Skull (3") Vintage Vacuum Tubes and Clock Gears

For generations, music was recorded on and played by devices using vacuum tube technology. All of that has, of course, been replaced by digitized products. If, however, you ask someone who grew up before, say, 1985 – when people listened to vinyl LPs and cassette tapes – you are likely to be told that vinyl and tape sound better than CDs or MP3s. Dance club music sounds great in a digital format because it was created digitally. On the other hand, a jazz quartet sounds far better on an LP than an MP3. When music created in a non-digital format is digitized it ends up sounding overproduced and, well, computerized.

As the skull pictured here shows, for good or ill, technology changes over time. The analog tube is maintained only by the will of a few listeners, whereas digital formats rule the world. But, again, times change and will change. It seems uncertain right now what the next listening format might be, but there is certainly one coming right around the corner. Time.