Death Of Vinyl Not Final

As I mentioned recently, I’ve been trying to buy less music and spend more time enjoying my collection. So far, so good. It has helped that there have been few new releases of note in the past month. I’ve spent that time rediscovering my vinyl LPs, a happy return to where music collecting started for me. I like every part of the experience: the warm sound, the larger cover art and the liner notes you can actually read. Hell, I even like getting up out of my chair to the flip over the record. I’m completely absorbed in the process of listening to music again. But not without an occasionally nagging thought: I’ve become a grumpy old man, clinging to my outdated technology and my favorite albums from the ’70s and ’80s while all these young punks listen to tinny, ultra-compressed mp3s through iPods and ear buds. I’m having flashbacks to my teen years working at DeOrsey’s Records and Tapes. In particular, I’m remembering the guys who would come into the store looking for an album on vinyl and then go ballistic when you told them you were out of stock and tried to sell them a cassette. That was 20 years ago, but it seems like yesterday. I turned into those guys overnight.

I might be getting crabby, but I don’t really care. Sound quality is getting more important as time goes by. So is the social aspect of listening to music. Recently our friends the Benit sisters came to the house for dinner. One of the first things Erin did was check out the crate of vinyl sitting next to the stereo. She and our little girl picked out a Charlie Parker record, which got us started on a wonderful evening.

I’ll be 40 in a couple years, so maybe there’s no better time to get set in my ways. I’ve even started shopping around for a new turntable. The current object of my obsession is this Pro-Ject model with a fancy, colored base. I’d never even heard of Pro-Ject until a newsletter from my favorite Nashville record store, Grimey’s, informed me that they’d soon be carrying a Pro-Ject model in their fine, funky store. As if my growing infatuation with my next turntable wasn’t enough, this week’s Grimey’s newsletter brought to my attention a recent article in Time magazine. As it turns out, the young’uns are digging vinyl, too.

I’m starting to find a little faith in the iPod generation. Maybe they don’t all blindly swallow Steve Jobs’ Kool-Aid. “Bad sound on an iPod has an impact on a lot of people going back to vinyl,” said David MacRunnel, a 15-year-old high school student from Creve Coeur, Mo., in the Time article. The story also said that MacRunnel owns more than 1,000 records. In addition to good taste, David MacRunnel appears to have more disposable income than I had at 15.

Of course, vinyl isn’t about to overtake digital downloads. That’s a comeback you’d only see in a Rocky movie. But, according to Time, 990,000 vinyl albums were sold in 2007, up 15.4 percent from 2006. Vinyl’s market share is only about 0.2 percent, compared to 10 percent for downloads and 89.7 percent for CDs. That’s a pretty small percentage, but it’s not bad for an allegedly dead format.

To a degree, record labels are even catering to the vinyl junkies. Lost Highway puts out most of its releases on high-quality, 180-gram vinyl in addition to CDs. New West seems to be making vinyl readily available as well. Gary Louris’ new album, “Vagabonds,” is being offered in vinyl two weeks before the CD release. Amazon.com has opened a vinyl store. Some labels are even including download coupons with records so buyers can have easy access to undeniably portable mp3s. Bettye LaVette’s latest release, “The Scene of the Crime,” was offered with such a bonus. I’m hoping that a music industry reeling from declining CD sales will be inclined to take this approach seriously.

Digital music is here to stay, but it’s nice to know that even a small amount of consumer demand still carries weight in a changing market. I’ve got no problem with the iPod people; we all should be able to enjoy our legally purchased music as we please. As with our stylistic preferences, there are no wrong answers. I’m just pleased that vinyl continues to raise valid questions about how music is bought, sold and enjoyed.