If you check out some of the more obscure NWoBHM entries, I've been putting "Last sold on eBay" tags on for those who are interested (e.g. http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/satan--kiss-of-death%28single%29.aspx - Satan's "Kiss of Death/Heads Will Roll" single).

 

I'm not only interested in vinyl for its value or collectability though - even though digital recordings are superior on paper, in practice, vinyl just sounds better, and I hardly ever listen to a CD through choice.

 

 

...I suppose I have to qualify what I said above by saying "sounds better to me..."

It's all down to the mastering - there's something about period masters that captures the essence of the music better than more recent ones.

 

The one drawback is that to get a half-decent one will easily set you back �20 (any cheaper and they tend to be almost unlistenable through over play).

 

If your amp and speakers are good, that slab of vinyl will give your system a workout far better than any CD, and it sounds like the band are in the room with you - the one caveat being that you need to turn it UP to neighbour complaint drowning levels.

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I buy a lot of CD's, and I have a pretty good collection for a sixteen year old 

 

I've got a first pressing of Led Zep II with the plum label and it has so much power in those grooves. You're right some of those early pressings were fantastic.

 

The problem by the mid seventies was caused by the oil crisis leaving a shortage of vinyl hence pressings started to get thinner and worse quality of course. I still don't think you can beat a good pressing on a good deck though.

 

I really got into it when I was 17 years old which was 1982 because of most of the music being produced at that time wasn't to my liking so I went back into time to "search" for artists in prog, hard rock and metal as I was a huge fan of Sabbath and Yes at that time finding heavy psych/hard rock/proto-metal, other prog bands, blues-rock, psychedelia, folk-rock from the period of 1965-1975.

 

A lot of these albums were a combination of OOP, limited releases, regional label distribution,  thus resulting in obscurity which it turn were very expensive. Most of the vinyl I purchased was from a shop here in town as the two owners were both into the same music I was and brought in a lot of material for me and held it for me as I was the first to get the choice of purchasing them or not and in some cases got the guys to put them in my "stash" to purchase at a latter day.

 

On many occassions the guys and I would load my p/u(had a canopy) with vinyl very early in the morning and catch the ferry to Vancouver over to record swap meets. The guys would pay for the gas and buy my breakfast and dinner on the ferry but the real benefit was the I got to flip through the tables before the doors opened to the public. PARADICE.

 

I also had a subscription to Goldmine magazine which was a market place for collectors with sellers all over the world and articles in regards to vinyl. I bought mostly from three places. a guy in Portland, Oregon and a seller in London and Midnite Records in NYC. Also there was another used vinyl shop here in town that was bigger than the shop I frequented and had alot more "mainstream" albums and when CDs came in I bought albums buy the armload as people brought in thier records to sell and they had changed to CD and used vinyl was dirt cheap. We had a huge stereo/electronics/records store also that had a huge inventory of new vinyl and brought in imports all over the world. They did it well but years latter the store changed owners and went bankrupt. It was a big fixture here in the city for 25 years.

 

I was resistant to the CD for the first few years and I remember very well saying to a buddy of mine that, "vinyl sounds better to me than the CD. It sounds so trebly, tin like with no `depth`." He gave me a hard time about it until he read an article about Neil Young in Rolling Stone and Neil stated that vinyl sounded better, so my buddy changed his tune because he was a big Young fan. What a joke.

 

With the introduction of the CD the big labels did reissue some albums that were deleted on vinyl, but not many as it was the small independent labels like Rhino(US) and Repertoire(Germany) and others that reissued many of the obscure albums from the late 60's/early 70's and as imports and the value of the Canadian $ at that time I was paying $25-30 a CD. Many albums that I couldn`t find on vinyl was reissued on CD.

 

Twelve years ago I purchased a Yamaha CD recorded to transfer my vinyl to CD-R. A lot of work and very time consuming. I did get about 600 done.

 

I bought my first computer about seven years(again stubborn to insane acceleration of technology) and was amazed all those very rare pieces of vinyl available in digital formats, stuff I thought I would never hear 20 years ago was just a DL away.

 

I have over 3,000 pieces of vinyl and ya it has been somewhat of a headache when I have moved and kept in storage for years at roughly at $100 a month not to mention the woman in my life complaining about it when I accumulated a stack. Now it`s in my parents garage.

 

The most I spent for a piece of vinyl was $60 for a SS copy of Bubble Puppy`s, A Gathering Of Promises on the infamous International Artists label from Texas. Found a couple of `deals` also. Paying $40 for a VG copy of Moon Blood by Fraction at a swap meet from a lady from Seattle. I said to myself when I saw the price, `she`s mad a mistake.` I felt very guilty handing her the $40. Still somewhat bothers today. Supposedly this album has sold for $1500. The second was the self-titled debut from The Plastic Cloud, a Canadian garage psych artist for $7 as it was worth about $150 at that time. It wasn`t listed in the Osbourne Record Price Guide. On average I was paying $15-30 for an album.

 

I still use my Woody(Dual 506 turntable with a wood grain finish) which I bought when I was 14 years old. I`ve thought about my selling my collection a couple of times but just don`t have the heart to. Possibly one day.

Criminal? Sacrilegious, hell ya. If I saw you doing that I would give you and your buddies "a can whoop ass."

Wow - and I thought I was fairly obsessive about vinyl; I collected moderately in my teens-twenties, stopped, then underwent a massive renaissance about 10 years ago that lasted about 7 years - I've stopped again, because prices have gone ballistic on the really collectible stuff in the last 3 years or so. For example, 3 years ago, I could go into my local vinyl store and expect a First Edition Led Zep I (Turquoise lettering), when it turned up, every couple of months or so, to be tagged around �100-200, dependent on condition. I ummed and ahhed over the price - but now they go for �1,000+ on eBay, so that's what the shop tries to sell them for.

 

cannon wrote: I was resistant to the CD for the first few years and I remember very well saying to a buddy of mine that, "vinyl sounds better to me than the CD. It sounds so trebly, tin like with no `depth`."

 

Word..

 

cannon wrote: Twelve years ago I purchased a Yamaha CD recorded to transfer my vinyl to CD-R. A lot of work and very time consuming. I did get about 600 done.

 

My wife bought me a Project Debut III USB turntable for a birthday (I forget which!), and although it doesn't reduce the time it takes to record an album, it makes the whole experience a very enjoyable one, as I can hear the album through my HiFi at the same time as recording it! The boring bit comes when you have to split the recordings into individual tracks - as many albums require.

 

http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?prod=debutphusb&cat=turntables&lang=en" rel="nofollow - http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?prod=debutphusb&cat=turntables&lang=en

 

 

cannon wrote:   I have over 3,000 pieces of vinyl and ya it has been somewhat of a headache when I have moved and kept in storage for years at roughly at $100 a month not to mention the woman in my life complaining about it when I accumulated a stack. Now it`s in my parents garage.

 

I have around 2,500 - and they're all in racks in my sitting room. My wife hates them - until it comes to listening time of her favourites - then she grudgingly agrees that the sound is superior to CD.

 

cannon wrote: The most I spent for a piece of vinyl was $60 for a SS copy of Bubble Puppy`s, A Gathering Of Promises on the infamous International Artists label from Texas. Found a couple of `deals` also. Paying $40 for a VG copy of Moon Blood by Fraction at a swap meet from a lady from Seattle. I said to myself when I saw the price, `she`s mad a mistake.` I felt very guilty handing her the $40. Still somewhat bothers today. Supposedly this album has sold for $1500. The second was the self-titled debut from The Plastic Cloud, a Canadian garage psych artist for $7 as it was worth about $150 at that time. It wasn`t listed in the Osbourne Record Price Guide. On average I was paying $15-30 for an album.

 

I try not to pay more than �10 if I can help it, but I have a few similar tales of triumph - like the time I went into Oxfam in Henley and found a "Loud Cut" First Edition of Rubber Soul in Near Mint condition on sale for �30, and then Oxfam in Reading, where I found a "Livin' Lovin' Wreck" edition of Led Zep II priced at �7, in similar condition. Both go on eBay around the �250 mark - or did last time I looked.

 

I buy stuff from Oxfam quite regularly, and make regular charitable donations, so I can soothe my conscience that way...

 

cannon wrote: I still use my Woody(Dual 506 turntable with a wood grain finish) which I bought when I was 14 years old. I`ve thought about my selling my collection a couple of times but just don`t have the heart to. Possibly one day.

 

A seller came up from Seattle a couple years ago and took a look at my collection and gave me a price. I said, 'What?!" He offered me about 20% of what I thought my collection was worth and I did extensive research on prices as I've been out of the loop of the value of vinyl in the last ten years. Now I know he has to make money but the price was ridiculous. After my first emotion of being shocked I became angry and told him, "See ya latter. Thanx for stopping by."

 

I have no intention of selling it in the near future but I have no idea what the future holds.

 

I agree Mark. The price of some of the vinyl now days is crazy. One has to be wealthy. I'm happy finding a CD of an artist but now some of the CDs that had a limited number of releases are getting expensive as well. Then I'm happy with a digital D/L.

 

BTW, my half brother gave me about 500 records mostly from the around the early to mid 60's and includes The Beatles, The Stones and other more notable rock artists as well as some folk, some jazz(mostly John Coltrane), blues and R&B and country(he was a big Johnny Cash fan) and some Elvis.

 

I had a lot of fun collecting back in the day however other priorities, situations, technology and other reasons came up that I stopped collecting and have no intention of getting back into it.

 

Well that's a different story then. Sounds like a fun job.

I agree. About ten years ago or so I noticed the prices getting ridiculous. I thought the prices would of have come down with many of those rare obsure pieces of vinyl getting reissued on CD and the ease and the low price of downloading digital files. Go figure.

I'm also sucker for those  I guess it taps into my collector-gene, but I try to keep it under control - something both my wife & wallet seems to appreciate. 

But if you act fast and buy the rare or limited edition, when they are released, you can usually find them around the same price as the cd (maybe a little pricier). 

Actually one of the reasons I took up collecting new music on vinyl, is I grew immensely tired of my fathers story, about how he never should have sold that Beatle/Elvis - you name it-collection. But instead of collecting the gold of his generation (yeah I do that to some extend), I collect contemporary music on vinyl. Hopefully I won't be telling the soggy story of when I sold my golden vinyl collection to my children  

Funny how my fathers collection grows more & more awesome each time he tells the story

I agree with this.

Also, I'm looking to get a sturdy shelf for my records since the crates I currently store them in are at capacity and are an eyesore. 

Oh, be quiet you 

 

That's why I need a new record player. 

There are certain kinds of record players (mighty expensive in most circumstances) that can rip your music from your vinyl on to your computer. It's really cool. 

That's why if you're someone who enjoys collecting them, you have to look in the exact right places to get them for cheap. My collection is growing because of finding all of these cheap vinyls for $3-5.00.

That's certainly cheap. I assume you're talking about 2nd hand at that price?

Usually they are actually in quite good shape.Of course not new and pristine but I find some great records with little to no scratches at the place I visit.

However, I don't know if I'm imagining this and it may be partly down to the vinyl resurgence - albums do seem to be getting shorter. I've bought a lot lately that only seem to be around the 45 min mark.

Records are the only way to experience music.....You can't "hear" music from a digital file. Day in day out my rekkids destroy my CDs for sound quality and immersion into the music. Only time I listen to CDs is when I am vacuuming or cleaning the toilet....back ground noise.

Can't do this with a CD.....