How a turntable is like a gym membership


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I was a member of the YMCA for years. I was there every night five days a week working out and playing basketball. I got married and started having children, but I kept my membership, I just wasn't using it. I wouldn't drop my membership because I liked playing basketball so much, I just wasn't going to the gym. Once a year, I'd go to the gym to justify my keeping it. I had to go to the front desk to get the combination to my locker, I had been there so seldom, I forgot the combination. After about five years reality set in and I finally dropped the membership. So I bought a full-fledged home gym that I now don't use, I go walking with my iPod instead.

I own two turntables, a record-cleaning machine and over 3,000 jazz LP's. Over the last five years I may have played a total of three or four LP's. I bought both of my turntables because they are both beautiful and thought that it would force me to play my vinyl. Wrong! I have an excellent CD player and I also own a SqueezeBox. Sorry, but digital is just too doggone convenient. It was nice owning two beautiful turntables so my guests could oooh and ahhh when thay saw them. It was cool to say "yeah, I still spin vinyl" when the fellas saw my system. But the truth was, I rarely came near the turntables. They served as not much more than Audio Sculpture or Audio Eye-Candy. Both of them sound beautiful, but I'll be doggone if I'm willing to go through ritual of cleaning the LP, cueing it, and be standing nearby to remove the arm when the last song is finished on one side. I kind of always felt that there was an unwritten rule somewhere that to be considered a "true audiophile" that you had to have analog playback included in your system. Sorry, but I've given in to 21st Century technology and I'm moving on. There, I've said it, I've been faking it as an analog lover for the past few years. Well, I do actually love analog, I just don't have time for it.

So, I put on an album tonight and DAMN that vinyl sounded good! But, after about 30 minutes, I realized that I have been spoiled by the convenience of digital and I'm just not willing to go through the gyrations to play an LP any longer.

So, the turntables have to go, but I'm keeping my LP's just in case. Hopefully my 13 year-old son will take them when he graduates from college.
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128x128mitch4t

Showing 3 responses by koegz

Quit the YMCA and build a gym in the house. If possible near your vinyl set up. Work out to vinyl. I do. Nothing like it. I am now getting into digital as well. I have no intention of abandening vinyl. Digital is easy, Vinyl is a Hobby and way of life! Sell your jazz vinyl. Your kids will be listening to rock and roll!
FADS; yogurt, polyester suits, polyester big collar shirts, dico, platform shoes,leisure suits, hulla hoops, slinkies, marbles, tops, flower power, crewcuts, the word groovy, tube tops, tie-dyed t shirts, denim jackets, shoulder pads, elbow patches, flashdance, Saturday Night Fever, spandex, velcro, the twist, love beads, lava lamps, mood rings, chia pets, pet rocks, cnbc, instant messanger, aol, you got mail, religion, "having said that", 8 tack tapes, cassette tapes, men to boys, saving, gop, tea party, sarah palin, etc Said to be fads but became fab instead: Elvis, The Beatles, The stone, Bob Dylan, Springsteen, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, ice-cream, movies, fruits and vegetables, vegetarian, art, reading, green, toyota, science, free thought, protest,etc. Trends; saving, equal rights, legalized pot, gay rights, free thought, electric cars, solar and wind, world economy, stem cell technoligy, online everything, o yeh, VINYL. Fads then not fad, then fad again then not fad and back again and then no again; John Travolta
I do very little, just minor teaks to vinyl now. My wife listens to digital. She does nothing but turn it on. For her it is atmosphere. Tweaking is part of the hobby. Most of us enjoy the minor adjusting, it makes us feel as if we are part of the music. Involved in it's reproduction. I will bet if you ask the freinds you talk about, do they mind the tweaking? A resounding NO, I love it? That is the point. It helps makes the music personel. You are involved. Other wise it is just back round. Listening to just the hits and not the entire album. It is clear most on this thread do not understand vinyl! It is about the feel, the involvement, the love of the music, the memories, the artist, the meaning, taking the time to really listen and the sound.