Quote Originally Posted by Lawrence001 View Post
Ok so I looked it up and got this from t' internet.

Audio Context
A needle drop refers to a version of a recording that has been transferred from a vinyl record to digital audio or other formats.
It is often used when the original vinyl recording is not available in a digital format.
Other terms for needle drop include "vinyl rip" or "record rip."

So the usage now makes sense to me, but I still want to know how long this phrase has been used and where it came from. Mainly as it annoys me so much and I want to make sure there's a good reason it annoys me. (Like it was invented after I grew up in the 1980s as I think any phrase invented after then is annoying [emoji23]).
I would say at least fifteen years if not more. Being able to 'digitize' vinyl in the home with inexpensive consumer products wasn't possible back in the 1980s.

Probably it started in use when it became possible to create a sound file on a computer and link to it on line. Not sure when that was, maybe late 1990s?