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On November 29th The New York Times published an op-ed piece called "How to Publish Without Perishing," by James Gleick that you can read here: (http://tinyurl.com/5qpjcw).

Mr. Gleick's main point was that the online world was going to decimate publishing to a great degree but that people will still want "the thing" (a book) because there's something about a book that a digital screen version will never capture.

Does this sound familiar to you, my fellow vinyl lover? Well, also in the clueless Mr. Gleick's piece you'll find analogies to vinyl records, but instead of seeing the parallel, Mr. Glick writes that while the phonograph record was once the only way to own music, it's now "...just an oddity." He goes on to say "—and one may envision an aesthete who bakes his own bread and also professes to prefer the sound of vinyl."

But his best line, and the one that absolutely infuriates me is this one: "It is significant that one says book lover and music lover and art lover but not record lover or CD lover or, conversely, text lover."

One doesn't say "record lover?" Is this guy out of his mind? Maybe he doesn't say "record lover," but give me a break! He ends his piece with this:

"Go back to an old-fashioned idea: that a book, printed in ink on durable paper, acid-free for longevity, is a thing of beauty. Make it as well as you can. People want to cherish it."

And isn't that precisely what the current vinyl revival is all about? Isn't there a precise parallel between book publishing and record pressing in the 21st Century?

Of course there is! But instead of making it, records are once again relegated to being "an oddity," and you are not a record lover, you are an "esthete who professes to prefer the sound of vinyl," and worst of all YOU DON'T EXIST because while "one says book lover and music lover and art lover but not record lover." REALLY?

That's where you come in. of course I wrote a letter to the Times immediately, which, of course, was not published but they did publish one that reiterated Gleick's line about one not being a vinyl lover. The letter writer described vinyl as "vestigial."

You MUST write The New York Times (letters@nytimes.com) and simply say that 1) records are not an "oddity."

2) that hundreds of thousands of "record lovers" around the world do say "record lover"

And that 3) the analogy between Mr. Gleick's recommendation to go back to printing high quality books that people will cherish is precisely what is occurring in the record world and that you resent being declared non-existent!

Do it today! Publish or perish!