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The Final Scratch?

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"They're software designers-slash-hackers," corrects Henri Cohen, vice president of sales and marketing for Stanton Magnetics, the Florida-based company that produces and distributes FinalScratch. "They were actually at a hackers' convention when they came up with the idea. And the way that it was described to me is that they were just in the middle of a farm field where they have those hackers' conventions, you know, in the big tents with the generators, with a bunch of computers and somebody was looking for a way to play music one night at a party."

He continues: "And somebody showed this device where you could hook up all your MP3 files that they had on your computer to turntables, and that's where it took off from there."

Cohen saw the product at a trade show in 2000 and snapped up the worldwide distribution rights for release the following year. The FinalScratch system retails for $500. Though Stanton, a private company, won't divulge any sales figures, Cohen says that "it's one of the most successful products we sell today."

According to Pablo La Rosa, Stanton's marketing manager, international DJ luminaries like Paul Van Dyk, Josh Wink and John Acquaviva use FinalScratch in their sets. It does not, in his opinion, signal the beginning of the end for vinyl. We're a long way past that.

"The first step was the CD player," he argues. "I don't think we're doing anything that hasn't already been done. I think the biggest threat to vinyl right now is just the fact that it's very expensive, and for smaller record labels who are typically the ones who put out dance music, it's a lot easier for them to distribute their music in digital format."

Chris Sill, a local DJ and the dance music buyer at Soundwaves, says there hasn't been any discernable effect on vinyl sales at the store. Yet.

"It's definitely going to be interesting to see how it affects the DJ culture," he says. "Technology is the biggest thing."

The DJs at MetroNome note that the biggest drawback might be logistical, the hassle of setting it up: Depending on the booth, it can be next to impossible to plug all the cables in while someone else is spinning. And even if more and more clubs and decknicians do convert to FinalScratch, you'll always have DJs out there proudly preaching the virtues of vinyl.

"I, for one, don't do CDs nor MP3s like that. And that's just a personal choice -- and I don't knock anybody who does. From my standpoint, I'm just stubbornly holding on to it," says DJ Sun. "The production value I wanna get is more of a warm analog sound."

Another DJ, Jeff McLaughlin, adds: "Some people, myself included, have a 'package fetish' when it comes to music. I want a physical product, something to hold in my hands. With digital systems, this element is lost and the music takes on a more disposable quality. Part of the mythology behind certain artists and music is a product of the way the music is packaged."

For some, it's a conscious choice based on style; for others, it's an emotional pull that goes beyond words. Andy "Champa" Moore, a resident at the Social, sums it up poignantly. He got his first record -- he laughs -- a Ted Nugent jam, in 1978.

"It's like, that record has 20-some-odd years of wear on it and you can hear that," he says. "Each time you get a new scratch in the record, it's like flesh and blood, kind of, because it wears its wear well.

"There's not any gentleness to the aging process with digital," he says. "There's not the warmth in the ability to interact with machines."

It's far too early to tell if the cool sheen of MetroNome this Tuesday night is indeed the future. At the very least, it's one possibility.

"I'm not a Luddite," says Moore, who notes that vinyl has outlasted cassettes and the eight-track and still has a major place in mainstream culture. "The best is to respect the old and honor the new simultaneously."

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