Vinyl records are better than CDs.

Perhaps it's unreasonable to make such a bold claim about a comparison that's been debated for years and is technically unprovable. But hey, music is all about emotion, right? I'm going to let my heart make this decision.

And so, if you think CDs are better than records, you're wrong.

I admit that CDs obviously have a lot of things going for them. I personally own hundreds of CDs, and there's a reason why CDs quickly dethroned vinyl records as the most popular medium for recorded music. You can't pop a record into the car stereo and you don't have to carefully brush the dust off a CD every time you play it. Many people will even claim CDs have superior sound quality: the clarity of digital versus the distortion of low-tech analog.

These are people who have never experienced the magic of vinyl.

When Elvis Presley walked into Sun Records on that fateful day in 1953, he didn't burn a CD for his mother. He cut an acetate. Ditto for Johnny Cash. The history of great recorded music is carved into grooves on platters of vinyl. If that isn't reason enough to pick record albums over the usurpers, I don't know what is.

There's more, if you remain unconvinced. Records also sound better than CDs, and it goes beyond quality. CDs might have better sound quality or clarity, but there's something to be said for warmth. Played through a proper stereo, a CD sounds cold and clinical when compared to the living, vibrant tone of a record.

It's a lot harder to take care of records, so the slightest scratch on the surface of an album can result in a permanent "pop" sound. However, these imperfections only help to endear the record to its owner in a way CDs can never understand. And there's nothing in the world like the sound of the needle dropping down on the edge of a record.

Records are bigger than CDs, which decreases their portability but greatly increases their potential to be individual works of art. Often, a large amount of work goes into crafting a cover for an album, so why shrink it down so much you need a magnifying glass to see it? With records, album art is large and powerful. See Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky, my personal favorite album cover, for an example.

I've been in houses with framed album covers on the walls. I've never, on the other hand, seen a framed CD cover. The effect simply isn't the same.

The music on albums needed to be divided into sides due to the length restrictions of the vinyl record. Old albums were arranged with that in mind, so the last track on side 1 is often intended as a kind of first-half finale. Track arrangement was an art unto itself. Now, with CDs, all of that artistry is lost. CDs just plow ahead, forcing you to listen to the whole album at once, without the pleasing intermission of flipping the record.

This probably isn't the last time I'll be singing the praises of real record albums. New bands still releases record albums, and the number is on the rise. Traditionalists like the White Stripes are all about releasing albums on vinyl. There's a recent trend of bands offering a free digital download of the entire album with the purchase of their record, which is a win-win situation. You get the record, and you can still put the album on your iPod. Perfect.

Old albums are being reissued on vinyl as well. With any luck, records will rise up and save the crumbling music industry that CDs have so successfully crippled. Also, I know from experience: CDs make great drink coasters.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back my turntable.