BuildTheRobots 8 months ago | parent | context | favorite | on: Vinyl records are now outselling CDs
It sounds silly, but I find it extremely comforting to know I can play back my vinyl using entirely mechanical components.
I don't expect the world to forget how to decode mp3s, or even loose the ability to generate electric to power my computers/storage to retrieve it. But, in the event all technology collapsing I've got a vibration trapped in a piece of vinyl, and I can play back by scraping a nail over it. There's something quite beautifully "pure" or simple about this. As much as analogue audio tape is doing similar, vinyl is a physical waveform.
Sure, in any world where this could happen there's going to be far more important things to worry about than playing back Paul Simon, but it seems easier to believe I could build a gramophone from first principals than a CD player. Comforting.
bombcar 8 months ago | next [–]
Vinyl is one of those things that is at the limit of human scale but still accessible - without any power you can spin a record and “hear” it by putting your ear near the needle.
Both cassettes and CDs go out of human scale and into technology
It sounds silly, but I find it extremely comforting to know I can play back my vinyl using entirely mechanical components. I don't expect the world to forget how to decode mp3s, or even loose the ability to generate electric to power my computers/storage to retrieve it. But, in the event all technology collapsing I've got a vibration trapped in a piece of vinyl, and I can play back by scraping a nail over it. There's something quite beautifully "pure" or simple about this. As much as analogue audio tape is doing similar, vinyl is a physical waveform.
Sure, in any world where this could happen there's going to be far more important things to worry about than playing back Paul Simon, but it seems easier to believe I could build a gramophone from first principals than a CD player. Comforting.
bombcar 8 months ago | next [–]
Vinyl is one of those things that is at the limit of human scale but still accessible - without any power you can spin a record and “hear” it by putting your ear near the needle. Both cassettes and CDs go out of human scale and into technology