A needle drop is a common term used to describe a version of a music album that has been transferred from a vinyl record to digital audio or other formats.[1] Needle drops are sometimes traded among music collectors, especially when the original vinyl recording has not been released officially on a subsequent consumer format.
Other reasons for trading needle drops include the lack of availability of certain recordings on digital media, the non-availability of less compressed version, or the lack of availability of certain versions or masterings of that record, e.g. mono or stereo versions, or the loss of the master tape.[2] The term is thought to have been coined in 1949 by Peter Goldmark during the first rush of transfers of lacquer and 78 rpm records to the then-new long playing 33 ⅓ RPM format.[1]