I read an interesting article on Wired today that got me thinking. Apparently the demand for Vinyl in the personal market is growing exponentially and pressing plants that in recent years used to cater only to the professional DJ and purists are now scrambling to meet new demands. It has been a long known fact that the quality of music from a vinyl record is much warmer and richer than from a CD. On the flip side the CD was so much more easier to carry around.
WHoooooooooa! Hold your horses there. Portability is no longer an issue now is it?
How many people out here carry CD players anymore? If you’re looking for portability then you probably have an MP3 player of sorts in your gadget collection. If that is the case then why limit yourself to sub quality music when you are in the comfort of your home?
Comparison of a raw analog audio signal to the CD audio and DVD audio output courtesy of HOWSTUFFWORKS
That is exactly the debate that’s raging all over the music industry. It seems that Matador and other labels include coupons in record packaging that can be used to download MP3 versions of the songs. According to the Wired report, Matador’s Patrick Amory called the coupon program “hugely popular.”
Canadian scientist David Hayes of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto says teens who used to view CDs as superior to older vinyl records now consider vinyl superior to the newer format. The growing popularity of vinyl might be a form of resistance against the music industry’s corporate taste-makers.
f you would like to read more about how studio recorded sound is massacred, slaughtered, dismembered and modified before arriving to us on a CD take a look at this article which goes into great details explaining the whole process. A vinyl record on the other hand is a much purer form of music which you could actually call “Studio Quality”
So people crank out those old dusty vinyl’s and get ready to start rocking.
Nice piece.
You also have to consider the effect of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology in the equation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management)
Hello,
I too have read the articles and news about a vinyl resurgence and I am not at all surprised by this. Not only does vinyl sound better than its compressed digital counterparts, it actually gives you something to hold and hopefully, the lost art of album cover art is also a part of this resurgence. Yes, CDs have their place (obviously they are more portable) and I listen to both audio formats, but my heart and soul belong to the vinyl record. Remember reel to reel tapes, the dreaded 8-track, cassettes…they were all supposed to spell the end of vinyl. But, as you are well aware, sound quality matters to those who buy music, and that is why vinyl will never die.
Regards,
Robert
http://www.collectingvinylrecords.com
Personally speaking, I don’t give a damn. I love listening to music; any form that appeals to my aesthetic sense and pleases me. The sound quality matters, but the manner I get it makes little or no difference to me. I love music wherever it comes from; from CD, good; from my mp3 player, cool; from a vinyl record, even cooler. A saying goes that “old is gold” and we often find pleasure in the obscure and the antique, and old vinyl with modern technology to gloss it out, while retaining its antique and unique charm, would be a truly pleasurable way of listening to music and I am all for it.
Regards