Do NME readers play vinyl?

Honestly, it is a serious question.

In a couple of weeks time, Coldplay will be issueing a vinyl, in conjuction with hipster publication NME, of their first single from their upcoming fourth album, Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends (Chris Martin isn't good at naming things is he?) called Violet Hill. A Spell A Rebel Yell will also be on it and is being promoted as an 'exclusive' track that won't be available anywhere else...so just an average B-side then. All joking aside, I'm a fan of the band and am intrigued as to what the new material is like.

NME are no stranger to free music giveaways. They gave away a remix CD of Bloc Party's one-off single Flux and a free download from The Verve rehearsals last year. They've also given away Babyshambles and White Stripes vinyls to their readers.

But do the readers of NME care for vinyl? Sure, it may look pretty and it's a nice collector's item, but I fear that most readers of the NME (who I deem to be mostly teenagers and students) don't actually own anything that resembles a device that plays records. I also find it deeply tragic that people in that target market don't make the effort to purchase a record player.

I think the idea behind NME's giveaway promotions are sound but vinyl isn't the way to go. It feels like wasted energy on their part. They should probably stick to mp3s, because that's down with the kids these day isn't it?

DIGG IT!