Horrible comparisons. Vinyl scratching adds a layer of character. You can go either way on that. CD skips are annoying as all get out. No one wants them. Loss of audio quality, with the capacity devices have today, is completely unacceptable. Edit: I get what the author is saying, by the way. The thing is though, back then there were better formats, CDs (minus the whole skipping issue) and though the muffled drawbacks of MP3s might bring back good memories for him, they do nothing but remind me of a time where people were willing to settle for shit cause they didn't really care. It wasn't like television in a 4:3 aspect ratio with horrible resolution cause it was the best that could be done at that time. There were literally better options. Listening to MP3s back then, at low bitrates, was akin to looking at black and white copies of National Geographic photographs made on a shitty copier at the local library.The underwater compression of a low-quality mp3 is our generation’s vinyl crackle or skipping CD.
It's like film grain vs digital noise. One is appealing, the other appalling.
While I agree about the skipping CDs, how exactly is the crackle of a worn vinyl record "character", while the distortion added from a poor quality mp3 is not? That makes no sense. Not that I agree with the author anyway, I think watching VHS tapes when you have a better alternative is a bunch of bullshit, but your criticism is nonsensical.