Conducting
the latest Marketplace of Ideas conversation with Travis Elborough, author of
The Vinyl Countdown,
a history of the vinyl LP, brought a question to mind: people love
vinyl, some people — mostly of a certain hip-hop generation — love
cassettes, but has anyone ever loved the poor,
rapidly-getting-irrelevant compact disc? Elborough replied that, well,
naturally,
someone must have loved it at
some point, and
they certainly sounded fantastic when first introduced. But I'd say
it's undeniable that, at sixty years old, vinyl claims orders of
magnitude more declared enthusiasts than the CD, over its 27 years,
ever has.
That's not to approve of the sort of vinyl fetishism
that goes on these days — I also enjoy reading, but fixation on books
themselves or
any media objects over and above their content
irks me — though I must remain vigilant not to fall into it myself. My
collection habit began in high school, at the feverish peak of my
Goodwill-haunting days, but back then, when the majority of my
listening hours happened in the car, vinyl was little more than a
novelty. It's since pulled out in front of every other music delivery
system; rare is the night I don't come home and drop the needle on
something or other. I just yesterday Craigslist-purchased an additional
Tec 12, for nefarious DJing purposes, from a dude in deep Isla Vista.
Those 35-pound S.O.B.s really turn heads when you're schlepping them
around by hand. Especially when you take them into Barnes & Noble.
Or to get a burrito.
This ends a long spell of CD-only spinning
for me, which I can't help but argue says something, grandly, about the
listening world as a whole. I don't plan to affect a metamorphosis into
one of those insufferable everything-sucks-but-vinyl DJs — my setup
will likely remain two-CD-one-vinyl at least until I buy a car move all
this gear from place to place like a civilized human being — but
vinyl's essentialness becomes clearer to me with every play. Why? I
have no ironclad answer, and I hesitate to join the chorus of tofu-soft
defenses like "
vinyl has life." Two facts do stand out, though.
(a) Vinyl provides a superior
user experience,
and lately I've gotten big on the experience component damn near
everything — film, food, interaction — to the exclusion of most other
elements.
(b) Vinyl is a better design object than other formats. Hell, it's a better design object than most other
objects.
I've half a mind to declare the vinyl LP the best object of the past
century. This is a designation CDs will never, ever win, and it has two
words to thank for that: jewel cases. Oh, the affront, the affront to
my tender sensibilities!