I often spend my Sunday nights up in the studio… late into the night, working on photos in Photoshop and sending them off to clients via FTP. I usually have my turntable and a stack of vinyl to keep me company. It’s a varied collection, with a little bit of everything. One night it could be Joe Jackson (like tonight), another it could be Ferde Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite.
Sometimes I wish I could just fall asleep to the record player and wake up in the morning to the sound of an old record slowly spinning at 33 1/3 rpm… the needle still skating over the center, waiting to be lifted off the album. I don’t know why I romanticize about vinyl so much.
I grew up in the late 1970’s and 80’s when vinyl was still king. We had some good records, mostly The Beatles, Elvis and other bands from the 60’s and 70’s. And, of course, there was the Fisher Price player and a giant stack of scratched up 45’s that I would play in my bedroom.
I was more of a cassette kid, though. We played a ton of 8-track albums, and most everything I bought in the 80’s was on cassette. I eventually moved to CD’s in 1992 or so, and I have a massive CD collection. But, nothing can beat vinyl for me now.
I guess one big advantage to vinyl is that it forces me to take short breaks from the computer, as I get up to flip the record or change to another album. If it weren’t for those frequent breaks, I’d wind up sitting in a chair for hours at a time, as I process all my photos. That can’t be good for the body! So, thank you vinyl.