amoeba

I've heard the naysayers for years, the ones that say vinyl is a fad, or that kids buy records just because they think LPs are cool. But the fact is vinyl sales keep going up year after year. I'd be the first to admit that playing an LP is more of a hassle than listening to Spotify, so why do people who grew up listening to CDs and files invest in a turntable, and search out their favorite music on LP? Why do they do it?

Recently, I talked with a few music lovers who grew up in … Read more

Sure, it's easier to buy downloads or CDs over the Internet, but if you're lucky enough to still have a local "record store," drop by today. It may be participating in Record Store Day celebrations in the U.S. and U.K. and offer special deals or discounts. And who knows, you might even meet other people who like music.

I've discovered so much great music in stores over the years playing over their sound systems, or talking with the stores' employees and customers. There's also something about holding a CD or LP in my hands that I can't get online.

If you love music, it's time to show respect for it in its tangible form, and stop music from becoming nothing more than disposable digital data. Musicians work long and hard to record their tunes, why wouldn't you want to hear everything they laid down? A 128Kbps or 256Kbps download "loses" a lot of music that was part of the original recording. How much is lost? Well, CDs run at 1,411Kbps; where do those other bits go?

One thing's for sure, you're not hearing them when you listen to downloaded music. And if you can't hear the difference today, you will in the years ahead when you get better speakers or headphones. You may have to buy the music you've already paid for again to hear what you've been missing.

But Record Store Day is a celebration of the little guy and independent record stores, and since the giants like Tower Records are history, most brick-and-mortar record shops are indies, owned by folks who have a real passion for music. … Read more

I've always preferred prognostication to nostalgia, so rather than replay the best of 2007, I'll use these late December doldrums to make 10 predictions for the coming year. Some editors will warn you that this kind of list is suicide--it's too easy for everybody to look back a year later and see where you were wrong--but it hasn't hurt Cringely, so here goes. In no particular order.

DRM will die. The trendline is clear--Apple's been selling DRM-free tunes on iTunes since May, Amazon's DRM-free MP3 store has three of the four majors signed up, … Read more