Tiny Vinyl is a new pocketable record format for the Spotify age
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/tiny-vinyl-is-a-new-pocketable-record-format-for-the-spotify-age/Open linkView original on lemmy.worldSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on lemmy.worldhttps://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/tiny-vinyl-is-a-new-pocketable-record-format-for-the-spotify-age/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
16 replies
Rediscovery of the CD is around the corner. One argument for the vinyl was the huge cover vs CD... but now you get 4min per side. Very, very limited to music with short length songs.
Short length songs were always the norm for radio-friendly singles, though.
I wonder when these idiots will redescover NAND...
160nm SLC NAND for that subtle, yet refined, year 2000 texture and taste to your storage experience.
The good thing in context of sketchy use of resources and waste is that it's likely that this will remain very niche (it is implied the 3" format was a complete failure).
It's not really worse than CDs in terms of resource use, and unfortunately major music publishers can't really be trusted with digital formats. If nothing else, it's (so far) impossible to put direct copy protection on vinyl records.
Generally a good point, but...
Flash isn't permanent. Data storage mediums at any scale are impermanent.
Vinyl is pretty stable, provided it's stored out of light and extreme temps.
CD's are the same.
For me to store my (currently) 5TB of data (and have it be accessible) requires about 15TB of actual storage (3 copies to prevent loss, because hardware fails). Plus at leas one always-on device to play the media from. Each of these storages requires manufacturing, and then power to run them, and maintenance (new drives as old ones fail, new hardware, etc).
No solution is perfect, each of these approaches has it's own pros/cons.
Show me an uncrackable DRM and I will show you a golden unicorn...
An interesting concept (I never knew 3" vinyl existed, can't imagine what it's used for with 2min playback per side), but I get the feeling this will be more of collector's item if it does maintain its place in the market over a longer period of time.
Shitty consumerism at it's finest, a universally useless idea that should never have been made
Because I was confused for a second: The 4" Tiny Vinyl format has 4 minutes playback per side, but 3" vinyl is also a thing and considerably less practical.
Agreed, somewhat awkward wording on my part.
Gotta love that one of the most vile products to exist is making a resurgance for 0 reason other than to be trendy...
I fucking hate this world
What? Why the hate on vinyl? It's not practical, nor is it anywhere near the sound quality available on services like Tidal or Bandcamp, but that's not the point.
It's a physical, irrevocable copy, in a world where everything is becoming a service which gets revoked when you stop paying. Sure, there's some consumerism in there as well, but I doubt some plastic discs are going to make a dent compared to the millions of tons of clothing being produced by Shein, just to go straight into the garbage.
Im talking about vinyl the substance used to make the records, unless they have changed the materials.
I love my physical copies too but we could be using better media, CD, DVD, Blueray for instance.
Unfortunately, vinyl records are completely non-recylable, made from a super toxic material, and the dust they create as they break down acts like a sponge for dioxin.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2czFuIYmQ