As Recording Technology Goes Forward A Demand For Vinyl Continues To Grow   by Seth Frank

in Entertainment / Music    (submitted 2012-01-13)

You'll have a challenging time finding many new music releases that are being released on the once-popular eight-track tape or cassette tape formats. It used to be that if you wanted to listen to recordings in your car, the only way to do it was to place a tape into your dashboard-mounted player and turn up the volume.

This was before the CD or DVD became popular or used by most of the world's music fans, and when automobiles were set up with radios and tape players. You could listen to the music you liked in your car on pre-recorded tapes, or on your home record player, which included a turntable and LP and 45 RPM vinyl recordings.

The radio was the only music source for motorists who were not lucky enough to have either an eight-track or cassette deck in their cars. While having the option of listening to your favorite music uninterrupted by commercial breaks was a welcome innovation, tape sound quality was not impressive.

Tapes never quite equaled the marvelously rich quality of vinyl LPs, and for a while, consumers didn't seem to notice, or else were willing to sacrifice sound quality. So when automobiles commenced featuring CD players, it was a large step forward for the quality of sound available for musical appreciation inside of your vehicle.

Suddenly, you could hear CD recordings of Beatles music and it would have sound reproduction potential similar to that of your favorite Beatles vinyl records. As widely popular as the CD became, recordings on vinyl never quite went utterly out of favor with music fans, despite losing most of the market share.

The preponderance of listeners probably did get rid of their vinyl and the equipment to play it, but a hard core segment of dedicated vinyl collectors did not change. In order to accommodate a portion of music collectors, Radiohead vinyl recordings, and just about any other act's recordings, needed to include a number of vinyl discs.

It didn't take long for producers to comprehend that a record release that included some vinyl recordings would be in greater demand with vinyl fans. When it comes to releasing boxed sets and special packaged recordings, in addition to CDs, vinyl discs are often a sizeable portion of the units released.

Vinyl records' warm sound and detailed reproduction qualities tend to make that format the preferred one by many a music connoisseur. You don't have to flip over a CD to play it all, like you do with old fashioned records, but still, vinyl records are the fastest growing format in the recording business.

You've undoubtedly seen disc jockeys playing vinyl discs, and now it seems that home listeners are taking a tip from the pros and doing likewise.

About the Author

SoundStage Direct, LLC is an online independent store based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. SSD has the largest selection of vinyl records online. And you don't want to miss amazing closeout deals available at our LP outlet! We have record albums in every genre (for example: Beatles vinyl records, Radiohead vinyl recordings) and in a variety of formats available ready to be shipped at your doorstep.