2. analog
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Would vinyl even be invented today?

Records, cartridges and tonearms seem like such an unlikely method to play music--a bit of Rube Goldberg. Would anyone even dream of this today? It's like the typewriter keyboard--the version we have may not be the best, but it stays due to the path dependence effect. If vinyl evolved from some crude wax cylinder to a piece of rock careening off walls of vinyl, hasn't it reached the limits of the approach? Not trying to be critical--just trying to get my head around it.
128x128jafreeman
taters
1,149 posts
 
Who or what is Rube Goldberg? Sounds like a kid I went to Hebrew school with.
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,034 posts
 
Rube Goldberg is a fellow who popularized the art of making something happen by way of the most outrageous means. Google him
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
That was a weird explanation of old Rube...but I like it. I also think the turntable thing is "weird science"...recently read about a French dude in the 1840s or so who "recorded" a voice on paper using some sort of dust and a megaphone device that was for a "visual" representation of sound for deaf people (!). There was no audio playback for this thing, but a restoration lab recently was able to "play" the dust pattern and actually heard the guy singing. Man...this was in an article from the New Yorker (I think) about using laser/digital tech to see what old, unplayable wax cylinders contain because you can't use a needle on them as they will be destroyed, or they're already cracked to shit...all cool stuff. Love LPs...my old faves are so damn interesting and engaging. How often do you stick an LP on to hear a little bit and wind up listening to the whole damn thing?
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"Man...this was in an article from the New Yorker (I think) about using laser/digital tech to see what old, unplayable wax cylinders contain because you can't use a needle on them as they will be destroyed, or they're already cracked to shit...all cool stuff."

I don't know if they still make them anymore, but one company was making TT's that used a laser to read the record instead of a phono cart.
dentdog's avatar
dentdog
300 posts
 
Saw a Youtube video with the leading minds of audio on the cutting edge of digital audio exploring the limits of digital audio. Boy were they all into USB, Spdif, jitter, storage and the likes.
Turns out the most advanced of the group were long confirmed analog enthusiasts hell bent on getting that sound into digital formats. They have made considerable progress. No one on the panel claimed to have achieved it
On an interesting note, it seems there is approximately a terabyte of info on an LP. That may go some way in explaining why the analog format is a more complete experience.
The answer to the original question is probably no, unless someone really decided to think outside the box. It's just too simple.
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