The Death Of Vinyl

For the first time, the inevitable happened in 2007, digital download sales surpassed the combined sales of CD's, vinyl records and cassettes.



For any vinyl, or even a CD enthusiast, a solemn time for certain. More and more record stores have closed because of this. I know that I don't have the time to dig like I used to, but today, officially Record Store Day, I will. It's hard to explain, but there's something very karmic about digging in a record store for whatever gems that you've been looking for and have kept in your mental file cabinet for years. When you find it, you feel like it was worth all those times spent flipping through Wham! 12" singles (1 man's trash is another man's treasure). Of course it's not immediate like the internet, finding it through a Google or Hype Machine search. But that's why they call it "digging"! Sometimes you catch something and other times you don't. And don't forget the tangibleness of a record or CD. Studying the cover and liner notes. And let's not even get into the richer, fuller sound of a record. Maybe it's just the natural high that the smell of dust, old paper and vinyl create.


{DJ Shadow explains it best, a "little nirvana".}


{I actually miss the eccentric record store clerks...no I don't.}

Get you fingers dusty.
::MH::