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Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Vinyl record production has finally joined the modern age
Viryl has developed a first-in-the-industry: A steamless system [for creating vinyl records] that will make massive boilers and piping systems a thing of the past. Not only does it obviate some of the costs and permits previously involved, but it also becomes a more environmentally friendly process. Vinyl record pressing has finally bootstrapped itself into the modern age on all counts and stands to encourage new pressing plants to support vinyl's resurgent popularity.
Traditionally, the molds used to stamp out vinyl discs are heated by steam which is delivered to the press from a boiler. Viryl's steamless module electrically heats water to the desired 285 degrees Fahrenheit so the molds can melt pucks of PVC into a record. This new method of heating, removes gas, the boiler and extensive plumbing from the equation.
This new setup is a closed system that can live right next to the press, allowing for a smaller footprint in your workspace. It also reduces water waste, although you'll still need cooling lines. One of the biggest factors here, though, is that no boiler means none of the treatment chemicals used to keep a boiler in working order, so the environment wins. A setup that requires less square footage could also make Viryl's new presses a more attractive solution when space is limited or at a premium. Existing customers luck out as well, since it's possible to retrofit presses with the new option.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by theluggage on Thursday December 06 2018, @09:47PM
Hate to break it to you, but people still ride horses, sail in sailing boats, drive cranky and unreliable vintage cars, take photographs on chemical film, make music by plucking strings or blowing into tubes and even ride on (or spend their spare time helping to maintain) steam railways. Its called "leisure" or "entertainment" and its fun (subject to taste) and the whole point is its not meant to be practical. Same goes for playing computer games, or even writing software to do jobs that you're only going to do once or twice...
I mean, these days, you touch a featureless black slab and the music just comes out... . I guess young whipper-snappers today who had pre-natal iPhones and don't remember when that was a novelty so maybe something that you can see working brings some of the magic back?
(if nothing else, the craze for vinyl could ensure that artists still bother with cover art)
Nothing wrong with a bit of "willing suspension of rationality" as long as you know you're doing it... There's a particular problem with vinyl (and vacuum tubes*) though because the audiophile world is so full of snake oil and woo-woo: some people can't seem to admit that "hey, I know its technically inferior but I like the ritual" and instead feel obliged to try and justify it on bogus technical grounds. Probably the same sort of people who bought "adult cover" versions of Harry Potter... tsk. tsk. tsk.
(* OK there may be something to vacuum tubes in a context like guitar amps and electronic music where you actually want the characteristics quirks and imperfections and are going to be driving them to distortion - just don't confuse that with hi-fi - also, there's an app for that!)