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Hi. I'm buying vinyl at a fast pace. I can't enough of it! I'm rediscovering a whole love of music. The emotive nature of vinyl playback just blows away any digital format.
Clearly many of you are spending bucks on your turntables these days. How about vinyl records to feed them? Have you spent any money on vinyl LPs in the last 12 months? What did you buy?
It's almost all I buy. The only time I buy a CD is if I find a new album I like and it is not available on vinyl. A cool thing is that many labels are either including a CD with the record or a code to download an MP3 which can be converted to a lossless format in iTunes so you get the best of both worldsthe superior musicality, depth, detail, richness, and dynamic range of vinyl and a digital format for the car or on the go. What did I buy? Complete Clapton, My Morning Jacket, Built to Spill, Death Cab for Cutie, Sloan, Fleet Foxes Traveling Wilburies Collection, re-mastered Joshua Tree, War & October, The National, Doors Box Set,; Mudcrutch, Steve Winwood's Nine Lives Chrome Dreams II, and many more too numerous to list, plus a few used LPs.
I just spent $140 today on clean used vinyl from a dealer in Denton, Texas who takes the time to only buy top-quality records and sell most of the for $5. I got a coiple of promo copies and a 45rpm direct-to-discnothing over $10. The dealer closer to me in Arlington would get $15 or more for all of thesewhich is why I don't buy more.
Unfortunately, my job has moved, and I am no longer working a short walk away from a great second-hand vinyl shop. Accordingly, my LP purchasing has dropped by a huge amount. Otherwise, I'd still be happily bankrupting myself as before!
In the last six months I've spent way more than I should have due to some treasure troves of used LPs. That and so many new records being released I just "couldn't" pass up. I have plenty already, most aquired back in my college days in the late 1980s and after, but unlike some, I always find something new to get excited about, or something old to try out too!
Nearly every software purchase I make is vinyl. I bought maybe five CDs last year, and I don't download. I would say my total for the last year was at least $2500 on records. That is a little higher than average, but I'd estimate I've averaged at least $100 a month on vinyl every month for the last six years.
I gave up on the hiss, clicks, and pops when CD came around. This year I retired my old Phillips TT and tried a Rega P3 24. I was stunned that the new equipment produces virtually noise free realistic sound from the old LPs I have not yet thrown out, and unbelievale sound from the new audiophile pressings. Listeners are stunned when i tell them the sound they are hearing is not one of my SACDs, but a "record."
Too many to list; Every time I go out of town, I hit the major places in the town I am visiting which carry vinyl. On my trip to Madison, WI, I stopped at three record stores and brought back about a dozen records, both new and used. I also purchase quite a number online from Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds.
My recent return to vinyl has also involved extensive LP shopping, as I'd divested myself of whatever I had back in the day. I've been buying lots of secondhand classical titles, and it's especially enjoyable to find first-rate recordings that are not available on CDat just a few bucks a throw! My jazz purchases have been limited by the big price differential between jazz and classical; probably just as well, because space is limited and a crunch is looming somewhere down the road (hmm, do I really need furniture?).
I have spent around $2I 500 buying LPs this year. A "good" LP system can easily beat a CD system of the same price range. My major LP system consists of Acoustic Solid Wood Reference MPX and Shelter 901 MC cartridge. And I love it so much.
It's astonishing how many contemporary artists release on vinyl. Artists like Ryan Adams, Lambchop, Alejandro Escovedo. If it's available on vinyl, I buy it on vinyl. The best is when you get a code that allow you to download digital files as well. Otherwise, I have to rip the LP which is a bit tedious.