Compact Discs have some real advantages over vinyl records; the most important advantage is that they are practical to play in car stereo systems.
However, in this blog post, PhileySmiley explains that vinyl records deliver better sound than CDs. His argument is that records capture entire sound waves, as opposed to CDs which approximate sound waves by sampling. Additionally, he claims LPs sound warmer.
If you are old enough to have a record collection, or you have access to your parents’ record collection, having a record player is a great idea. There is still a lot of good music on records that has never been re-released on CD.
Just last week, a friend called to let me know how excited he was about his recent record player purchase. When my wife and I visited, we enjoyed listening to an old Bob Dylan record he got from his father-in-law.
Here are three top record players available today from Amazon.com. The first is a traditional record player that plugs into your stereo tuner. The second is a portable record player with a built-in speaker. The third one is a USB player allowing you convert vinyl records into mp3s.
3 Comments
Analog signals versus digital signals. The gap is narrowing, but the argument is a little like the Digital Camera versus the Film camera. The digital cameras could never match the quality you get in a film camera. A film camera makes much more sense economics wise also, since the price of film is low in general. A digital camera is a developing and increasingly cost effective technology, unlike a Film camera which has been perfected at some level.
Music recorded on an LP record is surely more accurately recorded, but it is difficult to preserve because LP records could be corrupted easily. In addition, since the record’s grooves have to be in physical contact with the head of the record player, the ensuing friction destroys musical information over time. For this reason, compact discs could be a better solution for storing large amounts of audio data.
However, if there is a method of storing analog signals using lasers on to compact discs in much the same way as CDs, but not in a digital format, that would make an interesting new innovation indeed!
Why are so many people able to actually hear the steps in the wave except me? Am I the only one in the world who can’t tell analog from digital except if they’re side by side?
Andy K, thanks for your comment. I don’t think you’re alone. I admit digital sound can sound full/complete. Obviously that’s all that many people listen to. But if you have records, getting a record player is a wise move. So many people just have a bunch of records in their basement or closet that never get played.
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