3 ms·
Part of the magic around format revival is the inconvenience and imperfection triggering nostalgia. Vinyl is unwieldy, fragile, non-portable, requires maintenan
by simondotau 3y ago
Part of the magic around format revival is the inconvenience and imperfection triggering nostalgia. Vinyl is unwieldy, fragile, non-portable, requires maintenance, and the sound has a moderate noise floor. Cassettes require vintage equipment, need to be rewound, have fragile tape, and (except in ideal situations) are significantly audibly compromised.
Compact disc is easy to handle, can withstand some abuse, has no format-induced artefacts, and compatible players are still available brand new for as low as $15. There’s about as much nostalgia to find in there as there is for a Parallel ATA hard disk.
- fzeroracer 3y agoActually, one of the more interesting things is that CDs are more fragile in many respects compared to records. Many records from 50+ years ago can still play fine even with a bit of scuff, but CDs from 20-25 years ago can be a gamble in my experience. Especially CDs earlier on that spectrum; disc rot can be a problem because of poor manufacturing not to mention damage from earlier CD players or general misuse. In comparison to cassettes I'd say they're about even when it comes to proper care if we're talking modern CDs. When you start really digging into the average lifespan and durability of the various formats, it starts to become apparent that CDs were fairly overstated even when stored and managed properly.
- simondotau 3y agoI would draw a distinction between fragility and the risk of defective manufacture.
- mulmen 3y agoAt Thanksgiving this year my 8 year old nephew played music on my grandfather’s ~100 year old portable record player. My sister and I reflected that no music playing device (cd+tape) we owned as teenagers survived our 20s.