A decent set of beginner advice to care of vinyl

You'll need:

a) Some kind of cleaning regimen-particularly if you plan to, or already do, own used vinyl. There is zero-and I mean absolute zero-agreement on how to do this, so I'd do a search over at VA, choose a method that meets your criteria for patience/obsessiveness/cost, experiment a little, and then stick with it. I'd definitely recommend some sort of vacuum cleaning device (can be very simple/cheap or complicated/expensive), and I'd ignore 'jaybo's dismissal of the practice-it makes the difference between enjoying records (especially used) or going back to digital.

(b discard the paper liners, and find a source for poly or 'rice paper' sleeves. Again, little consensus, search at VA, find your cost/quality comfort zone. My favorites are the MFSL 'rice paper', but they're probably the most expensive. Check 'Sleeve City' or 'Bags Unlimited' for other choices. Don't skip this step-those paper sleeves suck-I should say, though, that I save the originals if they have any printing on them, and store them in the outer sleeve.

(c store records in jacket outer sleeves to prevent 'ring wear'

d) buy a carbon fiber brush for a dust-off when you're ready to play

e) store vertically, and snugly, so they don't 'lean'.

That's about it in a nutshell, but as I implied, vinyl can be a vehicle for someone with latent OCD to register a full fledged outbreak. Only you know where the proper cutoff point is, but for a case of way-over-the-line-of-common-sense, check out this method on Fremer's 'Music Angle' http://musicangle.com/feat.php?id=54. Yikes.

i do 'clean or scrub' records, but i'm convinced as much scrubbing goes on today as listening.

wow, what a great selection of information. All of it is much appreciated. I know what I will be doing tonight - a lot of surfing for more info touched upon here. Again, much appreciated.
-terry

The beauty of the Disc Doctor pads - as compared to a machine - is that you can Listen while you Scrub.

I have bought vast amounts of used vinyl. finally got more discriminating in terms of apparent condition, but felt most needed cleaning. I have spent days and days cleaning vinyl, and it's kinda crazy, because I work long hours at my profession. would like comments as to my method of initial cleaning, and then advice as to what to buy to save me those long days in the future. I have a laundry sink, and next to it two large basins. I run cold or warm tap water over the surface, trying to keep label dry, to dislodge dust and grit. Then i wash it with microfiber cloth in first basin of tap water with a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid and a little denatured alcohol. then I do a final rinse/vigorous swishing in tub of distilled water to wash away the tap water, alcohol, Dawn, etc. lay it out on a towel to dry. when almost dry, I wipe with clean microfiber cloth. Am I doing anything harmful if I rinse really well with the distilled water? even so, I need a faster method, for volume amounts of records. what machine is out there that would cut down my time considerably?