New Vinyl

According to Rolling Stone magazine, sales of NEW vinyl albums continues to grow. (This includes first-time releases and re-issues of old LPs). It used to be that being an audiophile meant devoting shelves and shelves to your album collection. When you moved out of your parents’ house, you hauled milk crates filled with your music collection to your next life. These days, many people get their music in the form of downloads (a very bad idea). No heavy boxes, but no fancy cover art or liner notes, either. Thanks to the transportability of the new digital media, people walk around with a huge collection of music on their belt or in their jacket pocket. But playing a vinyl recording requires sitting down and focusing on the sound. Plus there are limitations to digital music, with a lot of dynamic compression used in the mastering process and the file sizes are so small a lot of data is lost. (The lower the bitrate, the lower the audio bandwidth. A snare drum sounds more like noise. The stereophony of the sound is collapsed. Vinyl emulates guitars and other stringed instruments perfectly, especially the bass guitar). Digital is zeroes and ones, any way you look at it. There's a certain jaggedness to it. Vinyl wins every time for its honesty. It's warmer, more soothing, and easier on the ears. Lyor Cohen, chief of recorded music at Warner Music Group, proclaims that “vinyl will definitely outlast [digital downloads] because of the resonance, the sound. The quality is the closest to the way the artist wants you to hear it.” The Beatles “Abbey Road” LP was the top-selling vinyl album in 2010. For physical record stores, which sell 71% of all LPs, vinyl is a lifeline even as megastores like Tower Records and HMV have gone the way of the 8-track. Labels are re-pressing older LPs that were fan favorites, plus younger artists are choosing to release on vinyl. Low-quality mp3s are the main reason vinyl is enjoying a renaissance. We at GOOD MUSIC think this is a GOOD TREND. To help you out, we're even selling a good, affordable turntable that plugs into your computer (see below). Check back here often for select new offerings as they become available and buy at least one of the LPs we recommend!