Some would have you believe that vinyl records are making a come back. Well, despite what some may think, they never really went away. They just took a backseat as CD’s and Mp3’s were introduced to the marketplace. Now that piracy has come to define both of these once industry approved and mandated forms of musical commerce, the push to back to bring back yesterday is in full swing as album sales are skyrocketing as the rest of the music industry goes further down the toilet.

In a recent article on MSN (“Music lovers rediscover the timbre of the turntable”), the plight of Travis Dryden is explored in explaining why some listeners are going back to vinyl. As co-founder of the Vinyl Preservation Society based out of Boise, Idaho, Dryden and other pompous audiophiles got together and had a big good old-fashioned circle jerk to discuss which medium is the best for music replication. They listened to all the formats with their discerning, precious ears and concluded that nothing beats vinyl. “We found our love of vinyl overtook the others,” he said. “We knew there had to be others like us.” Yeah, there are plenty of people like you guys. The music world is filled with pretentious assholes that have nothing better to do than to sit around jerking each other off agreeing about how great music sounds on vinyl.

The money grubbing whores in the music industry couldn’t be happier with Dryden and his record collecting buddies’ conclusions. When CD’s hit the marketplace, many (including Dryden) sold off or disposed of their existing collections and replaced them with digital formats. Now that vinyl is supposedly hip again, the industry will be able to sell a single recording to these people for the third time. And you can bet when a new format for music listening is inevitably introduced in the future, these same people will be lining up to buy that same recording yet again. Formats will change but idiots will always stay the same. They’ll buy whatever you sell them. Wash, rinse and repeat…

What sickens me the most about the vinyl revival is that it will cultivate smug feelings of superiority rather than music appreciation. People will horde limited editions, specialty pressings and import releases as if having these records elevates them to a higher, enlightened plane of consumer being. I can hear it now. You only have an MP3 version of that? That sucks. I have the 180-gram, British import blue vinyl with the limited edition gatefold cover of it that I only play on my vintage turntable with proper equalization and true stereo balance. That’s the only way to listen to it properly.

I never stopped listening to or buying vinyl. The main reason for this is not superior sound quality, but because it is the only format that an untold wealth of music is available on. Also, having spent the better part of my life buying records, it would be silly (and imperatively expensive) to replace my collection with whatever the latest industry mandated format was, is or what will be. I like that records are being issued with access codes to digital formats as that gives you the best of both worlds, but romanticizing vinyl is the folly of people with too much time and disposable income on their hands.
After all, it’s the music that matters and not the format you hear it on. 

Now, this is what I’m talking about:
http://blog.swanfungus.com/2008/08/death-of-album-artwork-and-re-birth-of.html

Vinyl is back!
http://www.back2vinyl.com

great, passionate post from BBD! Kids are driving this revival. They’ve been sonically starved and once they get exposed to what’s been withheld, they want it....at least the ones that care and there are plenty of them. One of my mottos is “Never bet against quality.” That’s why I had faith during the dark digital days of the early ‘90s that vinyl would make a comeback.

Bopst,

I agree with your assessment that listening to the music that moves you is what matters most. But your article absolutely self-elevated you above those you identified as snobs, and even potential snobs ... as if the vinyl revival were at once an orchestration of the major labels to “churn old accounts” with reissues, and also an instrument of snobbery for the vinyl elite.

Meanwhile, for those of us for whom experience dictates that music tends to sound more satisfying on vinyl, you thumb your nose and elevate yourself by telling us that you not only have been a rabid vinyl collector for forever and a day, BUT that you could also do without out it. So while you bemoan the “instant snob, just add vinyl” motif in your statement:

“People will horde limited editions, specialty pressings and import releases as if having these records elevates them to a higher, enlightened plane of consumer being.”

... you elevate yourself above them by your harsh judgement, and qualify that judgement by being among them but not of them when you tell us that you “never stopped buying or listening to vinyl.”

So - as a clear vinyl expert with vast experience you deem to deliver a highly qualified opinion about the value of the format.

My opinion about vinyl is not romantic, nor foolish, nor a waste of time. It’s a matter of wanting to hear something as beautifully as possible. I love music, have surrounded my life with it, and for me if I have the choice to listen to the same thing as a half-assed compressed facsimile or as a full dynamic range utterly expressive masterpiece ... it would be foolish not to choose the most beautiful format.

You write: “Sure, everyone would love to have a stereo that reproduces music with crystal clear clarity, but not everyone has the cold hard cash to have such a system. Most of us have to make do with what we can afford. I know plenty of people who have nothing but an Ipod and they are happy as clams.”

iPods are expensive. Or Not. Depends on who you talk to. There are nice turntables available for the same price as iPods, so your argument holds no merit if the cost of an iPod is the arbiter. Whatever system anyone has playing their iPod is good enough to play a turntable through.

If they’re moving through life with just an iPod, then vinyl might not be for them. Then again, if they ever aspire to having a system that they can hear their music through, buying the vinyl and getting the free download or CD is an investment in their future system.

Regardless, your article was a format debate in that you were aggressively dismissive of vinyl and moderately pro-MP3, if only for the latter format’s inherent portability. Your worry that the vinyl resurgence will only create more vinyl snobs is probably fair, but in identifying yourself as among them but not of them, you’ve identified yourself as a different breed of snob.

“You only have an MP3 version of that? That sucks. I have the 180-gram, British import blue vinyl with the limited edition gatefold cover of it that I only play on my vintage turntable with proper equalization and true stereo balance. That’s the only way to listen to it properly.”

The person you describe here is a rare bird, a dweeb of the darkest variety, a record licker. If you’ve never read this article, you’ll no doubt be entertained and perhaps even feel a sense of vindication and even more superiority. Still, it’s funny and I’m afraid I’ve seen these guys to. They’re not me, and they’re not most of the vinyl lovers I know, but they are out there.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/soulseeking/zen-and-the-art-of-record-licking.htm

Lastly: I met a kid today, brother of a friend. His brother sent him over to pick up some building materials I had. His cell phone range, I instantly recognized recognized “Where Is My Mind” by the Pixies, named that tune in one note, as they say. The conversation quickly turned when he saw my vinyl shelves. he went on to tell me how much he loves records, that the sound is more involving, and that ever since he heard the difference he’s been buying vinyl. We’re talking about a 19 year old person here. He’s got a $300 table from Pro-Ject and happy as a clam, as you might say.

Is he a snob, too? He loves the sound of vinyl more than that coming out of an MP3 or a CD, so he must be a foolish snob with too much time on his hands if we’re to judge him by your standards.

But he and others like him are what is driving the vinyl resurgence. Not record lickers. The vinyl is being bought by young people who care about the sound of music, who care enough about the work that the band and the producer puts into a record to buy it in its most musically satisfying form. And then some of them read your rant essentially calling them poseurs and fools ...

The format debate you posited had to do with the impetus for purchasing one format over another, characterizing the type of person who might want and buy vinyl ... but it remained a format comparison.

People like me buy the vinyl because it is a more satisfying sonic experience, because it offers a tangible collectible thing, and because it usually comes with some digital freebee to make the iPod thing happen easily. We buy used vinyl because there is an untold wealth of music out there made before the age of CD that can be purchased for near pennies and is still fantastic to listen to and enjoy.

Quality of sound matters, and matters deeply to a lot of us. To many of us, vinyl has been the most consistently good sounding format over the years, and it’s a joy that we can purchase new vinyl once again. If the quality of sound is not important to you, that’s fine - A.M. radio still has it’s place in the world, for instance. But don’t deem to judge people because they want to play vinyl records for their sonic superiority instead of MP3s. They’re not any more snobbish than the people who call them snobs for having the preference in the first place.

For you I would suggest the following: Get a decent USB turntable and digitize all your records to MP3 so they can be portable and convenient. I’ll come and help you with the garage sale of the vinyl ... I’m sure we can blow it all out the first hour, so you can still get brunch (or whatever the digital equivalent of that is). You’ll net a couple of hundred bucks, someone will have relieved you of all of that vinyl, and you’ll still have a digital archive in glorious MP3 sound that you can take with you wherever your backpack will fit.

BBD

Oh BBD, I don’t know what column you think you were reading, but it certainly wasn’t mine. I never claimed any holier than thou hipness only that vinyl worship is the folly of people with too much time on their hands. Being a lifelong vinyl collector, I know the truth of which I speak. Also, I love records. This fact that seems to escape you. I’m not hip, I’m a music nerd and proud of it. I cherish my vinyl, but I am also able to embrace the new mediums (for all their advantages and shortcomings) because they have given not only me, the obsessive music nerd that I am, but legions of music lovers around the world unlimited access to the wealth of music that was once unheard. Far from being a piece advocating one format over another, I wanted to point out that the snobbery that can define vinyl purists is tiresome in the extreme. For years, I listened to music on nothing but my Sony boombox. Was it the optimum vehicle for listening to music? No, but not once in all these years did I feel I wasn’t experiencing music to it’s fullest. My sound snob friends (of which I have many) ridiculed me and looked down their pompous noses at my system, but I loved that box. It never let me down.

Also, having the optimum system for music is downright expensive. Not everyone who loves music has the extra cash for lavish systems or expensive records. Again, does not having a 5 grand set up take away from your music appreciation? I think not. Sure, everyone would love to have a stereo that reproduces music with crystal clear clarity, but not everyone has the cold hard cash to have such a system. Most of us have to make do with what we can afford. I know plenty of people who have nothing but an Ipod and they are happy as clams. Would they like to have their collections of MP3’s as vinyl records? Some do, some don’t. Either way, they are all listening to the music that they love. Isn’t that all that matters? I think so…

Jezz Louise, dude ... your article was a one-man format debate. That’s what kicked off the entire thing. That and the posture of you being the coolest S.O.B. for not only never having stopped buying vinyl, but also for being to cool to love it or otherwise associate with the lower life forms that prefer it.

BBD

Oh yes, that’s the only medium for real music lovers.

And thanks to everyone for proving my point: debating formats is boring. Real, real boring…

I prefer my music on wax cylinder.

On Value:

I guess there’s value and then there’s value. In my mind, because you can get the MP3 for free when you buy the vinyl, paying for an MP3 seems ill advised, even if having the MP3 is valuable in terms of portability.

My notion of value is strictly economic when i define it here. When you work a 40 hour week and the government takes the fruits of at least 10 of those hours away from you, and you’ve got to pay the mortgage or rent, the car payment, the gas in the car, the electric bill, the water bill, the grocery bill, etc ... and then you consider spending some of the little that’s left over on music - shouldn’t you get actual property instead of virtual property? That’s the essence of my “value” philosophy here.

I’m not dismissing the UTILITY of the MP3, only its value as a non-asset. But then again, maybe it’s like food ... at the end of the day, you really can’t eat your cake and have it, too.

Dear Chunky Puff: you are boxed into a dichotomized “either/or” world. Of course you can’t play vinyl in your car. So? I play my iPod in the car. Most new vinyl today comes with a free digital download so you get the best of both worlds: great sound and “the thing” and the great packaging and artwork with the record, and portability and “less good” sound with the MP3 for casual listening. Hey, I have my original UK Beatle albums bought in 1964-9 and I play them often. They still sound better than the CDs! In fact, I interviewed George Martin (you can read it on my website http://www.musicangle.com) and when I had him sign my UK original “Rubber Soul” I said to him “Would it surprise you to find that this LP played since 1965 still sounds better than the CD?” And he replied “I shan’t be surprised at all!”

So look, believe me I am not “technologically challenged, nor do I resist MP3s. They are great for portable listening just as watching a movie on my iTouch is fine on an airplane. But at home I want to watch it in High Definition on a large screen with surround sound.

When I want to LISTEN to music at home---and that means not doing anything else, just sitting and absorbing the music---the only format that holds my attention is VINYL...and the reason it’s becoming more popular now among young people is because when they hear it they understand what’s been stripped from the music by MP3 processing and it’s more than “sound” it’s textures, tonal colors and yes, emotion and meaning. CDs did that actually. The introduction of the CD pretty much killed listening to music as an activity. It was not video, not “changing lifestyle,” it was the fact that CDs are not emotionally involving...they’re flat and drab sounding...in any case, Greg Calbi, mentioned in another post, came over here last night and we spun tunes on vinyl and had a great time....

BTW: I don’t think M3s are “valueless,” nor do I understand why anyone would make such a claim. Value is in the eyes, ears and wallet of the beholder. I own a turntable that costs more than 100K. To me and to the others who have bought this turntable, it’s the best purchase we have ever made. It took me years to pay it off, while some of the others could simply write a check. But as one of them told me recently, he’s got two Ferraris in the garage and the turntable gives him greater pleasure…

So please don’t say that purchase has ‘no value’ because value is in the wallet and heart and head of the beholder.

And one more thing: the ideas that “new is better” is a proposition made by fools. Some new things are better and some are worse. In terms of sound quality, MP3s are WORSE. In terms of convenience, MP3s rule....