Revival of Vinyl?

I still remember the amazement I had when I was younger as I gently pulled out stacks upon stacks of my dads old LPs. Classics like Genesis's 'Selling England By the Pound", The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour' and many, many others (at one time, over 300) had me mystified as I gazed at the trippy and artistic covers and found the ancient and (even then) long dead creatures known as 'vinyl LP's".

So what is it that happened to our old friend? Ah, yes, I remember now: technology.

From the 70's to the mid 90's 8 tracks and tapes reigned in the music world, offering the portability that vinyl lacked. Soon later came the CD or 'compact disc' which as it progressed offered more space for songs, and a clean, crisp sound unknown to ears use the the familiar and comforting crackle that you often heard on vinyl.

Just when we thought that music couldn't get any more compact and impersonal, along came the un-godly MP3.

Yes, MP3's are amazing. The fact that with new technology you can store millions of songs on one hard drive is great, but the sound quality is sterile and for me, it alienates the listener from the music. Maybe its just me, but with the invention of iTunes, iPods and whatever the hell else Steve Jobs has up his sleeve, it seems that things like cover art, the layout of the tracks, the way the artist has mixed the album as a whole and the entire finished product in general is being desecrated. Now you can just download single tracks, without hearing the album entirely, most artists put little to no thought in their cover art / album covers.... it just seems to me like the roots of music are beginning to shrivel.

BUT recently along with things like mod 60's sunglasses, tights and biker shorts (insert shudder here) it looks like vinyl may be making a come back.

In 2007, nearly 1 millions LP's were bought, and it looks like for 2008, that number could rise to 1.6 million. Sales of turntables are also up, with half a million being bought last year. Its also becoming easier to buy vinyl, with big-box stores like Best Buy, and online favourites like Amazon.com stocking more and more vinyl (even recent albums like Cat Power's jukebox). And of course, you can always rely on your local record store or indie store to carry this old favourite.

Also, even though it was technology that lead to the death of the LP, its also helping revive it, with a new species of turntables being made that allow you to convert your LP's into MP3's. Many artists are also helping with the comeback, by having their albums come out on vinyl first, or including download codes when you buy an LP (like the Arcade Fire).

So, it looks as if many of us may be returning to the format our parents used as kids. You may make the switch for many reasons: it's trendy, it's got better sound quality, it's cool, whatever. But what you can't deny is that vinyl with never die for those hard core fans that frequently enjoy sitting down with a turntable, an LP and a bunch of memories.