In the late 80s my roommate tried like hell to get me to give him my albums when he moved out because in our small NYC apartment I’d switched to CDs as they were the new thing and took up a lot less space. At the time I wasn’t as focused on sound quality (I was young and stupid) and was enjoying the convenience and lack of pops/clicks with “perfect sound forever,” but a little voice kept telling me to hold on to my records and thankfully I ultimately listened to it and kept all my vinyl. Fast forward 35 years and I’m now really looking forward to getting my vinyl rig back up and running in the near future whereas if I’d given my records to my roommate, who I’m still in touch with, I’m sure my treasured collection would be in a landfill somewhere because he doesn’t have a turntable or even a decent stereo anymore. I don’t know if it was luck or what, but I just thank the Audio Gods for that little voice back then.
Sometimes you just get lucky
Back in the day, as CDs were all the "perfect sound forever" rage, my young daughters were in need of their first bicycles. Having just bought our first house, money was pretty tight. So, I looked at my collection of a little over 400 LPs -- classic rock, progressive rock, and jazz, mostly, and all in great shape -- that weren't getting much attention just then and decided to sell them at a local record store for some bike-buying cash. The clerk sniffed at me and declared that he would only give me $20 for the lot. At that point, I knew that bicycles would require a Plan B (which happened) and that I should probably hold onto the collection (which also happened). Fast forward to today, and my record collection is 3-4x the size it was back then and includes a fair share of rare items, MFOMR, One-Steps, UHQRs, box sets, etc. But those original albums remain some of my most cherished. And I constantly thank the "Great DJ in the Sky" that the clerk that day didn't make a reasonable offer. I wonder if any of you have had similar experiences?
Happy Listening,
Dawgfish