[Steinback]

I'm curious. There's a junk shop near me that sells used LPs, 45s and 78s for 25 cents each regardless of condition so I've been expanding my collection in new directions.

Much of their stock truly is junk but I've still picked up 30 something albums so far this year. U2, The Cars, Toronto, some disco compilations albums, The Police, Buggles, Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club, and whatever else looked interesting when I walked through. Condition has ranged from factory sealed to lightly scuffed and very dusty.

I've also considered ordering a few new releases online but haven't quite convinced myself to go through with it yet, in part because they are albums I already own on CD.

So what, if anything, are you still buying in the way of vinyl?

[Blue]

Occasionally. Our collection is fairly substantial, however. The last New LP was AC/DC's 74 Jailbreak.

[Nesster]

I pick a couple up now and then at yard sales... but really I have way too many to ever listen to them all in this lifetime So, I better become a net seller.

I just donated over 200 cd's tho, including good box sets, to be rid of them.

[Nowhere Matt]

I shop for records sometimes. Used at thrift stores, unopened or used at big sales at music stores. A somewhat legendary local music store had an inventory sale last year and I bought some. Probably over the last three years I increased my vinyl collection by 300 mostly used but some unopened albums. Sunshine Lies from Matthew Sweet was one of the last, new releases I bought on vinyl.
I would rather spend a dollar and get a reasonable condition, used vinyl album, with at least 34 minutes of music rather than by comparison spend a dollar on one song dowloaded.
The truth is that many of even the once loyal music fans in their 50's and 60's have begun trading out first their record collections and now even their small digital discs for digital music files on a hard drive. There was a time when I would spend $15 for a first pressing of a McCartney album or $25 for a white vinyl copy of The Beatles. But now I sort of bide my time waiting for record stores to have inventory reduction or liquidation sales. A greater selection to look over for an hour or so and come out spending $25 on 30 or 40 used albums.

[Nesster]

All this audiophile talk got me into listening to LP again... did a little fixing of the set up... and, apart from having to get up to change the record, WOW! There's a relaxation to the sound, and tiny emotive inflections come across so well with the LP as opposed to CD as source.

[Nowhere Matt]

Does this mean you are listening to a Gino Vannelli record?



Zamfir, Gino Vannelli and those multiple record disc, Beethoven box sets are always clogging up used record bins everywhere we go.
Gino sold a million billion records and now noone wants them anymore.

[Steinback]

I usually have to flip through mountains of Barbara Streisand, Nana Mouskouri and Anne Murray albums to find anything by rock or pop acts.

Along the lines of music with no market, I can't really see anybody lining up to buy my Grandparents collection of German and Dutch polka and accordian music. I need to write down some artist names one of these days, there is also a bunch of German pop music on compilation albums.

[Nesster]

I thought all one had to do is get HP of TAS nice and buzzed on some single malt, and he'd rhapsodise about the sound of the worst music beautifully recorded with imaging specifity etc, including those polkas (or balalaika favorites, or whatever drivel...)

[Ratmagiclady]

Ah, I'm not. If I hadn't lost what was left of my collection, (Mostly, stuff that I'd managed to not be able to bear to sell, or things that wouldn't sell for much, like the ubiquitious Yes albums, ) I might still be adding to it. I figure, when we settle down, finally, I'll get a turntable on general principle, thus maybe start at least picking up bargain LPs, but till then, no sense carrying the stuff around.

Kind of discouraging to lose a collection, I suppose.

[Perrumpo]

I'm young, and most of the bands I listen to release their albums on vinyl, so I buy new vinyls mainly. I love them. Most come with a digital download of the album, too, sometimes in 320kbps!

I do hope to get a few Beatles albums on vinyl, too.

[Ratmagiclady]

I'm young, and most of the bands I listen to release their albums on vinyl, so I buy new vinyls mainly. I love them. Most come with a digital download of the album, too, sometimes in 320kbps!

That's a nice combination, actually. Reminds me of how, back when no one could really afford CDs, we used to get everything on vinyl and copy onto better tape than the pre-made commercial ones.

[Ira]

On vinyl, I only buy The Archies and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, because I already have the complete Monkees library--all three albums.

Look it up.

[Ira]

Actually, now that you brought it up, vinyl LPs represent one of the most affordable with potential for great profit investments you can make. 90% of the stuff will never be released on CD, and there's no matching the analog sound of it on vinyl.

CD is so 21st Century, while the vinyl is THEN.

[Perrumpo]

That's a nice combination, actually. Reminds me of how, back when no one could really afford CDs, we used to get everything on vinyl and copy onto better tape than the pre-made commercial ones.

My turntable can rip a vinyl via USB, and does a decent job (albeit not ideal), but since sometimes you'll get extra B-sides on a vinyl that aren't online or on a CD, it's a convenient thing to have.

But yeah, it's really great that it comes with the digital download. The vinyl practically pays for itself. They've gotten more expensive, though.

CD is so 21st Century, while the vinyl is THEN.

Retro is still coming back in style full force, so vinyl is the cool thing again, anyway. I'm glad I never invested much in CDs. I love the sound and feel of vinyl, not to mention the larger artwork.

Since I can't afford much, I only buy albums on vinyl that I think would sound particularly good on vinyl. Stuff that doesn't fit that category but that I still really like, I prefer to have a clean, quality (Apple Lossless for the best) digital version of.

[LensScribe]

When I lived in England and Australia I used to buy vinyl (both old and new, singles and albums), but I suspect I could count the vinyls I've bought locally on two hands with a few digits to spare... You just can't get it here. I can only think of two local acts who've released anything on vinyl in the last two years, and they were both very limited pressings. Some flea markets carry old stuff, but my experience is that 9 times out of 10 anything of value has long since been pilfered.

I used to buy 7 inch singles (or '45s' if you ask my parents) of songs I really liked (like Echo and The Bunnymen's 'Killing Moon', Joy Divisions 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', Del Shannon's 'Runaway', Norman Greenbaum's 'Spirit in the Sky' etc.) but it got too expensive to pay shipping and our postal service isn't exactly the most reliable.

Some of you audiophiles might be interested to know that South Africa is one of the few markets (most of the rest of them are also African) that still offers many new releases (almost exclusively local music) on cassette. I don't collect those though