2. analog
  3. 168613-129831

What is it about spinning vinyl?

I just turned the system off several minutes ago. I had been listening to a great, high res file of Tower of Power, best horn section ever. As many know I have been sans turntable for 8 months. I sold my old one and ordered a new one but you know the story. Covid delays. It is under construction now.  Anyway, as I turned the system off I got this real urge to play a record. The wizard inside did not feel like turning the computer back on. It wanted a record. Grumpy, I decided to hit the sack. 
Think about that. I have a terabyte and a half of digital files sitting there in a hard drive.  Everything from Bach to Captain Beefheart. It had to be a record. No record, bedtime. It was not about the music. It was about the mechanical act of playing a record. I've been doing it since I was four years old. My dad got me a Zenith portable for my fourth birthday. You know, with the black cobra tonearm complete with eyes! Is it just repetitive behavior. Perhaps there is some sort of psychological explanation. Happy associations? Platter hypnosis? Maybe it is that we get emotionally attached to certain behaviors. 
128x128mijostyn
notnow0329
36 posts
 
It's a pain in the A#$ to spin vinyl. Cleaning, handling, gentle touches as not to print, so why.  

It just feels good. Sounds great but feels good too.

Love to stream but it is just listening, no real feel.
Spinning vinyl makes you a part of the experience not just an audience.
jasonbourne52's avatar
jasonbourne52
2,863 posts
 
It is fascinating to watch rotating objects!
whart's avatar
whart
3,019 posts
 
@mijostyn--do you own any original Vertigo Swirls? If you are in the mindset, you can just watch the record spinning....

edgewear
543 posts
 
Interesting variation on ’Everything from Abba to Zappa’, I guess you don’t like Abba? Anyway, it make me put on Trout Mask (on vinyl of course)😎

The ritual of putting on a record seems like some sort of magical act, with or without a Magic Band. It involves a tactile sensation that demands concentration, giving the impression of being involved in something substantial. It literally sets the stage mentally for an experience that has the potential of being emotionally rewarding. Performing this ritual is basically what draws you into the music. Instructing a computer to ’play’ a digital file (or hit ’play’ on a cd player) gives you none of that.

’Round things are boring’ is the closing statement on Lumpy Gravy, but we know better, don’t we?





hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,974 posts
 
You have a preference for a deeply rooted habit. Probably one of many. May have nothing to do with vinyl, per se. 
More to discover