Any vinyl enthustiasts?

[Roy Brooks]

I have always called them records.  I have been buying records since the mid-1970s, around the same time I started playing guitar and getting really into music.  Although I bought cassettes for a few years in the late 1980s and early 1990s and started buying CDs in 1999 I have always preferred records and never stopped buying records.  I buy records in thrift stores, flea markets, and record stores.  

Right now there are three record stores near me that I visit.  CDepot is about three miles away.  When I first moved to the DC suburbs in 2007 they mostly sold CDs and DVDs.  But for the past three or four years they have been selling mostly records.  I mostly buy 1970s jazz and funk records and the occasional hip hop or electronic music record from them.  These are mostly used records.  Though I occasionally buy new records- usually reissues of 1970s jazz records.  But most of my hip hop "albums" are on CDs that I bought from CDepot.  Hip hop "albums", especially the "golden era" stuff, seems harder to find around here on record than on CD.  When I find the records I buy the records.  I have a bunch of hip hop 12" singles and EPs on record and a few hip hop full lengths on records.

Joe's Record Paradise is about ten miles or so away.  I mostly buy records from them, from their jazz, electronic, hip hop, jazz, and R&B sections.  These are mostly used records.

In Baltimore is True Vine Records where I go to buy avant garde music, African music, and underground hip hop records.  Their stuff is mostly new, though they have a decent selection of used stuff.  I only visit True Vine when I have a hundred or more dollars to spend on records.

On vacation to Michigan I visit Stormy Records in Dearborn and Flat Black & Circular in Lansing.  I specifically look for records on the Underground Resistance and Metroplex labels but also pick up other stuff too like a record by Death that a previous poster mentioned.

Right now I am mostly looking for 1970s jazz, funky smooth jazz by cats like Grover Washington Jr and Eric Gale among others, and "golden age" and underground hip hop.  I may go to CDepot today to get a couple David Sanborn records.

Most of my "classic rock" and psychedelic rock records are on vinyl because I bought them in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Some of my new wave and punk stuff is on records.  I don't buy many rock records at all now.  But I am always on the lookout for Norwegian death metal whenever I can find it.  But what I do have of that kind of music is on CD.  Most of my blues is on CD.  But I have a few dozen blues records on vinyl.

At the present time I reckon I have in the neighborhood of 3000 records and maybe 1500 CDs.  Most of the records are in the room I am in now, the big room in our finished basement that is basically a den.  They are in book cases arranged by genre and sub-genre though I have one book case that is nothing but guitar records I like that cover a bunch of different kinds of music.  I have a jazz section, a rock section, a new wave/no wave/punk section, a soundtrack section, an avant garde/weird music section, and a twangy guitar section.  In my music room where I keep my guitars, amplifiers, synthesizers, and recording equipment I have most of my CDs and a few hundred of my most important records that I use for study and inspiration.  This is where I keep my electronic, hip hop, funk, funky smooth jazz, and free jazz.

I have collecting and accumulating tendencies.  I am not a neat freak and I can sometimes be somewhat messy.  But my records are organized.  I am not a hoarder.  Occasionally I will sell a bunch of records to avoid a hoarding situation.  Though I keep my favorite stuff and essential parts of my "collection".  But my record collection is always growing and evolving.  Right now hip hop and 1970s jazz and funk is highest on my list of stuff I look for when I go to the record store.

[Bucksstudent]

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Skyforger wrote:

Oh, and as a point of curiosity/consumer advice, I don't actually own a record player. Anyone recommend a reasonable system to play them on? Would quite like a stand-alone unit since all my cassettes are rubbish and a CD player would be redundant.

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As I suggested before, Audiotechnics is good and afforable.

 

[Skyforger]

Someone always has  to get leary.

 

Back on topic, scored these for my 21st birthday for less than a tenner each.

 

Well pleased.

 

[Skyforger]

And yes, I did indeed spend my 21st buying vinyl and sitting in a pub alone. And it was great.