Everyone loves their Ipod, Zune, or whatever MP3 player they have. They are the most beautiful creations the world has seen, and I think if mozart had seen one, he would have weeped for joy.
But theres one think about them that hurts; the loss of sound quality. It seems with every step down in size, sound quality steps down. now for those of you who disagree, ask someone in the music biz. A mp3 file loses sound quality over a wav. Its sad. theres a reason that CDs dont adopt the MP3 format. And its not because CD players won't play them either, more advanced ones will.
Which brings me onto the point. Vinyl. I love albums. Sure they can scrath. sure they can break. sure you must keep them within a certain temperture. But you know what, you can't beat thier sound quality. (btw, a album in proper condition doesn't have that background scrath people associate with records. only old, well well well played alums do.
Someone once explained to me it was basically an issue of sound waves and layering of the music, and when the music is compressed into a smaller format, that the levels are compressed to a single level, but on vinyl this never happens.
Which is why is sounds incredible. Don't believe me? well heres a test. Put on Cat stevens, any of his albums, any of his songs (I particularly like Moonshadow), on an mp3 player. Then listen to it on Vinyl. The real casual listener won't notice. The serious music efficienato, will.
Some artists (like Cat Stevens, Tom Petty, or any band who uses alot of layering) improve greatly, others really don't.
But the fact that you can get old albums for extremely cheap (like 50 cents at Everyday music) just puts the icing on the cake.
And want it on your mp3 player anyway? well you can buy a usb turntable to fix that.
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...the music is compressed into a smaller format, that the levels are compressed to a single level, but on vinyl this never happens.
That's more of less true.
What sound engineers do is raise the volume level so high that the loudest portions are "clipped" and the softest portions sound louder.
Doing this minimizes the volume difference between the quietest points of the music and the loudest.
It's called "dynamic range compression." The term "compression" shouldn't be confused with the compression used to create MP3s, which can also degrade sound quality but for different reasons.
In the analog world of vinyl, raising the volume level beyond the peak causes distortion and sound engineers don't do it.
That's why, at least compared to unnaturally loud digital music, vinyl is more pleasing to the ears.
Jeff
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