I didn't understand the hype around vinyl and record players for a long time. I mean, I knew what they were and what they did, but I didn't understand the enthusiasm for them. Like, yeah, it's cool and all, but we have Bluetooth speakers, speakers built into our phones, and headphones now. We can play music from practically anywhere we want, and we don't even need any wires!

So what's the big deal about vinyl? Why is it coming back and why do every hipster and their mom have a vinyl player and vinyl albums of Twenty-One Pilots, Halsey, and Kendrick Lamar when they know they already have the music downloaded on their phone, available to blast and connect to a speaker at any time?

I scoffed at these people with their vinyl and record players for being dumb enough to fall into the nostalgic trend of buying expensive vinyl and record players. But I had never touched a vinyl, seen a record player, or played a vinyl on a record player before.

Recently, I got to have that experience. And boy, can I see the appeal. The satisfying swish of the sound as you delicately pull the vinyl carefully out of its casing, the delicate cloth you use to clean the vinyl of any debris before playing it, the careful alignment of the needle with the track so you know that when you press play the song will start.

The sound of the vinyl playing is interesting. You can hear the texture of the vinyl disc in the sound, sometimes there's crackling, sometime's there's fading, sometime's there's scratching. It sounds old and aged, and puts you back to that time.

Something about listening to Ella Fitzgerald's heavenly, dusty voice on vinyl made me realize why this trend is coming back with such ferocity. The nostalgia of it all takes you back, even if you weren't there during that time; it makes you experience what it must have been like for others. The way the needle moves cleanly down the lines of the vinyl and the way the vinyl spins on and on is so mesmerizing and beautiful. It's something you don't get by just blasting music from a speaker or playing music from your computer.

With vinyl, you have to find the track you want to play and carefully align the needle. There's something satisfying about making sure the needle is perfectly aligned so that as soon as you press play, the song starts and there's a sense of fulfillment. Sure, pressing a song on your iPhone is easier, simpler, and cheaper than buying all those pieces of vinyl, but the experience is very different.

All I'm saying is, yes, record players and pieces of vinyl are expensive and playing music from your phone is a lot easier and simpler. But there's something sweet and nostalgic about vinyl, something you can't get from electronic devices today. And I'm not saying to go out there and buy vinyl, I'm just saying to appreciate the old technology as it is and embrace the new.