In praise of vinyl ...

In praise of vinyl ...

This is sort of an expansion of a point I made in a posting about music and generation gaps ...

A while back I got a new turntable. By new I do not mean "previously owned" but actually a new device that has a CD player, cassette player, and radio built in to it ... a truly great present.

So, one night when the kids were over I went and put on a record. "Oh ... they spin ..." I hear. I think Ringo was messing with me. But maybe not ... "Kids today!" ...

Anyways ... Getting a turntable, a new one has been cool. I have a stack of old vinyl ... Zep, Sabbath, collectible stuff, singles ... and I have been able to play them again after many years of simply storing them. What is old is new and fresh again ...

I am cautious about playing some of it, it is good eBay material.

Maybe it is a comfort thing, but they really do sound better. (Cue quotes from the movie The Rock starring Nicolas Cage):

[Goodspeed's Beatles album arrives at the office]
Stanley Goodspeed: Yes! She's here, bring it to me now, thank you Phil!
Isherwood: What's that? And why did you have it sent here?
Stanley Goodspeed: Carla wouldn't approve. She thinks it's dumb to spend $600 on an LP.
Isherwood: Carla's right. Why didn't you just spend $13 on a CD, man?
Stanley Goodspeed: Well, first of all, it's because I'm a Beatlemaniac. And second, these sound better.

But, every 4-5 songs you have to physically change the record. It is even worse if it is singles or you just want to play one song off a record. No wonder someone always had to be the DJ at a party. Now, just program a bunch of songs onto your laptop, plug it in, and let 'er rip ...

.2 percent of current record sales are vinyl (I can look up the reference or you can trust me) ... .2 percent is not a large percentage , but it turns out to still actually be a lot of money ... so vinyl is apparently still viable ...

I recently heard that Polaroid will no longer be making film for the classic instant photo cameras, yet here we are in 2008 and they still make vinyl ...

... because they sound better.