My Cherry Pop

Image by Stacie Stacie Stacie

It was not but five years ago that vinyl was hitting extremely low sales numbers.  Despite its near banishment in the early 90s, vinyl saw an increase in its sales over a number of years.  This was enough to keep the format alive, but nevertheless, it was overshadowed by the modern compact disc and tape formats.  The sudden resurgence of vinyl sales during 2008 is a dramatic change that no one had thought possible.

Many people regard vinyl as the format that offers the truest sound possible in a recording medium.  The reason for this is that the format is a direct analog conversion from the master that was created in the studio.  Up until early 2000, most recording companies still used tape, and many believe the digital conversion process to put the music on CD actually takes something away from the sound quality.  Audiophiles with the best record players and speakers claim the format offers a completely pristine sound, and the distinct quality difference can easily be heard when comparing formats to each other directly.

With this renewed popularity have also come higher values for albums when they are sold used and new.  Many places have not yet discovered that vinyl records are selling for higher prices now, and as a result, still sell them for dirt cheap prices.  Many people are finding the rarest Elvis Presley vinyl records in excellent shape for next to nothing at these small shops.  Buying up a collection of these records and storing them for a while to maintain condition is a good way to invest and earn some money down the road.

Vinyl albums are one of the best music mediums to use to archive a collection.  Tapes, compact discs and MP3s all suffer degradation worse than vinyl because the information is much less than that on a vinyl record.  Tape warps extremely easily over time and compact discs can warp or suffer damage from electromagnetic charges.  Most compact discs will be either warped or too damaged to play within a hundred years if they are not stored correctly.  This is perhaps one of the reasons why vinyl has been kept in production for so long, even when selling in such small quantities for so long.

Besides the occasional run-in with rare vinyl in a used music store, buying rare albums is actually made much easier via use of the Internet.  Many albums that are next to impossible to find can be purchased for rather low prices from eBay or a private seller’s website.  The more time goes by, the higher the prices will be for these records, and if you are planning to collect, now is the perfect time to start.