What's your favourite recorded music format?

When I first started my blog I put up a poll asking ‘What is your favourite recorded music format’.  I gave the options Vinyl, 8 Track, Cassette tape, Compact Disc (CD) and Download.  19 people voted and you were allowed to vote for more than one option if you wished.  Here are the results.

Format                                   Votes                           Percentage
Vinyl                                          8                                 42
8 Track                                      0                                   0
Cassette Tape                            0                                   0
Compact Disc (CD)                    14                                 73
Download                                   1                                   5

What is your favourite recorded music format? (Voters allowed to vote for more than one option).

I was surprised with these results and expected a much higher vote for Downloads.  In fact the one vote it did receive came in the last two days of the poll and at one point I thought no-one would vote for it.  I included 8 Track for posterity and never expected any votes and I knew Cassette tape was always going to be a slim chance for votes as well.

I was pleased to see that Vinyl is still popular, as numerous articles about it’s resurgence will testify to and I am also glad to see that physical formats of music are still the most popular overall.

Don’t get me wrong, if Download will get more people listening to and appreciating some of the incredible music on offer then that can only be a good thing, but I do feel something is lost with this format.

Apart from the whole music piracy concerns, (which I am also concerned with and why I refuse to illegally download music) when people buy downloaded music they miss out on an integral part of the music experience.  I know this will sound overly sentimental, but I really love album artwork and some images have now become iconic and recognised art in their own right.  Pink Floyds ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’, Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ and The Beatles ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’ are just a small example.  To hold a vinyl album in your hands and open it out and see the beautiful art on offer, at the same time as listening to the music, is a key part of the experience.

Some classic album covers

This was much debated at the time of the release of CD’s and everyone deplored the smaller covers and booklets and whilst they are smaller and have less impact, at least they are still there and can offer some of the experience.  Even this is gradually being lost as CD’s move towards the terrible digi-pak format.  I love reading artist and producer credits.  I love looking at album artwork.  I love reading liner notes about the albums creation to get a deeper understanding of the artist and the music I am listening to.  I love reading the lyrics at the same time as playing the music.  This is all lacking with a download.

I know people will say that all this information is available online, but it is about the way we access the information as much as the information itself.  What would you rather prefer?  Sitting on a comfortable chair, in a room with a balanced, rich sounding music system, with a glass of wine (or beverage of your choice), deeply feeling the music being played and reading about the artist and scanning the lyrics at the same time.  Or, sitting on a desk chair (as most of us have at our computer desks), listening to music out of tiny computer speakers and reading the information on a brightly lit screen.  It takes some of the atmosphere out of it to say the least.  I know some people have decent computer set ups with excellent sound (but these are in the minority), I also know that I am over romanticising it a little and that I may sound like a bit of a luddite, but my point is still valid.  It is as much about the experience of accessing information as the information itself. 

I love my music collection and will happily spend hours going over my shelves and will pull out an album to play a track or two before moving on to another album.  Like with your book collection, your music collection is a representation of who you are and what has coloured your life over the years.  You can learn so much from perusing someone’s book shelves or music shelves and whilst I know you can glean the same information from scanning a Kindle book list, or looking through a download music file or looking on itunes, some of the charm is lost along the way.  Plus, I know a few friends who have lost entire downloaded music collections because their computer crashed and they hadn’t backed it up properly.  It may be a hassle to re-rip your collection, but at least I still have the option.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I feel we are becoming less tactile and everything is becoming more detached, but I enjoy holding my recorded music in my hands.  It feels more tangible and the aspects I have mentioned here add to my experience and enjoyment.  It is worth saying, I know we are all different and look for different things in life and at the end of the day it is ultimately about the music and not how it is packaged.  I still baulk at downloading music, but I guess in time downloads may be the dominant music format and whilst I will never support it, you can’t deny it’s ease of access or success. 

After all that you will have to excuse me now, as I’m going to go upstairs to pull out some Hendrix vinyl and to sit back with a glass of red wine, read the liner notes and scan the cover art as I listen.


Postscript: To be fair I thought I’d better mention that I do occasionally download music, but only music that is only available in that format.  If the option for CD is there, I will always take it.  Plus, I’m sure download advocates would have as much to say about their choices as I do about my preference for CD and Vinyl and I look forward to reading some of your comments about this.