Why Do You Still Have Vinyl if You Don't Play it?


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I own 3,000 plus lp's that I just don't play anymore. I told my 14 year-old son that he can have them when he starts college. He said no thanks, he said that he can carry around that much music in his back pocket in his iPod. I tried to explain to him that if he played LP's in college, he'd easily be one of the coolest students on campus. He told me to "get real" and thanks, but no thanks. I think I just may have to go through the task of grading each LP and selling them off. I've tried to convince myself that I will one day play them. I was just fooling myself. For the last fifteen years, I play one or two LP's a year just for the hell of it. I do like looking at them in their Ikea racks and marvel how I assembled my collection over nearly 40 years. I do like it when visitors comment on them and look through them. Cd's killed my vinyl and now my Squeezebox is finally going to bury it.

How many of you still have a sizeable vinyl collection that you don't play, but refuse to let go of?

I think it's time for me to let go.
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mitch4t
Mitch, thanks for starting this thread. It's a topic so many of us think about, so it's refreshing to read everyone's slant on the issue. They are many, and they each make sense -- to someone -- sort of -- which is why I think it remains such a 'sticky' problem.

And though 'what to do' with large vinyl collections represent the most widespread concern, it's not really just a 'vinyl' issue is it? I mean, think of those 'digital only' folks who are currently wrestling with: Should I just put all my CD's on a server and get rid of the software, etc? And it's the same I expect for those in to 78's, mono LP's, R2R, cassettes, and (who knows?!) even 8-track!

Recently, about to enter my eigth decade. I thought, maybe there's another way to define this 'problem'. What if I say, as a personal policy, there are no "old formats"? What if instead, I take the position that; "the music (or performance) is where I find it, or have it, in MY collection", no matter in what format it happens to be?

Suddenly the choice/decision is what it always has been for me, namely; "What music or/performnce do I feel like hearing right now?" I don't expect everyone to see it this way, but it works for me and has eliminated much of the anxiety about what to keep and what to pitch without feeling bad about it, regardless of format..

BTW, I have nothing against background music or shuffle-play (I call it "chewing gum for the ears") but if that's all I need at the moment, I (still) have radio; and now internet streaming, XM, and of course making one's own mixes -- whether on a CD, iPod, server, or (God forbid!) a cassette ;--)
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"chewing gum for the ears" reminds me of my first airplane experience. The stewardess was handing out gum to relieve ear pressure problems. It worked well, tho removing the gum from my ears afterward was a real chore!
Sold most of my vinyl years ago,thought it would be great to get back into it.Bought a nice LP12,new arm,power supply,3 cart,phon pre,cables,cleaners,stand yada yada.Fiddled with it for a few months trying this and that and after alot of cash and time relized it sucked compared to digital and dumped it all..Vinyl,forgetaboutit!!!!
Mitch,

The only convenient way to get rid of them and feel good about it is to give them to someone you know who'll appreciate them IMO. My secretary's husband had a huge vinyl collection in the attic that he didn't play for about 20 years. He didn't have the time nor patience to grade them and sell them.

He gave them to me under a few conditions -
I had to take them all - no rummaging through them to only take what I wanted
I wouldn't sell anything
The stuff I didn't want would go to another vinyl head or a library or similar place

It's been about 3 years. He has no regrets. I've given away a good portion of the albums to friends on another forum. All I asked was they pay shipping.

Just some food for thought.
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I also offered the records to my 21 year-old daughter. She was nearly offended by my offer. Too low-tech for her and she isn't that thrilled about jazz. Besides, she doesn't have the space in her apt. If I gave them away, I'd like them to go to a place where I could at least 'visit' them every now and then.

My 14 year-old son is a violinist entering his freshman year at a performing arts high school in LA. He also plays guitar. There is a guy that lives in my building that buys up vinyl collections. I've bought several LP's from him over the years. I'll get him to teach my son and I how to grade them. Then I'll let my son sell them here or on eBay. It will be a great project for my son to teach him how to earn a few bucks. Most of my LP's are jazz. I'll let him keep all of the proceeds from the sale to buy himself a nicer violin. I'm sure during the process he's going to have lots of questions about the artists as he's cataloging them and preparing them for sale. He should easily get $3k for the whole kit and caboodle after it's all said and done. $3k should get him a pretty nice violin.
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