Despite the wonder and incredible convenience of ever-more-impressive music technology (imagine telling someone in 2001 that the capacity of their shiny new iPod would soon be pretty much standard in a mobile phone), there’s one powerful thing that is often overlooked: nostalgia. Older readers may love their Spotify cache and their endless interlinked devices, but there’s a warm rose-tinted glow about the hissy scratch of vinyl or the spooling of a cassette reel that never quite goes away.
That’s why the makers of Vinyl Tap are onto a winner. Objectively pointless but completely charming (isn’t that the way with the best iPad apps?), Vinyl Tap allows you to filter your music collection through a retro vinyl experience. Now, a filter to ‘vinylise’ new recordings is nothing new, but what makes Vinyl Tap particularly great is the sheer amount of craftsmanship that has gone into the experience.
Where applicable, record sleeves and vinyl artwork are recreated, and can even be switched between albums and singles. True audiophiles can enjoy tinkering with the 33/45RPM settings (ask your grandparents, kids), and also lift the needle, flip the record, or a selection of other things that digital files are unable to offer.
And if you aren’t old enough to remember a world before iTunes and MP3 players? Just think of this as a cheap alternative to a time machine …