Since the first Gramophones became available, the vinyl record has so far survived the longest and is unlikely going to disappear completely anytime soon. Apparently, LP sales still accounts for 0.5% of all music sales despite the majority of retail and online stores only selling CDs and music downloads only. The reason is that club DJ's, older generation of audiophiles and interestingly, some college students still insist on sticking with the vinyl, even though many also buy CDs and use online music download services.
There are several independent record labels that continue to release new LPs each year and many of the larger electronics stores still stock turntables. The main reason some stick with vinyl is that they claim that the sound reproduction with the proper equipment cannot be matched by CD, such as certain harmonics lost on CD that records preserve, which gives records a warmer sound.
Besides the sound quality, vinyl has a few other advantages that CDs and particularly digital music downloads lack. First comes the availably of a lot of early music that was released on vinyl, which never got re-released on CD or as music downloads. Next comes the cover art, particularly with 12" LPs. Finally, comes the actual playing of a record where one places the record on the table and then carefully moves the needle on to the record.
There are four main reasons to love vinyl, in this order: sound quality, availability, aesthetics and nostalgia. That analog sound First, there's the sound quality, and this presents a bone of contention among audio enthusiasts. Some argue that vinyl records sound better, that with the right equipment they produce a warmer, richer tone than their computerized counterparts. Just listen to that baritone voice of Johnny Cash on one of those early Columbia LPs, Rhoden suggests: 'That's a natural sound. The CD just sounds thin in comparison." |
In theory, a vinyl record can potentially hold a higher quality recording than a CD due to its continuous waveform analogue nature, particularly when played back with a very high quality turntable. So far, despite DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD promising to offer better sound quality than Audio CDs, these discs have failed to sell well and in their early days some leading record producers were disappointed with these claiming that they could hear the supposedly 'inaudible" watermarks. As a result, with each media format properly prepared, the vinyl record may have held the highest quality, followed by the CD and finally followed by the downloadable compressed tracks from iTunes and most other music download stores, which will likely take over CD sales in the future.
Finally, while there may still be concerns about the watermarks in DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, Vinyl Records don't use watermarks, never mind any other form of copy protection technology! In my opinion, the one great advantage the vinyl record had like the cassette tape was the inability to support any form of restrictive DRM that causes compatibility issues, something the record labels have succeeded in applying to pretty much every digital medium sold, including CDs and downloadable tracks. Unfortunately, the record's main drawback is portability, since it is technically not possible to develop a turntable that plays 7" to 12" vinyl that fits in one's pocket!
Source: Citizen-Times
