I received a great Father’s Day present from the boys this year, vinyl! Yes, they got me the latest Alabama Shakes album, Sound & Color. I sat there with number one son, listening to it and I had to smile at how impressed he was with the sound coming out of that stereo.
This is only the third new album I have since getting the turntable, all gifts. One thing I’ve noticed with all three is that they are using very heavy vinyl, much heavier than my old albums, some of which are paper thin. Number one son went on to say how cool it was to have lyrics printed out and liner notes. These are novelties to the “mp3 generation”. I taught him how to use a turntable, just in case he ever needs to impress a hipster chick. I also had to teach him the term, “double album”. Interestingly, the double album only had three sides of music. I’ve never seen that before.
We all know the positives and negatives of the different formats. Mp3’s are super convenient in their portability and quick availability. Okay, that’s about it for their positives. The compressed sound is awful. Albums have exponentially better sound quality but are not portable and are also fragile(Yes) and susceptible to scratching and skipping.
CD’s seem to be the best of both worlds but they have just about disappeared from the landscape. Their sound quality is not as rich and full as albums but still much higher quality than mp3’s. They are portable but certainly not as convenient as a download.
I went looking for cd’s to buy for my father last week and discovered that many stores have stopped selling them. Target had none. Best Buy had a very small selection. I guess no one buys them anymore. Barnes & Noble does still sell them and had a decent selection. I will admit that, as I’m paying for them, I had to make a comment to the cashier to make sure she knew they weren’t for me. I don’t want anyone, even a stranger, thinking that I’m listening to Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole! I’ll be a music snob til the end.
thoughtsfromBlo 