Joshua Galyon
Mark Izydore is a business leader and accounting professional based in Jupiter, Florida, where he serves as co-manager of CJ Consultants. In this role, Mark Izydore provides analytical guidance to clients in the financial and healthcare sectors, helping attorneys and physicians nationwide address complex litigation and strategic challenges. Before relocating to Florida, he worked as a staff accountant at Arthur Andersen & Co. in Pittsburgh and earned recognition for a debt-to-equity presentation delivered at the Sara Scaife Museum.
In addition to his accounting background from Duquesne University, he holds a degree in music theory from Carnegie Mellon University and was a United States Navy Band Scholar. Outside of his professional responsibilities, Mark Izydore operates a vinyl and record-review blog, making the discussion of analogue and digital music formats a natural extension of his longstanding interest in sound, performance, and listening culture.
Comparing Analogue and Digital Music
Digital music formats are older than the average American thinks. Various organizations and producers experimented with digital formats throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The first commercially available digital recordings hit the market in 1971. That said, the digital music craze began in the late 1990s with the advent of the MP3 format. By the early 2000’s, Apple had launched both the iTunes Store and the iPod, which allowed digital music to take over the market; roughly two-thirds of Americans listen to digital audio at least once per week.
Despite the widespread use of MP3s, streaming platforms, and other forms of digital music, many musicians, fans, and audiophiles promote the advantages of analogue music, including vinyl records. There is more to the debate than personal preference, with a few key sales points underscoring America’s devotion to traditional music formats: in 2022, vinyl record sales surpassed CD sales for the first time since 1987. That year, Americans purchased approximately 41 million vinyl albums, compared to 33 million CDs. In the United States, vinyl sales increased year-over-year for nearly two decades, peaking in 2024 with close to 44 million units, generating $1.4 billion.
Before committing to analogue or digital formats, music fans must fully understand what each option entails. Many fans associate analogue music not just with nostalgia for the early days of pop music, but also with a unique sound listeners describe as “warm” or “fuzzy.” Analogue is an umbrella term for the traditional methods of reproducing sound waves; while many music fans associate the word with vinyl records, other formats include cassette tapes and reel-to-reel tapes.
Analogue technology records sound as continuous variations in physical properties, such as the grooves in vinyl records. The technology subsequently translates these physical variations into electrical signals. Unsurprisingly, these formats produce sounds with organic textures, hence the praise for analogue music’s warm, immersive qualities. Analogue music sometimes results in pops and other minor disturbances, which may irritate some listeners, while others view these imperfections as a natural part of the listening experience.
The organic, nostalgic enjoyment of analogue music goes beyond the technology. Vinyl record fans and collectors enjoy rummaging through bins at record stores and handling the records, sleeves, and equipment. Unlike digital music, analogue music involves tangible items and pieces of art, including large renditions of an album’s artwork and liner notes.
Digital music, on the other hand, promotes precision and convenience. MP3 files do not contain physical imperfections that alter the listening experience, resulting in a purity some listeners enjoy and others describe as “sterile” or “plastic.” Similarly, while it is hard to overstate the convenience of carrying hundreds of thousands of MP3 files in a handheld device, fans of traditional music formats decry the lack of presence and physical connection.
It should be noted that digital music does not always lack a physical presence. As mentioned, CDs contain digital music files. Like records, CDs have artwork and liner notes, and many music fans have nostalgia for boomboxes, Walkmans, and comprehensive stereo systems that play CDs.
Listeners do not necessarily have to pick one side of the debate. For example, buying records is a unique hobby that opens a person up to an entire community of music fans and historians, but record collectors who enjoy listening to music while running need to invest somewhat in digital technology. On the other hand, passionate fans who prefer the convenience of digital music can support their favorite artists by purchasing limited edition vinyls and developing a modest but meaningful collection.
About Mark Izydore
Mark Izydore is the co-manager of CJ Consultants in Jupiter, Florida, where he provides analytical and strategic support to financial and healthcare clients nationwide. He holds degrees in accounting from Duquesne University and in music theory from Carnegie Mellon University. A former staff accountant at Arthur Andersen & Co., he also maintains a vinyl and record-review blog and enjoys tennis and wine tastings in his free time.
