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Music comes in several different forms beyond online streaming, including vinyl records, CDs, and cassette tapes. Despite serving the same general purpose of being collected to listen to albums in full, these forms of physical media vary significantly in several ways. They vary in size, price, length of music per side, and especially the processes that are used for making each format and recording or playing music on them. I took a deep dive into my own personal collection of physical music which contains the three main formats, but there is much more to learn about the history of each and the ways in which they are created, collected, and used across the world.
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The Science Behind Vinyl Record Pressing and How It Impacts Audio Quality
Gen Z Leads The Pack In Physical Music Listening
Rewind That! History of Cassette Tapes, the Music Format That Lives On
Beyond the Needle: History of Vinyl Records
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Most of my research came directly from my personal physical media collection and knowledge of the topic, but I used external resources for some of the information on my infographic.
An insight into physical music buyers: Understanding the American market for CDs and vinyl
U.S. music consumption – statistics & facts
The fate of the CD – an international CD-market analysis
Why Retro Music is Making a Comeback
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