Back to Analog: Vinyl Holds On

No matter how many times people have predicted the death of vinyl over the years, it refuses to go away. Many releases by bands old and new, on small and large labels, are still pressed up as records. It’s not just the older generation that are continuing the tradition, but younger generations are discovering the joys of vinyl’s great look and feel. In a world of the virtual, it’s a reassuringly real medium.

“Analog (or analogue) recording (Greek, ana is “according to” and logos “relationship”) is a technique used to store signals of audio or video information for later playback.
Analog recording methods store audio signals as a continual wave in or on the media. The wave might be stored as a physical texture on a phonograph record, or a fluctuation in the field strength of a magnetic recording. This is different from digital recording, which converts audio signals into discrete numbers. “

Wikipedia

Fed up with the music industry’s rip-off tactics: buy it on vinyl, throw away your vinyl & rebuy it on CD, throw away your CDs & rebuy it on MiniDisc, throw away your MiniDiscs & rebuy it on Audio DVD, throw away your ADVDs & rebuy it as a digital download… People are now realising that the whole cycle is an unnecessary waste of money where the main beneficiary is the music business (rarely the musicians).
Many who dumped their old LPs wish that they hadn’t.

“Remember all that talk in the Eighties when shiny, allegedly indestructible CDs came out, about how the days of the LP were numbered? Well, just recently exactly the opposite has started to happen: it’s the CD, the experts are now saying, that will soon be obsolete. It’s vinyl that’s here to stay.”
The Daily Mail (16/7/09)
“I think it’s very possible that the CD might become obsolete in an age of download music but the vinyl record will survive.”
Alex Needham (NME) via Crave

With companies like The Vinyl Factory keeping the production going, it looks like there’ll be no shortage of great records to play on our trusty turntables.

“This may explain why the archaic LP is enjoying an odd surge of popularity among younger listeners: it’s a modest rebellion against the tyranny of instant access.”
Alex Ross, The New Yorker
“Best Buy is giving vinyl a spin.
The consumer-electronics giant, which happens also to be the third-largest music seller behind Apple’s iTunes and Wal-Mart, is considering devoting eight square feet of merchandising space in all of its 1,020 stores solely to vinyl, which would equate to just under 200 albums, after a test in 100 of its stores around the country proved successful.
Though vinyl represents less than 5 percent of Best Buy’s music sales, the format is growing while CD sales continue to shrink. “

Peter Lauria, The New York Post 27/4/09

Further Reading

A Canadian scientist recently discovered that teens prefer vinyl to CDs.

Rock dinosaurs keep plodding along.

Time: Vinyl gets its groove back

The Guardian (UK) about the increase in UK vinyl sales in 2007.

BBC Blog: Vinyl Hope.

BBC: Oxfam cashing in on record collectors.

BBC: Vinyl production back in fashion.

CNET’s The Audiophiliac Vinyl: Not just for audiophiles?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 1:55 pm and is filed under All things vinyl, Retro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


One Response to “Back to Analog: Vinyl Holds On”

  1. June 2nd, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    Sony PS-F5 Portable Linear Tracking Turntable - Crosley Revolution- Still Coming Soon Says:

    […] are people who think there’s still a market for a wide range of turntables. The market for vinyl is certainly refusing to roll over and die. Some are even hoping to take cues from the mighty PS-F5 and create something similar. I think that […]

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