I’ve been collecting records since I was around 12 and got really into Elvis and The Beatles. I’ve gotten them from my mum, nan, dad, charity shops, vintage stores, record shops, random car boot sales, HMV and about a thousand other places, its funny where you can find them! A lot of people my age have started listening to vinyl later and I think a lot of people are unsure as to why since we have far superior sound quality on CD’s and digital recordings now, so I thought I’d give you my reasons for listening to vinyl over CD.
That ‘Vibe’
It sounds a bit ridiculous I know, but flicking through the giant sleeves, selecting an album and carefully placing it onto the turntable and holding the needle just above it to ensure you drop it onto the surface as gently as possible has a certain feeling or ‘vibe’ to it that makes listening to the music a little bit more satisfying.
It’s More Demanding
I find that listening to a song on vinyl makes you listen that little bit closer because such a big machine and huge disc just demands more attention than a laptop or I-pod and, to a degree, it just feels like the music you’re listening is so much more important when on vinyl.
It Sounds How It Was Supposed To
This doesn’t apply to all records, but I find that albums that were originally released on vinyl feel more like that’t how they’re supposed to sound. The slight crackle and general atmosphere just feels more like the true artist than listening to Changes on my laptop does and, as a musician myself, I think its always important to listen to music in the way it was intended to be listened to.
It’s Cheap
I know its not the best reason, but most of my local charity shops will sell 10+ records for about a pound. Thats ten new albums for about the same I’d pay for a single song on i-tunes. I don’t have enough money to spend it willy-nilly so vinyls are more convenient money wise for me so I can listen to as much music as possible without illegal downloading anything, which I hate.
Whats your favourite way to listen to music?
-Dana
Carry on Beautiful! 