I'll Drop the Plastic and Use the Vinyl

One thing I have noticed lately is that vinyl records are becoming popular again. I find this pretty interesting. Music CD's seem like they would be better in the year 2012, but maybe there is still something that makes people want to put a needle on a record.

I can think of a few reasons why compact disks are so popular for music. The first reason is in the name. They're small enough to fit a lot in your car without them having to be seen. You can put five, ten, even twenty on a store shelf. They are also very durable. I've dropped both records and CD's on accident, so I know from experience that playing or not, CD's can take more hits than records hands down. Those are just a couple of advantages CD's have over records.

However, records still have a few things going for them too. They have a nostalgic feel to them. Personally, I prefer putting a needle on a record than hitting "Play" on a CD player. Also people debate the sound quality is better, since a record is translating sound to vibrations and back to sound, while CD's are translating sound to data, to MP3 code, back to data, then back to sound.

I have a very large music library in a lot of formats: CD's , records, MP3's, and even 8 tracks. While CD's and MP3's are great for travel and connivance, records are great for listening at home and bring a vibe to the room you don't get from other formats. So is it good that today's artists are releasing music on both CD's and records? I certainly think so. Is one better than the other? I personally couldn't live without both.

Here's a question for you:

Do you prefer records or CD's?