I Don't Miss Vinyl

Everybody's all about the Vinyl these days.

Sales of vinyl records are booming in North America and the U.K. The annual Record Store Day (April 12, 2012) brings thousands of people into small independent record stores to buy special releases and reissues (LPs and singles), and to flip through the racks to relive their childhoods.

Of course hipsters are there rubbing elbows with the boomers because vinyl is "a thing" these days.

It's all hip and everything to pine for the days of vinyl but I say nostalgia causes amnesia. Vinyl records often sucked so get over it.

Here's what I don't miss about vinyl records.

1) Ticks and pops. I remember buying brand new records. I'd put them on a decent turntable, not the best you can buy but pretty good, and there it was a crackle or a skritch and you'd put up with it.

2) Skips.  Sometimes the "skip" would happen on the second or third playing, even if you handled the record with greatest of care. So? Where's the receipt? And even if you had it, it was used goods.

3) Warpage. Ever leave one in a hot car a little too long? Game over.

4) 45 RPM Singles. They were hard to store, hard to play and just bad.

5) Having to flip over to side two.

What I DO miss about vinyl records.

1) Cover art. Love love love. I do buy records these days. Some old favourites, some new releases and the deal maker is usually a great cover. I lament that art as it relates to music tends to be a bit bigger than a postage stamp on an MP3 player. It's nice to look at digital pictures I suppose but I want record covers I could possible hang on the wall in a frame.

2) Bad cover art. Thank goodness for the internet. Here's what you should do. Google "bad cover art records" and it will send you to websites like this one and this one and you can laugh and cry while you look at many many bad record covers (like the one on the left!)

3) Liner notes. One of the great pleasures of LPs and CDs is holding a cover, insert or book in your hand to read who plays what, the lyrics and who wrote what song and anything else the musicians wanted to share. I know websites serve that purpose, and yes Wikipedia can tell you EVERYTHING but I still enjoy the tactile experience akin to opening a book and reading along to the music.

Audiophiles say analogue is warmer and digital doesn't reproduce the music authentically. Frankly, I've never been able to tell the difference and I know the ticks and pops are gone. And, while CDs scratch and files are sometimes corrupt, it has been my experience that digital music works.

I once owned about 4000 vinyl records. I sold about 3500 of them to a friend before I moved back to Alberta from Ontario. Those crates would have added thousands of dollars to my moving costs.

I imagine some of those records are now worth more than when I sold them but I don't miss them. I brought about 500 of my faves along with me along with many crates of CDs.

And of course I have a computer full of music files.

I love that I have an iPod with about 20,000 songs that I can carry or plug into my car stereo. I love that I have access to gazillions (the official number I think) of records on many legal download sites. I'm happy to be a musical immigrant with this much music at my fingertips in all shapes and sizes and ones and zeros.