Vinyl Records

America's love affair with vinyl records almost died a natural death, but is kept alive by audiophiles who hunt vintage record shops for signs of their favorites or sign up with online, grass roots groups who trade vinyl and work hard to keep the love alive.

What is it about the vinyl record that so enthralled the music loving public? Many think it is a form of nostalgia whose existence is threatened by the digital music revolution, where music can be bought, sold, traded and shared electronically, with no real physical evidence of its existence beyond the music itself.

History

Vinyl was not the first choice for records. Shellac was used, a form of wax, to hold the single concentric spiral groove through which the stylus would pass, picking up and translating the music hidden within. The first disk stamped in polyvinyl chloride plastic was introduced in 1930 by RCA and was used to record and play back voice recordings. Because of the lack of commercially viable playback devices such as turntables and record players, the vinyl record sensation did not catch on. However, when shellac became scares during the war effort, people remembered the clearer sound quality of vinyl records and began to ask for them.

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