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Vinyl goes from throwback to comeback


Jahfin

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By Jonathan Perry

Globe Correspondent

Monica Morgan, an 18-year-old high school student from Jacksonville, Fla., is taking a breather from scouting prospective colleges in and around Boston. She is standing inside Newbury Comics in Cambridge, scouring the bins of new LP releases by artists such as Gnarls Barkley and Bjork. Rows of colorful album covers catch her eye.

"My dad just gave me a record player, so I mostly like to buy vinyl," says Morgan. A stash of records originally owned by her mother, and now bequeathed to her, led Morgan to her latest love. "I have some old Beatles records with my mom's maiden name on them," she says. "I just like the way they sound."

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All except one Roger Miller record that my parents had got given away, before I could request the ones that I enjoyed with them when younger. But it really sounds like crap - those old stacking record players really chewed them up. Do Wacka Do.

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Vinyl Returns in the Age of MP3

LP and turntable sales grow as fans find warmer sound in classic format

DAVID BROWNE

For his 19th birthday, Simon Hamburg wanted only one present: a turntable for his dorm room at the University of Southern Mississippi. His father bought him a portable $69 model, and Hamburg's older brother chipped in LPs by Simon and Garfunkel and the Who. "Listening to 'Baba O'Riley' on vinyl is always better than listening to 'Baba O'Riley' on anything else," Hamburg says. "You can hear every instrument. It sounds stupid, but it's like you're feeling the music. You're part of it."

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Yeah I mean you dig around in the record bins for old stuff and all you ever find are James Last and Petulia Clarke LPs...

I mean no one even really bought a Jimmi Hendrix LP, let alone throw it away...

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My dad gave away his old turntable a few years ago, I think I was 8 and it was mine with I was 5. (I'm 14 now.) I just got a whole new stereo last Christmas, and I listen to it all the time. I am the only person that I know of who has one and I love it. I don't really even buy cd's anymore. I just look for the vinyl.

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Was at Costco the other day and they had a turntable with a cartridge on for $120. Was tempted to buy it just to see how good it was. They do have a great return policy if it turns out to be garbage

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Mine was $100. It was inexpensive, not cheap. I've not had a single problem with it since I got it.

Are you refering to the Costco one ?

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I still have over 300 vinyl records from the good old days in my basement. They haven't been played for many years since my turntable's needle disintegrated. I haven't bothered to look for a replacement, but I may now. Some of the records have only been played a few times and are in near mint condition.

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Interesting articles, Jafin. While we've added CDs and MP3s to our music collection, my husband and I have never stopped loving and playing vinyl. Our son started to collect vinyl in high school - old Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. When we visited an independent record store last year, the owner told us that, as soon as he puts out vintage vinyl albums, they sell out - to high school students who buy all the vinyl that he has for sale.

I wonder if Technics still offers turntables? They were decent, for the price.

I have a fairly new Technics turntable. They have top-of-the-line models for over $500 but also some reasonably priced ones. I bought mine at J&R Music.

They were. Pioneer made a good one too.

I loved the Pioneer stereos.

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Are you refering to the Costco one ?

No, sorry, I guess I didn't quite make that clear.

They were. Pioneer made a good one too.

Interesting articles, Jafin. While we've added CDs and MP3s to our music collection, my husband and I have never stopped loving and playing vinyl. Our son started to collect vinyl in high school - old Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. When we visited an independent record store last year, the owner told us that, as soon as he puts out vintage vinyl albums, they sell out - to high school students who buy all the vinyl that he has for sale.

I have a fairly new Technics turntable. They have top-of-the-line models for over $500 but also some reasonably priced ones. I bought mine at J&R Music.

I loved the Pioneer stereos.

My entire stereo is Pioneer and I love it. It sounds great. I got it 2 Christmases ago. I think I accidently put a year ago in another post.

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Yes, we got it the day it arrived at the record store. If you want the type of things I got, I can go get the numbers on them. I think the turntable is a Pioneer 990 but I'm not sure.

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Yeah I mean you dig around in the record bins for old stuff and all you ever find are James Last and Petulia Clarke LPs...

I guess it all depends on where you go looking for vinyl. Locally I have several options. One of the last standing record stores stocks new vinyl but they also have a pretty vast collection of used stuff. There's also several places in town that carry nothing but used stuff.

I mean no one even really bought a Jimmi Hendrix LP, let alone throw it away...

Not sure I understand this. So no one even really bought a Jimi Hendrix LP? To the contrary...

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I live in a small town so there is hardly any selection at the record store for used vinyl. However sometimes we go and find all sorts of thins, it's usually one way or the other. We either find a lot or don't find anything.

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There is absolutely no choice as there are no record stores here at all, just the big boxes. I have to travel to other cities to find a record store, period. Even then, they are few and far between. However I do know of a least a few places in the Triangle area of NC that stock a large amount of used vinyl.

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This is cute and all but in the era of ipod portability, vinyl are just for the chic, poseurs, or generally the un-pragmatic among us (youngsters).

Maybe next it will be TV's that only get 4 channels and have rabbit ears and no remote, wouldn't that be grand? :huh::D

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This is cute and all but in the era of ipod portability, vinyl are just for the chic, poseurs, or generally the un-pragmatic among us (youngsters).

I know of some folks that buy vinyl just to burn it to digital for use on their iPods. There's also some that do the same thing because of "The Loudness Wars" (compression). Personally I thought the whole compact disc thing was forced on the music consumer. Once all vinyl was removed from the local stores I had no choice but to purchase CDs. At first the sound quality of CDs was far inferior to that of vinyl (even though that, along with their supposed "indestructibility") were among it's strongest selling points. It took years but finally the sound quality of CDs improved. Of course CDs and iPods are more manageable than vinyl but the beauty of liner notes and artwork were also lost along the way. I still don't own an iPod, nor do I have any immediate plans to do so. Once CDs are removed from shelves (in much the same manner that vinyl was) then I will be forced to transfer my CD collection to some sort of digital device.

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Maybe next it will be TV's that only get 4 channels and have rabbit ears and no remote, wouldn't that be grand? :huh::D

Not really an adequate analogy. Maybe if we were comparing the digital format to 8-tracks, cassettes and the reel-to-reel but even the most avid of audiophiles prefers the sound of vinyl to compact discs. There's a reason for that, something is lost during the transfer of analog to digital.

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