Back to the future? With the new app from legendary AIR Studios your iPad can now play vinyl! Pretty cool.
The resurgence of vinyl records has been a small but growing bright spot for the music industry in the last few years. Whoever thought that kids would be schlepping around crates of LP’s in the 21st century, decades after the onslaught of the CD? The old analog sound has gained so many new devotees that Universal went so far as to create it’s own online store, Groovetown, devoted to vinyl. Many independent online retailers like MusicDirect, MusicStack, Buy Vinyl Records, Vintage Vinyl, even Best Buy and Amazon have started merchandising new and used vinyl LP’s. Mom and pop record shops across the country have seen as much as 30% of their business come from new and used vinyl. To paraphrase Mark Twain, history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes.
Digital sound has been criticized as being cold and antiseptic, but now studio engineers from the legendary AIR Studios, founded by Sir George Martin, have found a way to take digital sound back to the future. With the help of UK app developer Bappz, AIR Studios has created AirVinyl, an iPad app that recreates the warm, harmonious depth of sound that is found on vinyl records for digital media files when played through the iPad. The app is also AirPlay enabled and will soon include its own clever feature – AirStreem, which also allows users to stream music from their Mac to AirVinyl over wi-fi. It’s available today at the iTunes App store for a limited time for $.99.
The AirVinyl app is an exciting new twist for digital music afficionados and audiophiles, but it could also serve as a platform for even bigger projects like an Air Studios digital record label. AirVinyl could also be easily integrated with new streaming music services like Spotify to bring the analog listening experience to the cloud, Facebook, or even the FLAC store that is part of UMG’s Groovetown.
The app goes on sale Monday morning and is fun, creative and beautifully crafted. Plus the sound is amazing. You’ll think that you’re back in your room at home sneaking a joint and listening to Hendrix blast on your stereo before your parents come home and bum you out. Bappz, the creators of the wildly popular London Tube Map app, did a terrific job by lovingly recreating the physical act of LP listening. Bappz was founded by former record producer Paul Myers, a high profile London internet entrepreneur who created Britain’s first free ISP, X-Stream, and Wippit, once the biggest UK-based MP3 online music and movies store. Myers has just the right experience and sensibilities that Air needed to bring an invisible under-the-hood technology to life in AirVinyl and it really shows.
Users can select their music from Crates, browsing by flicking through the covers. Playlists are accessed as Mixtapes, using the familiar analog interface of the cassette deck, but fortunately without recreating that nasty cassette sound. This app is REALLY cool and supposedly will be available soon for iPhone. More skins and features will be added soon. My guess is that they’ll eventually put out an Android version but I’d love to see a desktop version that would essentially turn your computer into a virtual analog turntable.
I know you’re not used to me saying nice things, and I certainly rarely review stuff, but it is Christmas time and I’m feeling it. But not for long, I’m sure.
Get AirVinyl at http://bappz.com/airvinyl
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/airvinyl/id482570332 for the UK
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/airvinyl/id482570332 for the US.
© 2011, Wayne Rosso. All rights reserved.
No related posts.
According to lots of ‘studies’ and ‘research’ people who pirate music also BUY more music.