Generalisimo Francisco Franco is still dead - and so is Vinyl

5/5/2010 12:00 PM EDT

The latter development prompted the usual pronouncements from vinylphiles and impressionable journalists of the format's "comeback" - which I suppose is technically true if you're using 1998 LP shipment levels as a reference (when LP shipments were down "only" 98.5% from their 1982 levels).

The following graph - an update of one I did a couple of years ago - puts the data in perspective:

Comments, questions or suggestions? Email me at rich.pell@verizon.net.

Related links:
Vinyl LP comeback = wishful thinking
Audio myth: Vinyl better than CD?
The death of high fidelity?
MP3: Audio boon or bane?