See, I can update about real things.

I recently purchased two pieces of vinyl and the reaction from my friends was “did you really buy vinyl?”, with a certain amount of disdain, as if I had just sunk myself into the pit of elitist, masturbatory self-congratulation of being a evangelizing vinyl owner. They’re right, though. There is a choking pretense and elitism that follows the format, for better or for worse.

But. The real question is contained in the question that comes to us at easiest to hand, which is “why did you buy vinyl, when you don’t even have a record player?"

The answer comes down, ultimately, to a discussion of format. Because of my work elsewhere, I am able to receive promotional copies of CDs, or the files that comprise them. Therefore, I have the files, and I have the portability the current formats are useful for. In other words, I can put the songs on my iPod and on my computer and I don’t need the CD again.

I don’t need a CD player, since I have an iPod, and so the CD, once the files that comprise it have been ripped to my computer, sits on my shelves and computer desk and only gets use when I want to flick through the CD jacket sleeve or look for lyrics.

This is to say that once I have ripped the files onto my computer, I have no use for the format I have purchased, aside from the art and packaging that goes with them. And this is where the vinyl comes in. There are two reasons, so I have heard, why one would buy vinyl. First, for the sound quality, (which ends up atrophying) and the art.

Since I don’t own a turntable, I can’t defend the sound quality argument. Art and packaging on the other hand, I can defend without issue. I have seen the packaging for the CD version of this release (Minus the Bear’s Planet Of Ice), and when I leafed through it, it was clear that while it looked awesome, it was missing a certain je ne sais quoi. Also, when I heard that a good friend of mine who was putting out the vinyl release had worked really hard on the jacket (that being the album artwork), I knew which format my purchase of the album was going to be in.

I view the double disc vinyl releases like this the same way my parents view coffee table books. They are meant to be looked at, and meant to be full color, glossy and exquisite. In this case, I paid for sumptuousness in a format, when I already have the music, so my question of which format to purchase is between $14 for a CD who’se art I don’t like or $10.50 for a double disc vinyl that one of my friends worked on who’se art I do.

That’s not much of a decision. But if you're going to call me an self-absorbed, arrogant prick, which is probably true, you're going to have to find some other way to do it instead of the fact that I'm now buying vinyl on the side.