The Ongoing History of New Music, Episode 796: A Beginner’s Guide to Vinyl
So. You’ve decided to go all retro and finally dive (back) into vinyl. No more digital for you. You are going back to the future. It’s all about analogue, baby!
Buh-bye MP3s and digital downloads–except maybe for the songs that you want to load on your phone. But that’s the one-and-only exception. Other than the songs you want to play through your car’s entertainment system. Okay, TWO exceptions and no more. Unless we count the songs you want to send to friends. Those three situations cover off everything.
Except for the digital tracks you’ll steam, of course. But other than those three–FOUR!–specific needs, you’re going to give up music encoded into zeroes and ones. Binary is dead to you. No more pathetic sampling rates resulting in harsh-sounding square ways….not counting all the CDs you already own of course. I mean you aren’t going to throw those out, right? You paid for them!
But beyond those five situations, you’re done with digital. Mostly. Except when you can’t avoid it. Which will be 90% of the time. Still, you want to experience what everyone has been telling you about vinyl. Not only the sound, but the whole experience of collecting, buying, unwrapping and playing it.
If you’re of a certain age or technology persuasion, getting back into vinyl is like riding a bike. The first time you try it after some time away, you might be a bit wobbly, but it’ll come back. But what if you’ve never ridden that bike before?
Gather ’round, friends. Let’s get you started. This is your Ongoing History beginner’s guide to vinyl.
Songs heard in this show:
Todd Snider, Vinyl Records
Kevin Devine, Guys with Record Collections
Nirvana, Love Buzz
Pearl Jam, Evenflow
Beck, Where It’s At
Fatboy Slim, Rockafeller Skank
Rancid, Turntable
The Tweeds, Need That Record
Velvet Underground, Heroin (Scepter Studios Version)
Ironically, we have a Spotify playlist courtesy of Eric Wilhite.
Don’t forget that you can get the podcast version of this podcast through iTunes or wherever you get your on-demand audio.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7
- Live 88-5/Ottawa
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener
- FM96/London – Sunday night at 7, Monday night at 11
- The Drive/Kingston
- Power 97/Winnipeg (Sunday nights at 11)
- 98.1 The Bridge/Lethbridge – Saturday night at 6, Sunday morning at 10am
- Rock 97.7/Grand Prairie – Sunday nights at 6.
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton
- The Zone/Victoria
- The Fox/Vancouver
- Live 105/Halifax
- NEW! WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown
We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor, Montreal, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.