NAVYA C
FROM VINYL TO ONLINE STREAMING- A MUSICAL METAMORPHOSIS
Preserving the golden masterpieces of music is equally important as the preserving the art form itself . The storage of music is the only way it could pass from generations to generations , by keeping the quality intact . In Indian Classical Music , the preservation of music used to be done vocally from the guru to his / her disciples . With the advent of writing and paper , the preservation of the compositions through notations came up . Indian Classical Music in particular focused on hearing and memorizing , rather than reading or documenting it .
But with the advent of writing , printing and expansion of the music forms , the journey of music storage underwent so many changes , transformations and improvements . Vinyl was the first electronic form of retrieval of music that revolutionized the way one listens to music . With highest range of fidelity and clarity , having a vinyl record player in the house was considered a luxury during 1900s . Music started reaching more audience through vinyl records and Indian Classical Music in particular reached greater horizons and crossed geographical boundaries . Even till date , vinyl is considered to be the purest form of music storage- with its analog capture and every treble , bass line and the whiff of mridangam can be heard in it . cards and many such artistic trends . Music fans relished the cassette collection to be a priceless possession to have maximum number of cassettes of their favorite artists . Walkman- in which the mobility of music listening came into vogue globally . Then came in CDs which had higher quality and retrieval in terms of quality and giving an enthralling experience to the listener .
The biggest issue with vinyl , cassettes and CDs were the quantity of songs that could be stored . The limit of storage made people look for alternate ways of listening to music and saving it . Mp3 kicked in from there which offered a good solution for the storage of songs . While audio CDs had maximum of 15-20 songs per unit , mp3s had hundreds of songs stored in a single copy . At the compromise of fidelity and compression techniques , mp3 offered a great solution to store more songs in one go .
After Steve Jobs revolutionizing the music industry with the remarkable launch of iPod , where the listener could have all their collection in just a pocket , internet started taking over music in ease . The current trend now is to stream the song with just a swipe of the smart phone , or hitting a youtube link .
Slowly , vinyl started getting into magnetic tape which was considered because of its portability ( compared to the huge sizes of vinyl records and the costs ), tapes have ruled the music storage and retrieval field for decades . Tapes had an advantage of carrying them wherever the listener would wanted them to , and with the help of portable recorders as well , it became the primary source of music listening . However , tapes used to wear off with time , and repeated listens- and the innovation to produce quality music continued .
Cassette tapes were a huge rage not just with the music quality but also brought the idea of music covers , in lay
While the purists of music feel this is a sad state of affairs and nothing can replace vinyl in terms of quality , streaming of music has definitely brought more people closer to music and made is comfortable to listen . As they say , vintage old is gold- one can never beat the clarity and magic of a vinyl record- even in the fast-paced era of 2021 ! Listening to a vinyl record , CD or a cassette will definitely reverb nostalgia in the minds of music lovers who grew up listening through those medial . Take some time out to dust off those vinyl , cassette records or CDs and travel down the memory lane this season !
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