Why Vinyls are cooler than CD’S?
If you are over 30 then you will remember life before CD’S, Mini discs, MP3’s and ipods, here are some reasons why vinyls are cooler than CD’s.
Since I was born, I had an ear and a passion for listening to and playing music. I would sit in front of the stereo for hours and fall asleep listening to my parents Beatles singles and albums on vinyl and tapes.
In the mid 80s, I was given a Sony Walkman to listen to tapes whilst on car journeys. In the mid eighties to early 90s, out came CD’s (compact discs) that were new, shiny, and exciting, and at the time appeared to have convinced the listeners to ditch their trusty old LP’s for the newer, smaller formatted disc.
In 1992, when the Minidisk first came on sale in the UK, I invested in a Sony Mini Disc Player for my university work before caving in to the Apple mania and receiving my first ipod as a Christmas present from my parents in 2007.
They have stunning cover sleeves
Vinyls are almost three times the size of CD’s and the covers behind each vinyl sleeve paints a picture of the story behind the album, giving the buyer a more intimate experience. The design of the cover and the inserts into artworks looks so much more exciting than CD covers. Fans tend to remember the name of an album they purchased and relate it to the cover art. For example, many fans remember the Beatles “White Album” by its white front cover or the red or blue albums by their covers.
The vinyl experience is more social and interactive
Something feels different about taking that vinyl album out of the cupboard, and unwrapping it from its cover after a couple of minutes staring at the artistic visuals on the cover and finally placing it into a record player, waiting for that magical sound to play and watching it spin round and round. Whether you have a turntable, or a record player, there’s something nostalgic about listening to music from the 50s and 60s on vinyl.
There nothing quiet like the sound of the needle dropping and the crackle of the vinyl and then flipping it over to hear the other side. It makes the listening experience more personal and makes you feel as though you are constantly physically and emotionally involved. It’s social, more interactive, and fun, and a far cry from the passive experience of listening to CDs or digitally enhanced music.
Vinyls are better quality
How many times have you heard people say that they have broken their plastic CD’s in comparison to the number of people who have broken their records. Yes, records get scratched and some might argue that this ruins the sound, however, others may argue that that fuzzing scratching sound is all part of the vinyl experience. Plastic CD’s feel cheap and manufactured and vinyls have been built to last and sound more real.
You only have to look at the price differences between vinyl and CD to notice that CD’s are cheaper due to the fact that they are cheaper to make. You can purchase vinyl records from Amazon from £15 and CD’s from as little as £5.
Limited vinyl editions
Limited vinyl editions don’t just come in black, they can come in a variety of colours.
Watch out for those limited vinyl editions as these come in different colours and can become collectors items as they only print off a few hundred for each colour.
If you aren’t sure whether vinyl is for you, most vinyl records have a digital download code so you can enjoy the best of both sounds!
Whether I think that vinyls sound better than digital? The jury’s still out on that one. Let me know what you think?
What is your favourite musical platform and why? Vinyl? Tapes? CD’s? , MP3’s?, iTunes? Comment below, send an email admin@digitalclassic.co.uk or tweet me @DigitalClassic.
