How big is your vinyl collection? And how often do you add to it?

[What Hi-Fi?]

We want to know all about your record-collecting habits for this Vinyl Week edition of Ask the Reader

How big is your vinyl collection? And how often do you add to it? : Read more

 

[Sir Ken Smith OBE]

I have about 400 records from when I first started collecting in 1979. My buying slowed down in the mid nineties when CDs became popular but I never stopped buying records as well.

By the time CDs came along, I was getting sick and tired of the surface noise on records and I embraced them as my new, favoured media. I had even dabbled in pre-recorded cassettes because of my exasperation with clicks, pops and noise.

Now that records are over-priced, there is even less reason for me to buy them. My go-to media is now lossless files, but not the hi-res snake oil. It's about the music, not the music carrier

 

[Jponti5056]

I first started collecting in 1980 when I was 6 years old. I got my first record record player and 45 and was instantly hooked. It was Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5. My first album was the Flashdance soundtrack. Today I along with my husband still collect, and over the years we have inherited my great great aunts jazz collection in vinyl and my great grandmothers Zenith Hi-Fi from 1958. Then we received my father-in-laws grand parents working Victoria from 1914 with a huge collection of 78’s. We now own over 4000 albums and 200 78’s. We add to our collection almost weekly (we just purchased 2 this week). We buy a lot of records directly from new artists through their bandcamp/personal site. There are a lot of new and amazing artists selling their own work. We also buy new releases from bands/artists we have been following for years. We still like to rummage through thrift shops and local record stores for records new and old (we live in Chicago so record stores are not in short supply). Our only issue now is finding room to keep adding records. We listen to them daily, our turntable sees 8 hours of playtime daily! I am listening to a record as I am writing this! I am running 3 tables, a 25 year old Technics 1210, a 45 year old B&O and a newer Denon. We will collect until we are in the pine box. I hope everyone can find the joy in taking an album out of the sleeve, putting it on the table and setting the needle down.