local library and then make a copy (or two) before returning.

But as I said, MP3 changed that. Although the compiling of the ‘mixtape’ is completely different, with a cassette you had to listen through in real time which would/could sway your next choice. MP3 was just drag and drop.

I have a decent sized collection and am happy that there is a resurgence in record collecting, this has made it so many albums that I could not justify paying for, are being repressed.

I don’t get putting the sleeve on the wall but was a kid with a load of posters on my wall and that included CD inlays (if they folded out into posters). Each to their own, if that’s what you want to do, then by all means, do it.

It seems to me that this sub is primarily composed of folks that collect but laugh at the snobs. Yes, there are some that push things to the point of bullying but this is the internet (& Reddit).

Every scene, whether it be guitar pedals or wine drinking has its snobs, to me a ‘jerk’ group is the mockery of those. I realise that others might disagree with that sentiment as it’s just an opinion.