I'm thinking about getting the vinyl version of BARB but I have a few reservations.... The main one being its a double vinyl.

Obviously Elbow are an album band but does only having 3 tracks on each side spoil the listening experience, having to keep changing sides and/or records?

I know TSSK came out on double vinyl too so I'd be interested to hear what other people thought about the double vinyl aspect. I love the sound of vinyl so at the moment I'm thinking it may be worth the hassle?

i always buy vinyl if given the opportunity, most cd's are so compressed dynamically that its getting harder for me to listen to them, vinyl is almost always mastered differently/better, so i preordered the vinyl. this really wasnt something i was aware of until i got a nicer stereo system and started noticing all the distortion and how loud and yet flat everything was sounding, so i stick with vinyl

I have pre-ordered the vinyl (to be delivered in Brazil!) and I think it will be great. I am holding off listening to live versions --- only listened twice to the four songs they had videos for so far. I am going to wait for the vinyl to arrive to have my first listen. In any case, I believe you will receive a card to download the mp3s, so you can listen to the whole album non-stop if you want to.

I have The Seldom Seen Kid on vinyl, although I listened it first on digital format. I am quite fond of getting up and changing the sides, then sitting down and relaxing again. It is a nice break, and keeps me focused on listening (not that any Elbow record requires further techniques to get my attention!) But that is a personal preference, and it takes so little time that I do not feel it interferes with the flow of listening to the album.

Had an e-mail today to say that the vinyl has been delayed due to pressing problems. Should be available by the end of the week or early next week.

I always buy the vinyls as well; I just love the look, smell and feel of it!

The smell, the feel and most importantly, the sound! Despite the digital revolution, Vinyl is still the only true uncompressed media available to the public. CD and MP3 etc. are hugely compressed in comparason. TSSK on vinyl absolutely slaughters the CD version in terms of sound quality.

I have just received an e-mail from Universal sending me a download code and apologizing again for the delay. But the download code does not work from Brazil! :/ Oh well, I am waiting to listen first on vinyl anyway. But I would very much like my mp3s. (I tried some proxy tricks to no avail).

Really, I must stop reading reviews.

We just got an email saying our vinyl has been posted!!
From Universal direct, we ordered from the Elbow shop.

I've just had an e-mail saying there's a further delay with the vinyl and as an apology please accept an mp3 of the album. Gee thanks, it doesn't even contain the bonus tracks on i-tunes. lol.

I purchased the vinyl so that I can hear the album in the highest quality format. I have no real desire to listen to an mp3. Why could they not offer a download in a higher quality format like WAV or FLAC?

Ah well. Hopefully the vinyl won't be too far away.

I too am waiting the vinyl. while it is nice that we've been given an interim download, I have to say I'm unimpressed that it's only 160kbps mp3. are ALL the downloads this low? perhaps I'm being a snob, but I would have expected 320kbps...

most mp3 downloads i have gotten are 256 or 320, 160 is pretty silly

the status of my order online is sent, no further details

Has anyone received the vinyl yet? Had a despatch email on Thursday but it hasn't arrived yet

Nope, still waiting...

Still waiting in Paris, as well...

vinyl arrived at some point today... it is stupidly late & I just got home, so won't listen til the morning... but wanted to give y'all a heads-up... woot!