recorddirectory.info

recorddirectory.info

Most of us remember the first record we ever bought no matter how many are in our collection. In High Fidelity, John Cusack’s character Rob Gordon was constantly reorganizing his records -- chronologically, alphabetically and by girlfriend. Now that’s a music fan.

The music industry has had quite the revolution in the past few decades, moving from easy-to-scratch vinyl to the virtual download.

Vinyl: The original 78 rpm, top of the charts 45s and the standard 33 1/3s have made a nostalgic comeback, but aren’t practical enough to return to mainstream. But back in the days when bands released albums, these were complete packages that demanded artistry from ... (more)

Most of us remember the first record we ever bought no matter how many are in our collection. In High Fidelity, John Cusack’s character Rob Gordon was constantly reorganizing his records -- chronologically, alphabetically and by girlfriend. Now that’s a music fan.

The music industry has had quite the revolution in the past few decades, moving from easy-to-scratch vinyl to the virtual download.

Vinyl: The original 78 rpm, top of the charts 45s and the standard 33 1/3s have made a nostalgic comeback, but aren’t practical enough to return to mainstream. But back in the days when bands released albums, these were complete packages that demanded artistry from more than the musicians. Cover art, liner notes and sometimes hidden tracks (like Monty Pythons famous "three-sided" Matching Tie and Handkerchief album). The Beatles Sergeant Pepper’s, release in 1967, raised the bar for all musicians with its use of orchestration, dubbing and Dolby noise reduction. The cover art is worthy of a PhD thesis and it was the firs album to include lyrics and liner notes. Today these features are standard, but only thanks to The Fab Four.

Compact Disks (CDs): The digital age arrives in the 80s with the now outdated CD. The first compact discs cost $60 (compared to the average vinyl album which came in at around $10) and were hailed as revolutionary. Unlike LPs, the manufacturers promised listeners these records would never skip and last forever. We now know that’s not true, but they did offer features no vinyl records could – you could skip to any track, didn’t have to flip to side B and could repeat or omit any track. With CDs, we learned we liked to control our music.

Apple iTunes and iPod: Although MP3s were around before the iPod, Apple made the CD obsolete. The iPod, and its accompanying software iTunes, made virtual music practical. These compact MP3 players were easy to navigate, shuffled music, provided stunning sound quality in whisper-thin units and could hold a library of songs. And the rechargeable batteries made the Energizer Bunny look out of shape. When Apple made the iPod PC compatible, they secured the lion’s share of the virtual music market.

Where will the old-fashioned record go from here? If Apple steers the ship it will include videos, phone capability and more.


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