Vinyl Roundup

There’s been another round of discussions about vinyl records vs cds vs mp3s vs whatever lately. Let’s recap:

Columbus Dispatch ran a story letting their readership know that vinyl ain’t dead! Best quote from Adam of Columbus Discount Records:

“We’re selling about 100 records a week and maybe, in a good week, seven CDs,” owner Adam Smith said.

Sour Records in Westerville have announced that they’re closing their shop and only maintaining their eBay store “due to a marked fall off of my walk-in business”. A discussion in our message board brings to light that once one of the main people from the store left, they felt like their personal connection to the store was lost. Highlight:

Not to point fingers… but ever since Steve Louis left, that place went downhill quick.

Steve seemed to have a pulse on what his customers wanted, and he’d have in the store before they asked for it. Plus he’d go the extra mile to get things in and was as excited about getting things in in a timely matter (super fast). Not so in recent years, it seemed to be an annoyance to get things in, and hardly any effort was made in those regards. The store lacked its original charm and personality, when those things moved with Steve to NY. The last few years have been really frustrating for this Sour supporter. (continued)

Finally, on the Matador Records Blog, Patrick puts it in perspective on a more national scale:

I’ve been quizzed a lot recently about the so-called vinyl revival. Sales of indie rock records, of rock records in general, are up on vinyl. I respond with the standard litany of answers: people want to connect with an artifact, something real and physical, and something that doesn’t feel as worthless and disposable as a CD… something that sounds better than an MP3. The inclusion of MP3 download coupons in vinyl LPs also caused a big spike in sales, since people no longer had to choose between CDs and LPs. (full blog)

On a personal level, the amount of CDs I buy each year continues to decrease while my vinyl and mp3 buying increases. What about you?