I like listening to records. I know that may sound weird to some of you, because I am also a big fan of technology, and records may seem like the opposite of technology. But I love it.
I can remember listening to records once in a while when I was a kid at my parents house growing up. I seem to recall a Dr. Suess record that my brother and I liked to listen to, but that is about all I remember.
Then a number of years ago I was at my church’s giant yard sale that they would do every year, and I saw a record player for really cheap (I think it was $5-$10). I decided to buy it. I had to then buy a new belt for it since it was constantly slipping and not running correctly. I remember that was a bit of a chore back then, but I found them, bought them (I think I bought 3 or 4 at the time), and replaced the belt and haven’t had to change it since (and I have lost the other belts over the years since then).
I started off with my parent’s records. They weren’t using them and my dad said I could have them all. So, I got them. There were Beatles records, Bill Cosby, Neil Diamond, Carol King and many more.
Then I started buying my own records. And I would say that I have gone a bit overboard with it I think. I started going to Bookman’s where they have used records and I have purchased a couple Beatles albums, The Who, Steve Miller Band, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. One time I bought The Beatles, “The Magical Mystery Tour” there, and when I got home I found that “Hey Jude” was inside the record sleeve as well. That was kind of cool. Early in my marriage I also bought almost the complete set of the Time-Life Swing record set from Bookman’s. It was a big purchase and it has a lot of music on it. There were many times early in my marriage where “B” and I would put on a record and dance to that music in our home.
Then I started buying new records. I think it started with a Five Iron Frenzy record, and since then I have bought a lot of records.
Here you go (sorry the pictures aren’t all that great due to glare and angles):
Five Iron Frenzy –
Relient K (I just realized I forgot to photograph the singles I have) –
Switchfoot & John Foreman (of Switchfoot) –
MxPx, Arthur, Anberlin & The Echoing Green –
Lindsey Stirling, Charlie Brown Christmas, Weird Al Yankovic, Five For Fighting, & The Greatest Showman Soundtrack –
Once I started buying my own records I decided I needed a better needle on the record player. So, that got upgraded about 10 years ago as well. The new needle really made the sound smoother, and cleaner. I didn’t realize that the old needle made that big of a sound difference until I had changed it.
So you may ask why? I like the sound. I like that it isn’t always perfect. There are little things every so often that make it not perfect. I like that you can’t skip around. I find that I truly listen to the music when I listen to a record. I try not to get distracted. I don’t allow myself to daydream. I want to listen.
There is a smoothness to the sound that you just don’t get with digital music a lot of the time. I like holding the record and seeing it. A lot of the newer records have designs on them that are fun to watch as they spin.
At the moment I think there are a couple things I would like to “upgrade” my record setup. I would like a new pre-amp. This ups the audio gain to the amplifier so you can hear the music. Right now I am still using a cheap one I bought at Radio Shack 20+ years ago. The issue with a new one is to get a good one is that they are expensive. Also, I would like to get something that would allow me to output to my computer to record the records into digital format. I would like that because there are a few records (like all those swing records) that you can’t get in digital form anywhere or I don’t own in digital form and don’t want to buy in digital form since I own it on vinyl already. So, I guess that is really just one upgrade device that I want. Something that is better sound quality of a pre-amp and also has digital output. I know they are out there, but again they are expensive and I can’t justify the cost at this point in my life.
So, for now I just sit in my basement and listen to the records with the setup I have. I have enjoyed it that way for years and years and I will keep enjoying it.