Vinyl Ritual

It's just awesome to be living a life long enough to see the revitalization of the vinyl record as a legit sound source. And, finally, people are finding it not only legit, but superior in quality... which I've always believed to be true.

Man, I really encourage everyone reading this, who truly loves the music they listen to, to dust off the old turntable and get it moving again. The ritual is my favorite part. With digital media, there's no ceremony involved in playing the music - just pressing buttons. With a record, you hold the beautiful sleeve in your hands, carefully remove the disc, place it gingerly on the table, and even more gingerly, place the needle on the bumpy, sensual, tactile bumpy intro groove. Sounds like a letter to Penthouse.

It'll be the death of the CD, and, thank god, bands have embraced it as one of the two main formats of release: the other being a free mp3 download that comes with the album. Smart, eh?