Record players and vinyls have seemingly come “back into style” these past few years, with all the indie and alternative type kids lining their walls with records and nonstop watching those vinyls spin on and on. Having a record player for many ends up being an entire hobby, and people can really end up dedicating a lot of their lives to keeping their records in pristine condition. It’s an impressive lifestyle, and I’m definitely not knocking the passion that some people have for their vinyls and record players, but I’m here to give you a couple reasons on why I think it’s time to give records a little bit of a send off and open your eyes on the world of CD’s.

First of all: The COST.   

Honestly, there is so much to talk about in regards to the cost of vinyls and record players, that it really doesn’t even have to be restricted to a single point of this list.

The cost of the average record player, depending on the quality of player that you want, ranges from about $40 all the way to $400. The annoying thing about this is that you really have to do a significant amount of research on all of the different types of players in order to make an educated decision on which one you buy, and in doing so you’ve gotta weigh the value that the record player’s is going to have in your life. It also has to be pointed out that I know people who have gotten cheaper record players from places like Urban Outfitters and *shocker* they ended up not working or having to exchange them once or even multiple times just to get a working one, and at that point the sound quality is… lacking.. to say the least. And this is all just to get the thing to play your records on.

(Although I will say that there are some good quality record players that you can get for reasonable prices, but again, the amount of research and reviews that you have to go through just to figure it out can be pretty annoying and makes these not really something you can just easily buy on a fun little online shopping spree).

Secondly: The COST.

Moving past the record player, once you’ve made that somewhat hefty purchase you are now left with the question of buying the actual records. On average, records now cost about $20-$30 for one (1) album. And while I am in favor of supporting artists, big and small, paying about $25 just to hear one album is a tough deal to make. However, if you are someone that has a few bands or artists that you’re obsessed with or you have a lot of favorite “no skips” albums, then I’d say vinyls could be for you. But for the average person who doesn’t have a lot of direct favorites or is more of the let-me-make-a-playlist-for-every-single-emotion-I-feel type, then I wouldn’t be too sure. (And yes, I do fall into the latter category).

Thirdly: Have you seen CD’s recently?

The answer might be no, or the answer might be yes, but the bottomline is that CD prices, (most likely due to the steep rise in record prices) have now gone down significantly, and at your local Goodwill, garage sale, or thrift store, you’ll be sure to see a nice and wide variety of CD’s. The most expensive cd’s that you’ll come across will probably only be around the $10-$20 mark, and that’s really only if you’re getting something that’s like newly, newly released. Another really sweet fact about CD’s is that artists generally like to put little folded up posters of themselves or the album cover in the cases, and it’s always fun to see what little surprises the bands have put in them for you to find. I’ve found posters, lyric booklets, and just cool sort of “never before seen” photoshoots or words from the artists. It feels a lot more intimate than listening to the music on your phone or… dare I say.. a record player.

Fourthly: The Nostalgia

It’s also probably really likely that you yourself have a CD player and/or CD’s in your house already, whether from your childhood or your parents or just for some random reason. I had a whole stereo in my garage that I hadn’t noticed in a couple years, so I brought it into my room along with a couple boxes of random CD’s that my parents had collected over the years. Just taking the time to look at all the individual cd’s and artists also was just a really therapeutic experience, and it really just took me back to being younger and listening to this music or mixtapes that my parents had made for us when we were younger. And if you end up not having one, you could go to any Goodwill and they’ll have at least 2 or 3 CD players already there.

However: I can’t in good conscience just proclaim full 110% unabashed CD superiority as I myself own a record player as I was gifted one awhile ago, and yes, I do love it a lot and listen to music on it a good amount, so I won’t say that I hate them or anything close to that. But I will say, that for the regular and much more frugal person, records are definitely the faster way to drain your bank account, no matter how nice they are to listen to. (Though I must say I love listening to the sounds of the needle going across the record especially when listening to classical music records because it kind of makes everything seem cozier and more intimate). So all in all, if you’re looking for a new way to listen to music, I’d give CDs a chance. I feel like a CD resurgence is about to hit so get ready, world, this is me predicting their popularity coming back because I love them and think that this is exactly what they deserve.