Friday, April 27, 2012

Why 'old believers' believe in vinyl


Norman Lebrecht, writing for Standpoint magazine, goes after “old believers” nostalgic for music on vinyl discs:

http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/4433/full

Piling negatives on the 33-rpm record – “scratchy, inaccurate, superannuated, inconvenient, short-lasting” – Lebrecht veers off target on that last one. LPs don’t contain as much music as Compact Discs and downloads, but physically they last a long time. The vinyl-record market is dominated by used discs, among which the newest were manufactured more than 30 years ago. Their imperfections don’t prevent them from being playable. Minor defects silence CDs and sound files.

Whatever their shortcomings, vinyl discs remain the most durable medium for preserving sound.