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Johnny Konrad of Johnny's Records in Fairfield County says that listening to the Beatles on mp3 is like wearing a raincoat in the shower. For the best music experience, listeners should stop by his Darien shop on Record Store Day -- which is Saturday, officially -- and pick up vinyl recordings of their favorite music.
"It's the right format for music. The artwork on a 12-1/2-by-12-1/2 record is gorgeous. It just has a certain charm to it," Konrad said.
Record Store Day started four years ago to celebrate independent record stores and the art of music. Record companies are releasing special vinyl cuts of popular bands such as Mumford and Sons and My Morning Jacket, as well as classics like Ozzy Osbourne and Michael Jackson. Konrad said that when the "holiday" first started there was very little interest, but in the last year the number of participating stores has tripled.
"Somewhere in the middle of the last decade people started becoming interested in vinyl again, and it's been going on for the last four or five years. It's something you see growing on a monthly basis. People buy a turntable and they want to listen to records."
Konrad is excited by the growing rediscovery of records and that old albums are getting re-released on vinyl. "In the 60s, everybody would get really excited about the new releases and go down to the record store to get it. In the 70s and 80s, music became a product. The most exciting thing is that the sound quality is better than the first time."
Johnny's will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and selling hundreds of special release vinyl albums
Are you planning on picking up some vinyl records this Saturday? Tell us which album you're most looking forward to getting in the comments below, on Facebook and on Twitter!
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