CSA Online by Andrew Moore-Crispin They say that history repeats itself. Repeats itself is what they say history does. In this column, we talk about all kinds of things. We’ve talked about podcasts, home security, laptops, gift ideas, home automation. All kinds of modern, techy stuff. Not this time. This time, we’re going to talk about a bunch of old stuff. Things that were cutting- edge a few decades ago and that, against the odds and in some cases utterly defying reason, have made a comeback. EverythingOld is NewAgain Vinyl Records Let’s start with an easy one. The fact that vinyl is back in a big way isn’t exactly a secret. Why, though? As media goes, the record can’t win on convenience. Records never did travel well. There were a few in-car record players (for real. Google it.), but how good could that experience have been on anything but the smoothest blacktop? Vinyl records can’t win on sound quality, either. You can argue that records are “warmer” and I won’t disagree but, in terms of range and tone and depth of information, digital takes it every time. So why have these inconvenient, delicate, impractical, non-portable discs not been lost to history? I think that the reason record rediscovery is more than just a fad is that, as music becomes commodity and background noise, available on any one of our devices at any second, the experience of actually listening to an album takes on new meaning. About the only place records win is on forcing us to stop and actively listen. Listening to an album is entirely different to shuffling songs on a playlist. It’s a sonic experience, as opposed to background noise. Also, cover art. Vinyl owns that front. Cassette Tape Vinyl’s comeback trail makes some sense. The cassette tape? Less so. But come back they have. Admittedly, not as noticeably or perhaps sustainably as ye olde record. In 2017, the cassette tape experienced a resurgence or, more likely, a brief but temporary respite, driven by a generation’s nostalgia for a time they didn’t know. Stranger Things, the 80s-themed, Netflix-only phenom and other 80s throwbacks are largely to blame. Or credit, depending on your perspective. Stranger Things even released its original soundtrack as a collectible cassette tape, in keeping with the theme. That the cassette tape enjoyed 136.1% year-on-year growth in 2017 (according to media metrics firm BuzzAngle) sounds impressive. Nearly 130,000 tapes sold is no less true, but considerably less impressive. If you’ve got an old tape deck, ghetto blaster or Walkman gathering dust in the basement, maybe it’s time to cash in on what I can only assume is a fad. Now might be your last chance to unload it on Craigslist or Kijiji. 48 | www.snowbirds.org
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