The b-side of vinyl
I’m a vinyl lover, and already made a couple of posts about the topic. There’s ofcourse also a different kind of people who rather see it die a painful death. Digital Music News made a short list with reasons not to love vinyl. I’ll go through them one by one.
The static clicks and pops ruin the sound, and I haven’t yet seen a setup that didn’t have them. This far outweighs whatever alleged resonance it may or may not have. The static makes vinyl unlistenable.
This is part of the esthetics, an essential part of the experience. Many artists even add vinyl noise to make their music less clean, warmer. Even if they only publish in digital formats.
It is extremely fragile and degrades a little with each play even if you take perfect care of it.
Yes, actually the only point I agree with. On the other hand makes it that you’ll value your music even higher. Every listen counts.
Is big and bulky and heavy, and so is the equipment needed to play it.
Vinyl was never meant as a portable medium. Your 50” cinema screen and hifiset are big and heavy too.
You have to flip the record for side 2.
Yes, it’s great, isn’t it?
No easy skipping of tracks.
Just drop the needle onto the next track, mate. Don’t really see what’s ‘not easy’ about that.
It’s harder to rip into your computer.
True, but would you want that? Many new vinyl comes with download codes so you can download a digital version of the record, which makes it even easier than ripping a CD.
I’d like to add a downside: You can’t put it on shuffle.
These disadvantages clearly miss the whole point why vinyl is becoming popular again. Vinyl is not because I want to hear some music while I’m working. Vinyl is for those moments I really want to sit down, and listen to an album. Flipping sides is part of that ritual, the clicks part of the fun.
