Like making the perfect drink, you need the perfect amount of each ingredient to make it. Vinyl record is that perfect drink. Vinyl is the best music format out there, once being on the top of the food chain but now coming back and taking over the market once again. It holds the top format in my opinion because it stores WAV. in the largest and most original form without compressing it. It gives off warmth and clarity when playing through the speakers that makes you feel the music in a way no MP3 ever could. Vinyl is truly better than MP3.
Ever had that feeling that you've been ripped off or even stolen from? Well, when you purchase MP3 versions of music, that is exactly what is happening. MP3 is the worst storage format on planet Earth because there is a white noise behind every track in MP3 format. Why might you ask? MP3 is only so portable because it is so small. This is great for being portable and makes it possible for one person take their music all around the world with them. But making these files so compact isn't necessarily a good thing. Imagine an audio wave playing but as it's playing, the walls around it start closing in and compressing it. As it closes in, you start to hear less dynamic range in the music. Every hint of compression to the audio means something is being taken away, mostly in the high end and low-end spectrums. Then, all of a sudden, there is this scratchy noise happening in the background. Not a lot but it's there. This is due to the intense compression. Another reason why vinyl record trumps MP3 in the format world.
Those who have an understanding of the audio world and of it's formats would mostly agree with me on this. Some will ask about CD because it also does not compress the audio. This is true. Yes, CDs work very well and carry the whole list of audio tracks without compressing them. But they still don't have colour like vinyl does. When I place my vinyl on my record player and lay that needle down on the groove, I listen. I hear a warm start with the needle running along the groove, popping a little from the dust but still sounding amazing. Then, when that first song begins, it's like a blast of colour and warmth just pouring out of midair and poisoning the air with the raw and powerful dynamics of the artist and their music. This is a feeling that one can only acquire from being at the physical concert or when he or she has actually sat down and listened to vinyl in comparison to CD or MP3. This is why vinyl trumps all.
Maybe one day in the near future you will be able to sit down with your favorite record and be able to play it on a turntable. But be warned, because once it starts you can become addicted and you'll never be able to listen to music the same way ever again.
- Nikki Wozzo
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