Keeping your old vinyl when you haven't owned a turntable in years: C/D?

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Vinyl as in records, so skip the upholstery jokes. (But if anyone wants to ponder the meaning of keeping their old 8-track tapes without having any way to listen to them, go for it!)

When I first moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area about 7 years ago, the movers destroyed my turntable, which was never that great, but the insurance settlement was decent. But then I looked at the money and thought, hey I can buy a bunch of new CDs.

Since then I've narrowed my LP collection down from maybe 80 to around 25 -- mostly obscure 20th-century classical stuff that is unlikely ever to be released in another format. I think it makes sense to keep it, but I can honestly say I have no memory how most of these recordings sound. In theory I could listen to them at work, or even dub CDs, but it's been 7 years already so really...

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 05:28 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm always game for new records. and i live conviniently in SF

― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 05:31 (twenty-three years ago)

So buy a new turntable, already!

oh yeah SF here too.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 05:32 (twenty-three years ago)

DOH! that would be conveniently

― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 05:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I guess the thing that's kept me from buying a new turntable is that there's already more out on CD, and more new stuff appearing, than I can even keep up with. So I don't see myself buying any more stoff on vinyl, it would really just be for the sake of those twenty-odd records.

Maybe I will go through the whole bunch and pick some to dub to CDR. Then I can give them all away, dubbed or not.

This hasn't really turned out to be a Classic-or-Dud-style thread, has it?

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 05:41 (twenty-three years ago)

stoff -> stuff

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 05:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, I DO own a turntable, but haven’t used it for years, so I guess it’s all the same. I will keep my old vinyl records though, for the sake of nostalgia and some collector’s spirit. You know, album covers ALWAYS look better on the vinyl editions… ;)

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 10:53 (twenty-three years ago)

For the album covers, obviously. Recently I specifically bought a number of Iron Maiden LPs for the cover art alone.

― Siegbran (eofor), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 11:01 (twenty-three years ago)

i gave my record player away a couple of years ago when i went travelling and have yet to replace it. i still buy 12"s for a number of reasons: a lot of the stuff i want i can only get on vinyl; i use my dad's record player to tape them; i still love vinyl; i intend on getting a new record player but can't decide whether to get one or go for it and pick up two and a mixer.

― michael wells (michael w.), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 11:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Funny, but I gave away all my vinyl to a friend, only to start missing it years later. I ended up buying a few vinyl copies of albums I used to have because they never came out on CD (Rank & File). But they were in better condition than my originals, and I burned them on CD.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 13:48 (twenty-three years ago)

I haven't had a working turn table in 4 years (I killed it on Aretha), but I still buy 7"s and the occ. LP. The radio station I I vlounteer at has turntables, so I can play the records there (for EVERYBODY).
I tell myself I'm going to get a turntable someday, but I bet I won't.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 14:58 (twenty-three years ago)

I have a wonderful two-volume set on the artwork of Salvador Dali that i go through maybe once every 7 or 8 years. Inbetween viewings, my thoughts occasionally turn to some of the images, but even without cracking a binding, i can bask in the comfort knowing that their "around". Keep them, presently. ¥

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 15:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Visit your local thrift stores regularly, and you may find a worthy turntable. Usually they turn OK but have a damaged stylus/cantilever, so you'll have to spend $40-ish for a new cartridge. I found a nice Luxman a couple months ago.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 21:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I never had any records, but I started buying them about 3 years ago. Of course I didn't even have a turntable yet, and I didn't get one till a year later.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 22:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I keep meaning to get a turntable - it's 2 yrs now since I got a new stereo without one and probably 4 since I last had one. I love my records though - I only ever really had that love-of-the-thing-not-the-content feeling with 45s and 33s.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 22:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I go through phases where only listening to vinyl will do -- I kid myself that I can hear the analog warmth blah blah, but it's the ritual of playing records that I love. . Taking the record out of its sleeve. Being able to see the black disc going around and around while the music plays. Holding the great big album jacket in my hands, examining it. Putting it lovingly away while I'm done, or assigning it a place of visibility at the front of the stack of in-play records. CD rituals are qualitatively different, providing their own thrills but not the same ones. I suppose if years went by where I didn't own a turntable I'd only keep sentimental pieces of vinyl, but as it stands, I continue to aquire & hoard the stuff.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 22:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, that was nice... Where's that damn thing? I NEED TO PUT THE NEEDLE ON!

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 23:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to live in a town that was way big into vinyl. Playing it and not just having it. My college radio had been around since forever so it had wall to wall vinyl that we were always trying to keep stupid students from running away with. And it was nice to read comments that people wrote on the cut sheets on the records (about which bands were going to be playing that weekend, 'mats, pixies, icicle works?, and what tracks were great).

I find it much more seductive too, to put on a piece of vinyl when inviting over a certain someone. Plus it gives you a clock from which to keep track of when you need to make a move. Like if you need to flip/change the record 2 times and you still haven't gotten anywhere then you can start fresh on side A and bust a move. It breaks it up. God I'm a girl and this sounds so 1984.

― Carey, Wednesday, 22 January 2003 23:28 (twenty-three years ago)

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