Ah, the joys of vinyl!!


There's something intriguing about listening to a phonograph record which isn't apparent on a compact disc; not only that, there's something awesome about vinyl that has never lost its charm on me.


First of all, in terms of sound quality, vinyl captures all the highs & lows which only now are starting to be fixed & improved on drastically (in the case of remastered compact discs for instance). Secondly, just looking at the cover art can be a revelatory experience in itself: in the case of compact disc booklets, recapturing & reproducing the original cover art in all of its pure glory (as well as lyrics) can be a chore & a half. In the case of vinyl, however, you can find that same art & other whatnot gloriously retained in full. Third, records are a rare commodity these days; for the vinyl connoisseur, finding an album that's in excellent condition is a big deal indeed. Even the scent of the latest find one has found in the crates can offer up a hypnotic qualiy as strong as the music itself...the aroma of old records which somehow have never gotten old (speaking in terms of relevance) but only endured like fine wine over the years. Finally, vinyl back in the day was the sole format of choice in which music could be heard, prior to 8-tracks & regular cassettes stepping onto the scene. So, naturally enough for those who were weened on nothing but records, vinyl has that lasting impact which is not merely one-of-a-kind but rather special (& I honestly meant that too).

And I only brought up the pros on how awesome records are. And now, I have to bring up the cons about all beloved phonographic records. First of all, they, like compact discs (which BTW eventually supplanted the album in terms of preferred formats) have a tendency to skip here & there so you have to treat them with the same care you would with CDs...should I say with extreme care, cleaning them with the appropriate items on hand when necessary, keeping them inside their covers to ensure they don't become temperamental/crappy looking because of time & the elements along with folks simply overplaying them to death. Secondly, because of whatever material the manufacturers used, they have an issue with breakability. Third, because of time constraints (the average album side could only hold up to 25 minutes of music at most) you can't listen to certain songs in their unedited glory. (The CD would eventually rectify that problem with listening to lopped-off performances in a matter of time.)

Pros & cons aside, vinyl can be a joyous thing for those who truly love it & for those who were actually raised on listening to records. And that's truly saying something. It's not just a museum piece of sorts, but an important part of musical history which should not be neglected or downplayed in any way. A good old slab of vinyl on the turntable sure beats rifling through a 5-CD changer any time of the week. Or year, depending on your inclinations.