Vinyl-Digital Debate Continues into 21st Century

Ever since the first compact disc came out, the debate has existed: Vinyl or CD, which sounds better?

Vinyl records originated in the late 1890’s, although they weren’t made for commercial sales of music until RCA Victor launched a long-playing vinyl music player. Vinyls reigned supreme up until the compact disc was developed in the early 1980’s and was made commercially available in 1983. The size and amount of music that could be held on a compact disc ROM  overshadowed that of a two-sided vinyl record. This raises the question, Which has a better quality sound?

Vinyls were designed and used in a time when musicians recorded on analog tapes, which are big eighteen to twenty-four inch wide tape reels. If a musician made a mistake, he or she would have to find that section on a reel, cut it, re-record the part over again, piece that take and the previous together, and continue with recording. Now, CDs are recorded mainly through digital recordings, where microphones pick up and display any frequencies on-screen, and, if an error occurs, the piece can be easily edited.

Digital and analog, CD-ROMs and Vinyls: Both allow the listener to display music to be played through a stereo system.  Some systems utilize both record and CD players.  However, many studies have found CD-ROMs to take away from the wider portion of low frequencies in a typical analog vinyl recording. Many experts say there is a ‘fuller’ sound in a vinyl recording.

While vinyls are clearer and have a better quality, they are large, wear away more quickly, and are impractical for anything but private home use. As someone who owns vinyl, pick your battles when determining whether to purchase an album on vinyl or CD.