What sets Vinyl apart?

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Why is vinyl different?

We've all heard record oriented hippies confidently brag about the superiority of their sound, warmth and "realness". However how true are those claims?

The main other platforms for listening to music that are still used are CD and digital. In this post I'll explain the differences between vinyl and CD. The main difference between the two is the way that the music is recorded and later read. On vinyl there are actual grooves the a needle bounces along and interprets to produce the intended sound. On CD's a small laser is shot onto the disk, and whatever light bounces back tells the disk player what to do. 

However when one mixes the physical with digital one can run into issues. The grooves in a record limit some of what the music can do on a scale dynamic range. For example the needle cannot read music that makes a radical drop in tone because the actual needle will bounce off the surface of the record and skip parts of the song. Records can also warp, where the vinyl bends over time. They actual surface of the record can be worn down over time and change the sound.

In CD's none of this can happen, for the only thing touching the disk is light. They don't really warp, and can handle intense drops in tone. By all accounts CD's appear to be significantly better than vinyl in all aspects, accuracy of sound, resistance to change, and overall ease of use. 

The thing is, the needle on record sound isn't a negative. It creates a tiny bit of distortion on that transfers to the speakers, providing a sort of background ambiance for the music to play with. It's what many people describe as the "warmth" or "fullness" of records vs digital. Listening to records is also an experience, you pull the record out of you collection, shimmy it out of its sleeve, put it on the turn table, set the needle, then sit back and listen to the whole album without many other distractions. Its difficult and impractical to skip songs on records, forcing people to fully appreciate the story behind the album. The larger album cover also allows for better cover art. I could go on and on about the unseen advantages that arise from record's seeming inconvenience. It's those things that take a little extra time and care where the experience of listening to records comes from.