Erin McNemar
Managing Executive Editor
Music is something that has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It seemed like almost every time I went out shopping with my family, I would get a new CD. I loved nothing more than coming home from school, putting a CD in my sticker-covered CD player and dancing around my room until I could barely breathe. As I got older, my CD collection began to pile up and and vary in several different genes.
My junior year of high school, as some of the retro fashions began to come back in style, I decided I really wanted a record player. That year for Christmas, it was the only thing I asked for. Once the morning of December 25 finally arrived, it was like I was five again, experiencing the magic and excitement of ripping into gifts. And there it was; my very own record player accompanied with vinyl versions of my favorite CDs. After that day, I found myself listening to more and more records, and just like my CD pile grew, so did my records.
I’ve heard time and time again that people believe that listening to music on a record is much better than listening on CD. But why is that? After listening to some of my favorite albums on both vinyls and CDs, I think I have come to prefer the sound if them on vinyl. When listening to a record, there is this certain sound to it, a kind of sound that I can only hear on vinyl. It’s so unique to that way of listening to it, that whenever I hear it, it fills me with happiness. Additionally, I have come to prefer vinyl because it’s not just buying a CD; it’s a full blown experience. Finding the perfect little record store is already exciting enough, but then finding that Fleetwood Mac album you have been dying to listen to the way it was supposed to be heard is almost magical.
While many believe vinyl sounds better, an article by Vox makes the argument that there is no reason it should. Records cannot use modern editing the way that CDs can. “There are built-in problems with using vinyl as a data encoding mechanisms that have no CD equivalent. Vinyl is physically limited by the fact that records have to be capable of being played without skipping or causing distortion. That both limits the dynamic range—the difference between the loudest and softest note—and the range of pitches (or “frequencies”) you can hear,” Vox said.
Yes, the article does have a point. While CDs possess the technology to virtually make the singer and instruments sounds perfect, it’s unauthentic. With records, you are able to really hear what the music sounds like to a point that it’s almost like a history lesson. Vinyls give us this little window into the past which may not seem like much, but I find it absolutely incredible.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still always down to put on one of my old CDs and jam out, but there’s something about listening to a vinyl that is almost indescribable.
Erin McNemar can be contacted at
emcnemar@kscequinox.com
