Buy vinyl? Cranky about the relentless march of technology? Too bad! Regardless of why you buy an outmoded format, Amazon is going to drag you kicking and screaming into the digital age.
Specifically, Amazon is giving you the MP3 version of the vinyl album you bought — whether you want it or not — with AutoRip, their ongoing attempt to remind you of your bad musical choices in high school.
Like AutoRip for CDs, it applies automatically to purchases you’ve made since 1998, although only to purchases you’ve made directly through Amazon. As for who might enjoy this feature, here are the albums that they used as actual examples in a press release:
AutoRip for vinyl is available for industry-wide top-sellers and customer favorites like “Babel” by Mumford & Sons, “The Lumineers,” by The Lumineers, “Unorthodox Jukebox,” by Bruno Mars, “All that Echoes,” by Josh Groban, “Greatest Hits – Chapter 1,” by Kelly Clarkson and “Alabama Shakes,” by Alabama Shakes.
Yeah, that’s pretty much what we expect to see in the collection of the kind of person who talks about the warmth of vinyl.
In all seriousness, it’s at least a convenient service, since a lot of the people buying vinyl these days use it more as a prop than a listening medium. Still, we have to admit we’re also not looking forward to explaining to our parents what an AutoRip is, and why you don’t have to pay for it.