Phonograph, CD Player, iPod/MP3’s: Does it Matter To You?
I can vaguely remember (very vaguely) going into a store and seeing in the music section a display of vinyl 7 inch singles (45 rpm). I remember playing the longer play 12 inch records (33 rpm). My mom’s collection included the Hawkins Family, Dallas Holm, and the Imperials. By the time I was collecting my own music, the 80’s had ushered in the compact disc, and now I carry around an iPod.
7 inch Vinyl
After World War II, there was a two-year period (1948-50) in which the purchasing public did not know if the 7-inch (45rpm) or the 12-inch (33rpm) records would prevail. The 7-inch was smaller and usually contained a song on each side. Capacity was limited. You could stack a group of sevens and play them as singles. They serviced a certain niche, as they were shorter in duration. The 12-inch eventually won.
12 inch Vinyl
Bands like “The Beatles” had something “to say” and voila, the notion of a “concept” album became mainstream. The 12-inch was a longer play and it allowed for a theme or focus. So, one would sit down, and listen to the entire record as if listening to a story. The visual experience was greater because the cover was large, and you could choose the color of your record. Capacity was better than the 7-inch single, but still limited. Before long, a more manageable and versatile carrier called the Compact Disc came along.
CD’s
The Compact Disc (1982) followed the same concept format, but you could carry it around in different types of players and boom boxes and it was more durable. The Album notes and liners were all there like the 12 (much smaller visual experience), and this format developed into ways of making it easier to “rip” a song from its concept. Capacity was limited.
Digital World
The advent of mp3 players and iPods created an almost limitless ability to store music and build personal play lists. Rather than listening to a concept album you can only download the songs you like. It is extremely versatile, i.e., iPhone, iPod, mp3 players, and a host of peripherals.
Okay, all of that to say…is the album dead? Who cares about a concept if only three of the songs are good anyway? Who would want to play something on vinyl with all the pops and scratchy noises? BUT from what I’m reading, there is a come back of vinyl in Britain and Japan, because people want to handle the record…smell it…view it…read it. This comeback has created a firestorm of opinions among listeners about how we ingest music and what senses are incorporated into the experience (and I’m not talking about mind altering agents to help with the process, although that is a real historical component).
How do all of you out there feel about the way in which you experience music?
What makes one better than the other? Vinyl, mp3, liner notes, graphics, unlimited capacity, pops, tangible vs. intangible, concept, singles, iPod…????
posted by The Pave at
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
13 Comments:
But, but . . . you left out cassette tapes! :-( I thought I was so cool with my Sony walkman back in the day.
Interesting question about experiencing music though. Having an iPod has definitely made accessing music easier and less expensive--like you said, who wants to spend 20 bucks on a CD when only 3 of the songs are good and you can download those three for about 3 bucks? But I must admit that I miss the liner notes. Actually, if I like a band enough, I'll still buy the CD just to have the liner notes.
You also skipped 8-tracks. The progression in our household was 12-inch vinyl, 8-tracks (we even had a motor home with an 8-track player, and my grandparents have a working 8-track player in their house), cassette tapes, then compact discs. You must have been high-tech with CDs in the 80s--I didn't get a CD player until the mid-90s.
Josh
8 track and cassettes...still have some of them. Wait a minute...I don't have any 8 tracks. Although, an old truck I bought in 1992 still had the 8 track and you could insert a cassette converter. Your correct...I first started with a pile of cassettes that morphed into cd's. High tech? Couldn't have been, as I came from a single parent home scraping to make it happen, so late 80's mid 90's...whatever. My bad, the minutia of technology was secondary to "how do you feel about the way you experience music?"
To me a CD, album or cassette are like holding a book in your hand. I don't quite get the same experience listening to a book on CD/tape as I do holding it in my hand. To me, holding a CD with liner notes and pictures makes me feel, in a small way, that I'm really getting to know the artist. I guess I'm just picky enough about what I buy that if I don't like several songs I probably won't buy the CD.
By the way, really enjoyed your group's CD - especially track #5 - like a modern-day Psalm. Thanks,
Ann
Ann,
I agree with you and Chantell. I really enjoy reading through all the notes, taking in the graphics, and trying to take in all the clues I can to identify with what is going on. However, in talking with a much younger crowd (I'm still waiting on their posts...hmm), they did not even relate. Their reponse was, "Listen for 45 minutes!? I only listen for 20 seconds and if I get bored I switch tracks." We will see if they follow through and help us out with their perspective.
Thank-you,
KB
Let me see...my Microsoft Zune can tote approximitely 5000-7000+ songs, not including pictures and, if I wanted, videos. On a 7" vinyl with two songs per each, that's a minimul 146 foot vinyl! That's almost half of a football field (do they make record players that big and, if so, what is the rpm?). I can modulate my zune via radio frequency to my car stereo or hook it up to a surround system by audio cables or, even better, create a playist of my favorite prayer songs and connect it to the sound board at church for youth prayer meetings. Can your imaging flipping of switching vinyls every 4 minutes just to sustain the atmosphere of prayer? You would be like one of those people working at a tortilleria factory! Now, if I heartily enjoy the artist's works, I'll purchase the cd(s) and rip it to a mp3 format for my Zune. I have preaching, music, comedy, the audio Bible in the King James Version all on my Zune. Hey, if I feel like it, I can switch to another track by the pressing of a button - beats waiting till the song is finished! Or, I can fast forward, rewind, PAUSE, a song or search by genre, artist, album, song title, etc.
So, to enjoy a tasty steak - ribeye for example - I cannot only hear it sizzling atop blazing coals but must waft its fragrance in my nostrils, feel it in my mouth, chew it with my teeth, savor its after-taste, because that's how you experience food. However, music - other than my own - I need only to hear, not ingest the album art, read the artist's "thank yous", feel the ribbed vinyl, smell it's fragrance, hear it's POPS. I need only to listen to the reason for which the vinyl was created - music.
JB
JB...where have you been???? So for you, there is no need for tangibility. You just need to hear, or maybe if you do want more info, you might go online to see if there is a website related to the person or group. There is a generational thing going on here, BUT that is what piqued my interest about the rise of 7" singles. Nice steak illustration.
A very interesting subject!!!
Being a sixteen year old teenager I don’t know much about the Phonographs, 8 tracks, 12 tracks...etc. My generation is filled with iPods, iPhones, MP3’s, and many other technological gizmo‘s. I remember vaguely as a young child in my Grandpa’s house playing with his old 8 track player and listening to the distorted music. It had an interesting process, and was an interesting product. It is much easier in today’s generation to buy the specific songs that you like without having to purchase the whole CD. We are spoiled in this generation because all we have to do is turn on our iPod with the touch of a button or our CD player with an infrared remote, whereas with the 8 or 12 track there was several different steps before the music was played.
With CD’s you have a hard copy of the music but you‘re limited to a certain amount of songs. With iPods you can store thousands of songs but could accidentally erase a song or numerous songs. A CD can only be played in certain places, but an iPod is easily accessible which can be played anywhere. When you think about it there are many pro’s and con’s to both. I personally would prefer an iPod for the storage but a CD for the hard copy.
Chad,
Thanks for the comments. It seems clear that for you the idea of sitting down and listening through a "concept" project is foreign, and buying singles and particular songs is better. Cool.
It doesn't make sense to purchase a product if you only like one or two songs. The ability for the consumer to be able to purchase a single song and download it to there iPod, mp3 player, etc was great because it allowed the consumer to generate a playlist of all of there favorite songs rather than listening to the song that he like on the first CD and then switch CD's because his other favorite song is on a total different CD.
When I purchase a CD
Anon,
Look like you had problems making the post, but you perservered. The consumer is becoming more powerful, which is why the labels are scrambling to maintain some legitimacy. Maybe the reason the "concept" or listening all the way through approach has died because consumers are not getting a good concept (2 or 3 great songs and the rest are "filler"). Hence, the priority on singles, digital or viynl. It is just fascinating to me to see a megastore like Virgin in the UK providing listening booths with turntables. That goes back to the 1950's, and the demand is largely driven by youth. What gives?
see: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/17/nsing17.xml.
I definitely prefer ipod, but I likewise miss the graphics, etc. Maybe a pdf along with the mp3 download would take care of that.
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