Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone (especially Mothers!) enjoyed a Happy Mother's Day. I found an interesting article at http://www.knoxnews.com/ and thought I would share it:

Vinyl is still the mother of music

Written By Wayne Bledsoe


It occurs to me this Mother's Day that CDs were designed to be the trophy wives of music lovers. Think about it: Those old vinyl albums introduced us to hot tracks from Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Parliament /Funkadelic. They endured the indignity of disco and the misery of Air Supply and helped us give birth to our best times and most hairbrained schemes. But we got to know all vinyl albums' moves and as time went on, we took them for granted. Then someone came along and said "Hey, look at this shiny new disc! It's lighter, portable and (imagine Barry White's voice here) so sexxxxxy! Why that heavy old vinyl thing has grit in her grooves! This new model is smooth and light with a figure of 0110- 0101-1010! It'll impress your friends!"

We bought it. We divorced ourselves from vinyl for shiny new CDs . The heartless music bearers sucked up all our money and still wanted more. And, CDs didn't do the job that dowdy old vinyl did. Their sound lacked vinyl's warmth. When it got a little better we replaced those CDs with the better ones, but it was still an empty experience.

Now, CDs themselves are passe. Digital downloads offer immediate gratification. No fiddling around with CD trays and knob adjustments to get them in the mood. Oh baby. You make me feel so young!

Yet, nothing still sounds as good as good old vinyl. It's a real, physical preservation of sound. CDs are sagging, but vinyl album sales are up and the quality is better than it was in the 1970s (hey, looks like somebody's been to the gym!). Cool kids are tracking down turntables and searching out vintage albums. And, artists are making sure to press vinyl discs and often include a code where a listener can download a digital version as well. Two music artists I've spoken with in the past months predicted the death of the CD, but the resurgence of vinyl.

And, sales of turntables (many featuring USB connections so you can plug directly into your computer) are up, too. They're such popular items you can buy them at Target.

The USB turntables both allow you to listen to your vinyl albums through your computer (although it would really sound much better though a nice amp and speakers) and convert your albums to a digital format and take out some of the pops and scratches if you so desire. (But remember: "Never Mind the Bollocks" by the Sex Pistols sounds better with the grit!)

Among the companies offering the turntables are Ion (with several models around $100) and Numark, Stanton and Audio-Technia. The Crosley Memory Master CD Recorder ($449) allows you to record the vinyl directly to CD if you want, but it looks like a record player named "grandma."

Those teenagers and 20-somethings discovering the joys of vinyl are both sick of the poor quality sound of digital and want something tactile with their music experiences. They ask how could we have ever put these sweet vinyl albums out to pasture?

Some record companies are back and asking for forgiveness, but others are insisting that they made the right choice.

By the looks of things, they'll be old and broke and out of business in a few years.

Happy Mother's Day vinyl.