vinyl – Changing Way

Retro Music Formats

Retro music formats are everywhere, not just in CostCo. For example:

At TechDirt, Dennis Yang highlighted the threat to CDs from vinyl: “CD sales have been declining due to the growth of digital music. Well, CDs are now being flanked by an old format: vinyl.” Astute readers will recall that I overstated that very point a few days earlier.
In today’s Boston Globe, Christopher Muther reports that the long-ignored cassette tape is making a stylistic comeback. I have no hankering for most of the cassette-themed merch plugged in the article, but I wouldn’t mind a USB Mix Tape (64MB USB that looks like a cassette).
The current and rather brilliant Cat and Girl comic includes a goodbye to “our rogue half-century of music as an object.”

So there I was, in CostCo today, to get a crate of diapers and a few other large items. The way in takes one past tempting electronic items, such as digital cameras, video game consoles, and… record turntables? Yes, there was a USB turntable for sale, one of those made by ION Audio.

I was amazed by this example of vinyl reappearing in the mainstream. Perhaps I shouldn’t be, given my recent prediction that vinyl will once again be more popular than CD.

Vinyl to Overtake CD

Will vinyl overtake CD in terms of music sales? It occurred to me today that it will. I was at the time reading Vinyl goes from throwback to comeback, a snappily-titled article starting on the front page of the Boston Globe.

This isn’t a prediction that vinyl will once again dominate the music industry. I just believe that its cultish appeal will hold up as the sun rapidly sets on the CD.

Strangely enough, I have recently and actively sought out CDs. But they are particular CDs: the Rhino reissues of Elvis Costello albums. Rights on the Costello catalog have passed on to Hip-O. (In the USA, that is; I don’t known about the rest of the world, the catalog being quite confusing enough in this country.) You can read about these reissues, and about Gary Stewart, who put them together, at the Rhino site and at the NY Times.

But back to my prediction that vinyl will overtake CD. Do you agree? If so, care to leave a comment with your prediction as to when it will happen?

Tag: vinyl

Retro Music Formats

Turntable Turns Up at CostCo

Vinyl to Overtake CD