When compact discs first arrived, they were heralded as a modern marvel that would replace all other recording formats. It was said that the new digital CDs, as they came to be known, were more accurate, durable and economical to produce than either tape or “old-fashioned” vinyl records. But all good things must come to an end, and it appears we may be witnessing the end of the CD era.
There are those who have been predicting for some time that digital music players, such as iPods and other MP3 players would eventually replace the CD. But oddly enough, one of the formats helping to kill off the use of compact discs is the very format it was designed to replace to begin with: vinyl records.
In a music industry struggling to maintain profit margins and control illegal song sharing online, one of the biggest growth areas of the past few years has been in vinyl records. DJs and music purists have long maintained that music recorded in the vinyl medium was warmer, with increased depth and nuance. It seems that now, mainstream music buyers are beginning to agree with them.
Vinyl pressing plants, once thought to be the dinosaurs of the modern music industry, are seeing a dramatic increase in production, with many plants barely able to keep up with demand. But the real question is, why the sudden upturn in the popularity of the vinyl record? Experts disagree on the exact causes, but it seems likely that digital music downloads have actually helped increase sales of vinyl record releases by popular bands.
In the age of the iPod and the digital media download, it seems a compact disc is no longer compact. More and more music enthusiasts are buying the vinyl record versions of albums to listen to at home, and “ripping” the songs into a digital format to take with them on the iPod when they’re out.
With digital music players getting smaller and more powerful by the day, portability is no longer an issue when buying music. One record label is even including coupons inside the packaging of its vinyl records that allow the purchaser to download the MP3 version of the songs for free. These kinds of programs are becoming increasingly popular, and music lovers are beginning to hear what audio files have heard for decades: music simply sounds better on a vinyl disc.
Of course, compact discs have been on the way out for the past few years, and eventually, digital music downloads would have replaced the CD as the predominant music format anyway. But with the resurgence of vinyl records, the CD era may be over a lot sooner than experts have predicted.
