Your Old Vinyl Collection .....

[Sunlight Caller]

I have had a voyage of vinyl rediscovery this past few weeks. My eldest daughter turned 18 in early August and wanted a vinyl player for her minuscule but growing collection for her birthday, she is totally embracing vinyl as the coolest format. We spent a long evening sorting my old collection into alphabetical order, just to see what was there. We have been dipping in and out ever since, and I have found myself flicking through the growing vinyl sections in our few remaining record stores. I have even bought a couple (TFTO and CTTE) just because I fell in love with the artwork and my old copies were so dilapidated!

I must have had a few weak moments in the past few decades, when I off loaded some of my collection, because there were some key albums missing. Either that or a few boxes have gone astray in house moves. I am left with a solid 500 albums and approaching 1,000 singles. I was mightily aggrieved at the gaps, even though pretty much all have been replicated on CD.

So how many of you have retained your vinyl collections, and how many actively play them now? Do you think the format is back to stay, or just another hipster fad? I have to say they are bloody expensive right now, but the heavyweight format and gatefold sleeves are still a work of beauty to these tired eyes that can no longer focus on a CD lyric sheet.

[markwoll]

I still have all my albums from the 70's and 80's.
Can't bear to part with them.
I have a couple of turntables, one for ripping, which I use now and again.
Sometimes I get a hankering for an old album that I don't want to rebuy.
Ripping vinyl is a pain, but at least I only have to do it once per album.
I sort of get the current interest in vinyl.
A hipster fad , contrarian ocd stuff, copy protection, whatever.
I do not think I will be buying any more of that format.

[ronmac]

I still have every piece of vinyl I ever owned, except for one. I had a visit from my wife's nephew, a good kid with some slight disabilities, who turned out to be a big fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd and was getting into vinyl. So, I not only gave him my once-played copy of "Gold & Platinum," I also gave him a real turntable. The kid was thrilled.

And, let's face it, if I want to hear Skynyrd, all I have to do is turn on the radio and wait for them to show up in between AC/DC songs.

Actually, the only other vinyl I got rid of was a few Led Zep bootlegs that I traded for other items.

Regretfully, I don't play much vinyl these days. But, I occasionally spin one.

[The Wall]

Here in Sweden vinyl sales are going up rapidly and cd's are on a downslope...

I sold my vinyl collection a couple of years ago: prog, psych, jazz, classical...some 1.500 LP's. Well, it sometimes makes me sad to think about it but I can't say I regret it. I can't see myself going back to vinyl - I have too many CD's to take care of (7-8.000)

[JJ88]

It's at least partially a hipster fad IMHO. I've known a few people who've bought 'indie' singles and didn't even have record players at the time. I'm happy that most things are being manufactured on the format these days but the hipster interest- as it is with most of their passing fancies- is a shallow one IMHO.

I've bought them because they are favourites of mine or I can't easily get them on CD- I wouldn't really pay out any substantial money for them, not only is it beyond me but the format can be unreliable, particularly second-hand. CD is my preferred format but the appeal of records is always clear- the covers in particular.

[Joe F.]

I've kept all of my vinyl. I only had around 1300 albums before I converted to CDs in the late '80s.

I don't buy much these days (only 6 new releases last year and 5 this year so far).

I do enjoy playing them once in a while and still have a number of albums that have never seen a CD release.

[rcarlberg]

When CDs came out I repurchased most of my rock but I elected not to replace my jazz and classical LPs (of which I have a few thousand). My turntable is down right now but I plan to keep my LPs until I can no longer play them.

Hipster trend? Well yes, CDs are demonstrably better in every regard except artwork. But I can't be too judgmental, after all LPs were fine for me for twenty years!

[WytchCrypt]

I completed replacing all my vinyl with CD many years ago, the only vinyl I kept were:

4 King Crimson 70's bootlegs "Senabular", "Doctor D", "Un Reve Sans Consequence Speciale", "Heretic".
Tull TaaB with the foldout newspaper, Passion Play with the theater program, 1977 double album bootleg "A Sack Full of Trousersnakes".
Genesis 1975 bootleg "As Though Emerald City".
Autographed copy of Fripp's Exposure.
Beatles Magical Mystery Tour with the booklet.

[ronmac]

There's a misperception that vinyl is outselling CDs. In fact, a friend stated to me that it was more popular than CDs. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth of the matter is that vinyl sales are outgrowing CDs. Vinyl sales are increasing and CD sales are decreasing, due to digital downloads. The real numbers are still miles apart, with CD volumes considerably higher. And there's no sign that vinyl will become anything more than a niche medium.

[rickawakeman]

Never divested myself of my vinyl from the '70s and '80s, nor my trusty and recently refurbished Yamaha turntable. As I posted in the new vinyl thread, just last week bought my first new vinyl in a quarter-century, Wakeman's re-recorded "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", a beautiful double-LP with a gatefold sleeve by Roger Dean.

[Adm.Kirk]

I still have all of my records. Never stopped buying them. Play them all the time. Last night it was the Zep III reissue and the new Uriah Heep getting spins. I have been thrilled with the vinyl comeback. I am running two turntables, a Dual and a 70's era Sony.

Bill

[BobM]

Still have all my vinyl and am heavily invested in an Audiophile quality playback system. I've effectively run out of room in my rack (see pic), but there is a well stocked used record store in my town so the collection keeps slowly growing and eeking out onto the floor. I have plenty of CD's as well as you can see, but IMO they don't replace the sound of good vinyl playback.

[davis]

sold years ago to used record stores, but really most of my vinyl was left behind when I relocated.

[Don Arnold]

I have 98% of the 500 or so records I had accumulated by the time I ceased purchasing vinyl, migrating at the time to buying cds. The only few I've parted with (sold on ebay during the past 2 years) were a handful of the more valuable records I owned - such as Anglagard's Hybris and a Capsicum Red lp. I do still play records occasionally and imagine, as rcarlberg wrote above, I will continue to do so until I'm unable to. I also find pleasure now and again simply taking out a few records and admiring the artwork like it was the first I laid eyes on it. And, as typical of personal collections, there's this mystical quality that transcends the moment, taking you back to when you first bought the record, or perhaps your first listen, or just memories from that period of time.

[Trane]

When I crossed back the pond in the early 90's , I had left my vinyls behind me in a friend's attic (there was probably between 1500 and 2000), meaning to transfer it someday ... but it wasn't a prority at all in my eyes... and I guess I waited too long to act on it...
When I returned to Toronto and Montreal on holidays in 96/7 (not exactly sure), I wanted to take care of that... My friend was quite embarrassed and told me he sold the huge majority, but he had taken care not to dump them either. He'd made a list of how much he'd sold which album, and I must say that it was ok (remember, the date>> vinyls were worth not much at the time)... and he had an enveloppe filled with the money for it ready that he gave me right away... I was kind of upset, because he hadn't talked to me about it about this, but we'd kind of lost touch (I'd moved twice and him once >> which prompted the selling of my vinyls), so.....


OK, I thanked him for getting the best prices (the enveloppe was fairly thick), bought hilm a bottle of Crown Royal (which we downed together over three nights) and I took the last two milk crates filled with albums that he still had (he hadn't gotten time and thought I'd really want to keep some >> which I did) back to Europe... It's all I got really..... I did buy about a third milk crate's space of vinyls since, but by that time, I was firmy into CDs anyways

[willyswing]

Still have & play all my old vinyl. My son has been getting into vinyl lately, so my turntable is in heavy rotation. I just scored mint copies of "Journey To The Center of the Eye" & "Manassas" on record store day (5 bux each), so I'm still buying vinyl, too!

[Sunlight Caller]

Never divested myself of my vinyl from the '70s and '80s, nor my trusty and recently refurbished Yamaha turntable. As I posted in the new vinyl thread, just last week bought my first new vinyl in a quarter-century, Wakeman's re-recorded "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", a beautiful double-LP with a gatefold sleeve by Roger Dean.

I didn't know there was a new vinyl thread, I'll jump in there too. I saw the Rick "Journey to the Centre..." vinyl in the store the other day, and there is also a "Return to the Centre..." double vinyl with Dean artwork, they looked sweet together, but at £40 for the pair I had to decline.

[Sunlight Caller]

Still have all my vinyl and am heavily invested in an Audiophile quality playback system. I've effectively run out of room in my rack (see pic), but there is a well stocked used record store in my town so the collection keeps slowly growing and eeking out onto the floor. I have plenty of CD's as well as you can see, but IMO they don't replace the sound of good vinyl playback.

Love the picture of your collection, I'll have to post one up of mine, but it needs a little tidying up first, as it is spilling on to the floor all around the room

[ronmac]

When I crossed back the pond in the early 90's , I had left my vinyls behind me in a friend's attic

They weren't ruined from the heat?

[AZProgger]

I still have most of the vinyl I collected in the 80s. Titles like Kerry Livgren Seeds Of Change, and every Dixie/The Dregs album. I've been adding to my collection from a local used record shop. Titles like Fireballet Night On Bald Mountain (wish I had a quad capable turntable to play it), most of the 70s Triumvirat albums, and countless classical titles. I've also been picking up new vinyl like Aphrodite's Child 666. My most recent acquisition was a used Technics SL-B20 turntable with strobe assisted pitch adjustment.

[Camelogue]

I would sell every last one of my collection if there was a buyer. Hundreds if not more than a thousand. Have not played one in 15 years.

[Jerjo]

I suspect my wife and I have around 1000 LPs. The number was at least twice that by the end of the 80s but we sold off quite a bit. I now regret saying farewell to some of those titles.

When I had my turntable hooked up in my home office a couple years ago I played vinyl every day but now I've got a different rig in my office and no room for a turntable. At some point I have to remedy that. Nothing like hearing that needle descend into the black.

[BobM]

I would sell every last one of my collection if there was a buyer. Hundreds if not more than a thousand. Have not played one in 15 years.

If you happened to make a list I would bet there are a lot of people here who would be interested in many/several LP's, but probably less so if you wanted to sell it all as a single batch. You would also have to grade them accurately so someone doesn't play top $ for something full of pops and clicks and scratches.

Yeah, it's work.

[rcarlberg]

When I converted the rock to CDs I had a friend auction off all the vinyls, many of them rare. We made enough off the sales to pay for most of the CDs and a new player as well. We sold about 3000 LPs total and probably cleared close to ten thousand dollars.

[ronmac]

I suspect my wife and I have around 1000 LPs.

Oh, I didn't realize that we were counting our wives' collections, too. I'd say between my 400 or so albums, and her 100 or so, we have 400 or so good ones.