Tiny Vinyl Format

Ars Technica has this exhaustive article on the emerging Tiny Vinyl format. No, not the 3" Records you may have seen pop up at Record Store Day or in other novelty situations but 4" records manufactured by... Tiny Vinyl.

The article covers every aspect of the process, going as far as to describe as how all vinyl records are made and what challenges face this new format. Primarily, the biggest hurdle is that automated record players can't play them because they take up the same physical space where 12" LPs have a label - so the player assumes it should not play. Maybe bigger still is that the minimum order on records is 2,000 units. Lemme tell ya, that's a giant hurdle for any record company unless you've got the deepest of pockets.

All of those challenges are covered in the article but I can't be mad that companies are continuing to experiment with the format. I have a They Might Be Giants Mini CD for "They'll Need a Crane." Why do I own it? Because it's tiny!

I hope that more companies start to lean towards what Good Neighbor is doing with environmentally friendly processes. Maybe ole Tiny Vinyl and Target can get on board?