On new vinyl... or down with the CD!

Going off my post in re: the Broken Bells release, I thought it was time for something about new vinyl. This whole adventure started with some old records in a basement, and then some used records from Cheapo in the Twin Cities. But eventually, I started buying all my new music on vinyl, assuming it's released in such a format.

It's been great discovering new albums, new music, new bands, and having the first listen be on wax rather than some downloaded MP3 or CD format. My latest purchase was Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion which, in my mind, was the album of the year in 2009 and one of my favorite records ever (criticize if you must). Naturally, I had been wanting to get this for almost a year, and last week I finally did. I've now bought this album TWICE: One on CD and one on vinyl. But I don't care about that.

Another nice feature is most of these records come with a free download, so really, you get this great physical/visual record, with the album art and everything, and the digital version for your MP3 player, which is essentially all you'd buy a CD for anyway, right? Not to mention, these are almost always high-quality, 180-gram-plus records, and they sound great.

Frankly, I don't think I'll ever buy another CD, if I can help it at least. For me, I'll buy it on vinyl if it's available, and then use the free download. It's what I did with Vampire Weekend's Contra, and it's what I did with Broken Bells, and what I'll do with the Black Keys due out next month, and on and on and on. Definitely recommend it.

This also reminds me of a post I read somewhere (I'd link to it, but I don't remember where it was) about someone was going to buy the new Beach House for a friend's birthday (which I haven't heard yet... worth a purchase?). Rather than buying the CD, they got the vinyl, even though said friend didn't have a record player. The record was visually appealing, and they got the MP3 download (legally), which is all they'd use the CD for anyway. Genius.

Really, this goes to the whole music industry. In a time when iTunes runs the show, and people are just buying songs instead of listening to whole albums (gross!) here's your chance. Vinyl has aesthetic value, it's nice to look at, it's part of a past that a lot of people like, but it also comes with this download card for your iPod. It's a win-win-win, and hopefully will get people back in the habit of experiencing albums as a whole, not just random songs in some kind of mix tape.