The Vinyl Solution

I was amazed to read a Time.com article, Vinyl Gets Its Groove Back, by Kristina Dell. It says that LP record albums are making a bit of a comeback, with one company,Warner Music Group, showing a 30% increase in LP sales last year.

The article cites three primary reasons: sound quality, extra material, and socializing.

Sound quality -- LPs generally exhibit a warmer, more nuanced sound than CDs and digital downloads. MP3 files tend to produce tinnier notes, especially if compressed into a lower-resolution format that pares down the sonic information. "Most things sound better on vinyl, even with the crackles and pops and hisses," says MacRunnel, the young Missouri record collector.

Album extras -- Large album covers with imaginative graphics, pullout photos (some even have full-size posters tucked in the sleeve) and liner notes are a big draw for young fans. "Alternative rock used to have 16-page booklets and album sleeves, but with iTunes there isn't anything collectible to show I own a piece of this artist," says Dreese of Newbury Comics. In a nod to modern technology, albums known as picture discs come with an image of the band or artist printed on the vinyl. "People who are used to CDs see the artwork and the colored vinyl, and they think it's really cool," says Jordan Yates, 15, a Nashville-based vinyl enthusiast. Some LP releases even come with bonus tracks not on the CD version, giving customers added value.

Social experience -- Crowding around a record player to listen to a new album with friends, discussing the foldout photos, even getting up to flip over a record makes vinyl a more socially interactive way to enjoy music. "As far as a communal experience, like with family and friends, it feels better to listen to vinyl," says Jason Bini, 24, a recent graduate of Fordham University. "It's definitely more social."

The sound quality issue is a bit odd. A pristine record may sound wonderful, but the majority of goods you'll get used are going to be damaged goods -- dirty, scratchy records.

Now maybe it's my imagination, but I do think there's something to the "superior" sound argument on a clean record. I've been running my LPs through a stereo pre-amp to my PC's soundcard and then processing the files with some software. With the record noise removed, the raw files do have a richer, warmer sound to them.

The FBI's Prodigious Ineptitude & Other Snarks

If I were snark hunting, I think I might have stumbled upon the national breeding ground and sanctuary.

Its location is in an Ars Technical piece, Unpaid bills lead phone companies to hang up on FBI wiretaps, by Ryan Paul.

According to a recent report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), it seems that telephone companies have terminated FBI wiretaps and FBI surveillance lines because of chronically unpaid bills.

The OIG summary says that "late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence including an instance where delivery of intercept information required by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) order was halted due to untimely payment."

The FBI says that this did not significantly affect any of the cases. No doubt they were what the intelligence community calls "slam-dunks."

Here's a particularly fetching snark:

During the recent controversy over whether or not the phone companies should be granted retroactive immunity for their involvement in potentially illegal government surveillance, the Bush administration insisted that phone companies should not be punished for their patriotic cooperation in antiterrorism activities. Apparently that patriotism only lasts as long as the government can afford to foot the bill.

Ah, but don't stop here, dear reader. There be snark signs the likes of which god has not seen throughout this article.

Hoping They Will Take Debate

"As you watched the scores of U.S. Presidential debates, did you ever wonder why there has been no debate devoted to policy surrounding what may be the most important social issue of our time: Science and Technology?"

Well, the folks at Sciencedebate2008 did, and they're trying to do something about it. Here are the topics they'd like to see addressed:

The Environment

• Climate Change
• Conservation and Species Loss
• The Future of The Oceans
• Fresh Water: Drought, Pollution, Ownership
• Population Growth and Its Effect on Environment
• Renewable Energy Research

Health and Medicine

• Global Diseases and Pandemics
• Stem Cell Research
• Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
• Drug Patents, Generic Drugs
• The Genome
• Bioethics

Science and Technology Policy

• Scientific Innovation and Economic Growth
• Improving Science Education
• Space Exploration
• Preserving Scientific Integrity in Government
• Energy Policy

Signatories for this project compose an impressive selection of laureates; government leaders; organization leaders; college and university presidents, deans and directors; leading scientists; and other thought leaders.

What will come of all of this? Will we really see such a debate? Ah, hope springs eternal. Realistically, however, I figure there would be a better probability we'll see an ecclesiastical debate.

Wanted, Dead and (Alive)

Chinese inspectors: "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking mice on this motherfucking plane!"

On a United Airlines flight to Beijing, Chinese inspectors found "Eight mice, dead and (alive), ... hidden in pillows."

The report prompted an "emergency team" to rush to the aircraft, Xinhua said, to "put rat poison and mouse traps at every possible corner on the aircraft, including the cockpit."

I suppose biological control in the form of rodent-eating snakes will be out of the question.

Perhaps one of the reasons that I'm amused by all of this is because someone has just pointed me to a site that has frame grabs of a Chinese version of a recent Star Wars film. Sub-titles are in Engrish. One cannot convey in a few words the inscrutable humor of Darth Vader saying "Do Not Want!" when he is actually shouting, "Nooooooooooooo..."

They have had it with these motherfu**ng lithium batteries

With the safety and inconvenience of air travelers in mind, the Transportation Safety Administration kicked off the new year with a ban on spare lithium batteries on a plane. Could this be another movie spin-off for Samuel L. Jackson? I just can picture his character, Neville Flynn, saying "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking lithium batteries on this motherfucking plane!"

The good news is that if you want to try to blow up the plane with your installed laptop battery, you're good to go.

BTW: It won't be long before the batteries come rolling in. Be sure to check eBay regularly for battery bargain madness.

Dearth of High Fidelity

Robert Levine's Rolling Stone magazine online article, The Death of High Fidelity, is another good example of how music quality is diminishing in the age of MP3s. Citing This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession:

Human brains have evolved to pay particular attention to loud noises, so compressed sounds initially seem more exciting. But the effect doesn't last. "The excitement in music comes from variation in rhythm, timbre, pitch and loudness," Levitin says. "If you hold one of those constant, it can seem monotonous." After a few minutes, research shows, constant loudness grows fatiguing to the brain. Though few listeners realize this consciously, many feel an urge to skip to another song.

It's sad to read that "newly re-mastered" music, such as Led Zeppelin's recent "Mothership" collection has been subjected to this form of audio compression. Not everything "new" is better. Here we're getting margarine for the ears.

When Everyone is a Criminal

According to a December 30 article in washingtonpost.com, record industry goon squads are now going after people who make single, personal-use copies of music that they have legally purchased on CD. The case is against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who had a collection of approximately 2,000 music files on his personal computer.

As the article says, some of the legal grounds are murky. Court rulings in the past have "found no violation of copyright laws in the use of VCRs and other devices to time-shift TV programs," i.e., making personal copies for the purpose of making portable a legally obtained recording. Musically speaking, this practice goes way back to recording audio cassette backups of LP records. By these criteria, everyone is a pirate. Arrgh!^(TM)

Recording industry shills smugly point out that "there are consequences for breaking the law" -- even if that law was written by and paid for by the recording industry itself. There is a long history of stupid, immoral laws being on the books. If ever there were a situation to warrant jury nullification, this would certainly be one of them.

Update 1/3/08: Cnet's News.com reports that this story might be bogus. Washington Post, however, is sticking to the story.