Record Players and the Metaverse

I’ve always been amazed by people who love vinyl records and record players.

Why would anyone choose to listen to a tinny and scratchy record when you can listen to any song ever made on your phone?

When CDs came, records were pronounced dead, much like 8 track tapes. When digital music came along, records would definitely be gone for good, right?

Wrong!

According to MRC Data, 41.7 million vinyl albums were sold in the US alone last year, surpassing CD and digital album sales.

Audiophiles from all generations are buying, collecting and listening to records, in 2022!

People like the physical rituals that come with records.

Going to the store, flipping through the vinyls, picking their favorite find, bringing it home, placing the record in, and moving the needle to play it.

There’s the sense of ownership and the identity that comes with a record collection.

It’s the nostalgia for some who remember buying records in their youth, but for others, it was the magic of a past they never lived.

It made me think of all the hype around the metaverse.

In person events will end! We will work, live, breath, and play in the metaverse!

The same things were said when Second Life launched in 2003.

I am an advocate of remote work and virtual events. The benefits are great; being able to continue working from home, realizing we don’t miss the commute and crowded offices, spending more time with family and friends, going for a walk or a workout on our lunch breaks.

But after mostly working, meeting and attending events virtually for the past 2 years, we realized the importance of in-person connections.

There is no doubt the metaverse is coming, and it’s going to be a part of our lives (how big or how small is up to us to decide) but there will always be a place for the physical world.

We like our rituals, our in-person gatherings, our communities, and physical belongings.

They are markers of our identity and who we are as humans.