How does vinyl work and does it sound better? - BBC Bitesize

Other formats include cassette tapes, popular in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. These were often played through a Sony Walkman, which have seen something of a resurgence in recent years after featuring in popular franchises like Guardians of the Galaxy and Stranger Things.

Vinyl and digital stand as the two most popular mediums for music in the modern age, with each having their own strengths and weaknesses for music fans.

The most obvious benefit of digital music, on platforms like Apple and Spotify, is portability. Unlike a record, digital music allows you to take your top tracks anywhere you want, all accessible through the press of a button on a smartphone or laptop.

Digital music also provides access to a much wider array of music, with a song published in one location available at the opposite end of the world just hours later. This can lead to people uncovering a deeper well of music, finding artists and songs that they may have never discovered when paying for a 12" disc.

Vinyls, by contrast, are less portable, but can create a greater sense of ownership and connection with artists. Musicians like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter are known for creating a number of different vinyl variants, with fans able to mix and match to put together their perfect collections. Furthermore, artists will usually take home a bigger proportion of vinyl sales than they would streaming money, which is particularly useful for smaller artists more in need of support.

Vinyls can also be handed down, with some albums passed from generation to generation, creating a legacy all of their own. Vinyls also create more value than digital downloads. You may stumble upon an album which isn't worth much now, but becomes extremely valuable years down the line, like an original pressing of a Beatles album.