Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Vinyl will kill the iPod.
"New York retailer J&R Music claims record sales for the 21 different analog and digital turntable models that it carries. Rachelle Friedman, the co-owner of J&R, said the store is selling more vinyl and turntables than it has in at least a decade, fueled largely by growing demand from members of the iPod generation..." Source: Sales of turntables increase along with vinyl. Shame that Ms Friedman uses the term 'ramping up'... hate that....

Here's an idea - if the vinyl revival really is being driven by the iPod generation, then is it a reaction to crappy sound quality of mp3s? I still have problems buying anything off iTunes, simply because their bitrate is low, and sounds like it too. This is why people still buy CDs - so they can rip them to MP3s at a better bitrate than iTunes. That's one of the reasons I still buy CDs.

I guess there's the tangible  element too - a record collection just looks better than an MP3 collection (which is like looking at a  hard drive - thrilling). It's like watching people when I show them my new Dub Asylum vinyl single - their eyes light up. It's exciting - who ever got excited about an MP3? Really?

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