I was stumbling around on the Web and this popped up. I’m not gonna discuss the 1,000 or so entries that are listed. Instead I want to riff on the lamentations of vinyl devotees. Even then, I’m not venturing into the ongoing squabble as to whether vinyl or digital produces the better sound.
No, having lost everything in the Oakland firestorm in ‘91 has let me know what it feels like to loose everything, and equally importantly how to replace it. I lost thousands of negatives (as a semi-professional photographer,)which (by definition) can never be replaced. And, I also lost a shit- load of LP’s. Were it not for CD’s and digital media, I would have had little chance of replacing those LP’s. In the era in which I acquired all of those LP’s, the only way you could replace one of them was to find it new in a store, like Tower Records. Later, one was reduced to finding it in a used LP store, and even then it was hit or miss as to whether you could find it, and then whether it would only have even a tolerable level of scratches and other surface damage.
After the fire, I was prescient enough to realize that most all of the LP’s I had lost would eventually come out as CD’s, and I did not want to buy a new turntable. Moreover, to be quite honest, there were a lot of the LP albums that I had no urge to replace, having “moved on” from what they once had to offer. It turns out to have been a choice I do not regret.
So, getting back to the attached file, I love having lived as long as I have. Now, I can hear pretty much all of these albums on Rhapsody, and if I want, download them at a reasonable cost. Equally important I do not have to endure the scratch that occurred when a girl at my party fell into the turntable, or the pizza damage that occurred when a dude (or possibly moi) made an ill-advised transfer of dinner to media. Nope, these days I can get it on CD or digital download from Rhapsody in pristine condition.
There are quite a few albums on this list that I have not heard, so eventually I will jump on Rhapsody and check them out at no cost to me other than my subscription. If I like them (or just certain tracks), I will download them and make them part of my current collection. What I WON”T be doing is going to Berkeley or San Francisco record stores and buying old vinyl “ears unheard,” vinyl, and that’s even assuming they would have the desired platters in stock.
~ Tom
1 comment:
Some good points bro. I've continued to pass old lps on to my oldest son Miles or others, but I still have probably fifty or so lps I never listen to, and probably a hundred CDs I rarely listen to. Most of it is on my computer now (for which Miles bought me some terrific speakers) and I love the random surprises of "shuffle" etc. But I must admit I do miss the old albums as art objects. They were often great works of art and sometimes the liner notes were equally impressive. I miss all that, but not the hassle of paying for and storing them etc.
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