The Telegraph has an interesting article and video about the resurgence of vinyl records. I know a few people with really high end record players who swear the vinyl sounds way better than CD. And it does. CD technology hasn’t changed since the 80s. We are still pressing out 44.1Khz 16bit music for the majority of the stuff pressed. On iTunes, I think they upped the bit rate to 256 AAC, but the music is generally mixed down to 44.1 and 16 bits still. There are exceptions here and there. Most computer speakers and the headphones that come with an iPod/iPhone won’t do that stuff justice anyhow.
Five years ago, vinyl records were facing extinction but the past few years have seen a remarkable change in fortunes. In 2011 alone, sales have risen a further 40 per cent, to a quarter of a million units. Radiohead’s The King of Limbs, the year’s biggest seller on vinyl, shifted 20,000 copies. That was enough to persuade the band’s label, XL Recordings – also home to the mega-selling Adele – to announce the launch of a new vinyl webstore in the United States this month.
