Some Taylor Swift fans need a lesson in playing vinyl

There has been some angry online chatter by Taylor Swift fans about her just-released re-recording of her 2012 album, Red, specifically with the vinyl edition, resulting in a number of one-star reviews.

Comments on Amazon include:

• “The pressing is bad. It sounds like a man.”
• “The vinyl has a man’s voice.”
• “A man is singing it.”
• “Horrible pressing. Picked up three different copies and have a deep voice. A huge disappointment!”
• “Vinyl look ok and the colour is beautiful, but the sound is really scary. It’s like a Taylor’s voice from beyond the grave. Is this a disgusting joke about Halloween?”

Wow. Is this a badly defective pressing? What went wrong?

Uh, no. These Swifties were playing the record at the wrong speed.

The vinyl in question was designed to play at 45 RPM for greater fidelity instead of the standard 33 1/3 RPM. A number of artists (including Radiohead) have released records this way. These Swifties didn’t seem to grok that this new version is stretched across four discs and…well, confusion reigned. Then again, I’ve read that none of the discs are played “45 RPM,” so maybe Tay-Tay’s people are a little bit culpable.

If you’re having trouble playing vinyl, Vulture published this article to help you out.