Vinyl compared to what we have today not only seems antiquated but time consuming, inconvenient and tedious. In the new millennium, the search and or purchase of vinyl has become more of a collector’s hobby. Although there were many benefits at the time for this technology.
The time of the Eight Track overlapped with that of the vinyl. Created in the mid 1960’s its popularity lasted till the 19080’s. Locating the beginning of a song was much easier then with vinyls. Instead of trying to place a needle on where you thought a song began (while risking scratches on the delicate surface) you could just align the head to a given location. Unfortunately the sound quality was compromised in the rest of its technology.
Cassette tapes, come to fruition in the mid 1960’s as well, but the cassette tapes that generation X and the ipod generation are familiar with did not become popular until the 1980’s..At the time of there popularity they seemed much more convenient in size then the vinyl record and eight track. The Walkman was what the transistor radio was in the 1960’s and what the mp3 player has become today. Although the technology of finding tracks and particular parts of tracks was never perfected, the cassette tape reigned in popularity until the early 1990’s.
Then came the compact disc. The first compact discs and their players were released in 1982. Although received well their popularity peaked in the 1990’s. This device is small in size, digital audio music quality and ease. The compact disc continues to reign in power among the other past technologies. But as the popularity of digital downloads, mp3 players and ipods continue to grow, the future of sales and marketability for the compact disc is a dismal one.
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