Music Appreciation
Why vinyl is the best way to listen to music
For some reason or another I’ve always liked collecting things.
As a kid, I collected action figures, quarters, video games (I still collect video games but not as active as I once did), and now as a 22-year old college student I find myself collecting vinyl records.
As a music lover and a general collector of things, this is a match made in heaven.
I don’t collect them because I think they sound a lot better or because I think it’s a personality trait to have a record collection.
Sure, they might sound slightly better and sure my shelf full of albums is a conversation starter for anyone that wanders into my apartment, but that’s not what drives me.
Ownership over music is something that exists less and less nowadays. Rather than paying to own a copy of a song or an album, we find ourselves paying a company to have access to these albums.
While streaming is infinitely more convenient than having to drop the needle and flip a record every 20 or so minutes, it changes the entire music-listening experience.
When you own an album on vinyl, you can admire the album art, read the tracklist on the back, open the occasional gatefold; it becomes a more interactive and personal experience.
Additionally, for someone like me who has a pretty serious case of ADHD, I can appreciate music on a different level.
When I’m listening to music on Spotify, I find myself constantly changing songs after a minute and a half and I’m constantly skipping through different artists and albums.
When I put a record on my turntable, I’m making a commitment to an album more so than I ever could with a streaming service.
Furthermore, buying your favorite band’s newest album on vinyl is a much better way of supporting them rather than streaming it a handful of times on Spotify or Apple Music.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to how buying a physical copy of an album makes me feel more connected to it. The music means more to me when I can hold it in my hand or loan it to someone when they need my copy of The Smiths more than I do.
