Trending

News shows often share a feature called "What's Trending." I do not live on the cutting edge of anything so I am mildly interested in the latest and greatest. I did, however, take note of a particular announcement this week. The first one being Best Buy's decision to no longer carry music CDs. No surprise given our obsession with all things digital. The follow-up decision was the kicker. Best Buy will continue to stock vinyl records. What? The technology that was shunned and disgraced out of existence is now popping up on the radar as "cool" or should I say, "lit"? Here's a news flash. Vinyl is old technology. My parents used vinyl so we are talking really old.

One of my mom's beloved pieces of furniture was the console stereo. Mom instituted a sacred quiet time after our noon meal. The littlest ones napped, the middlings read a book or pretended to nap and my dad stretched out on the living room floor for one of his quick power naps. To set the tone, Mom put a vinyl record on the stereo and we drifted off with George Beverly Shea singing "How Great Thou Art" or a gospel quartet harmonizing their way through "The Old Rugged Cross." Christmas time was always exciting because Dad picked up the latest Christmas compilation album from my uncle who owned the local TV and appliance store. One of my favorite albums had a partridge in a pear tree on the cover. No surprise I learned all the verses to the "Twelve Days of Christmas" that year.

One of our first purchases as newlyweds was a stereo system that was far more expensive than we could afford. At the time, it seemed logical that musical equipment would have the highest priority on our list of needs (yes, we were idiots). In defense of ourselves, we continue to enjoy memories of the vinyl albums we played and replayed on that system.

As time moved forward, we jumped on the CD music wagon with the rest of the world due to the convenience and ease of using CDs. No more jumpy needles on a turntable. No more fear of scratching vulnerable vinyl records. No more bulky album covers. No more wonky 8-track players or curled up tapes in a cassette player. We were keeping up with the times and that should be enough.

When the wave of digital music arrived, my husband and I let it splash on by. I can pull up a song on Spotify if I have to or put together a playlist from Amazon Prime music under duress, but using digital music is like speaking another language for us.

And that brings us back to vinyl. We can speak that language very well. We know the joy of an artistically designed album cover. We understand the commitment it takes to purchase a compilation of songs that are not just comprised of our favorites. We know the fun of falling in love with a new song. We know the care and feeding it takes to keep vinyl in good shape.

And we know, vinyl never died. God Bless America.

(P.S. If you are interested in "why real things matter", read the book Revenge of Analog by David Sax.)