Students concerned about the music industry’s crackdown on Internet music file sharing should know there is a way to enjoy inexpensive, great-sounding music, 100 percent legally. It is called vinyl.
Often overlooked in today’s digital age, analog records have benefits that compact discs do not: cheaper prices, better packaging and better sound quality, said Chris Cromley, owner of Goldmine Records.
“Analog music also has a warmth and presence that digital music can’t replicate,” Cromley said. “CDs don’t have the life of analog.”
MP3 music from the Internet is lower quality than CD because it’s a compressed format, but even many CDs can’t match vinyl’s sound.
“The sound varies, but when they’ve gone back and remastered older albums, in trying to clean up the music they took out some of its elements: the music between the notes,” said Don Dow, co-owner of Used Kids Records.
The store owners said while Internet file sharing is popular, music stores are not disappearing anytime soon.
“Having a physical artifact in your hand, the very act of shopping a good store and the hobby of collecting are probably what keep buyers coming back,” Dow said.
Music manufacturers have taken advantage of LPs’ large size by providing more inserts and bonus material than a smaller format would allow. Many of these extras never made the jump to CDs or cassettes, said Kenny Honaker, manager at the Singing Dog.
“There’s really something to be said for browsing a music store and seeing all the artwork, booklets and track lists that come with all the different albums. You don’t get that experience on a server,” Honaker said.
A number of stores carry LPs in the campus area, including Used Kids Records, Magnolia Thunderpussy, Goldmine Records and the Singing Dog. A walk down their record aisles reveals more than worn relics from the hippie era. Most musical genres are strongly represented, from classic rock and jazz to today’s en vogue styles of music.
“The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are the most popular among collectors,” Honaker said. “We also get a lot of DJs in here for the hip-hop and R&B sections.”
Used Kids has a similar clientele, but indie-rock and 1970s artists such as Led Zeppelin and David Bowie bring in their biggest sales, Dow said.
Condition rarity and popularity decide vinyl prices, so buyers can find some of the century’s most popular albums sold for $1 in great condition. Outside the discount and rare racks, most records sell for between $2 and $10, Dow said.
“They aren’t the most convenient format, but sit down and listen to a record on a good system and there’s nothing better,” Cromley said.
