needled

[calimac]

You wouldn't think that phonograph turntables, the kind you play vinyl on, would be much more obsolete today than in 1999, would you? Well, apparently they are.

I still have lots of LPs because I have lots of music that's never been on CD and because I am not made of money and because my amp pre-dates digital conversion anyway and because I wouldn't want to spend years converting a closetful of LPs to CD and hyper-worrying about every possible skip and scratch.

I don't listen to the LPs that much, but I have a little project going that involves fetching out a few for re-listening - you'll find out why in a day or two - and I thought, I've had this turntable for 8 years now, it's probably about time to change the needle.

Next day began my grim struggle with the ... well, I went back to the stereo store where I'd bought the turntable, its predecessor having died gruesomely, and lo, not only don't they sell turntables any more, they have no idea where to find needles, and they're rather condescending about my coming into the store instead of buying one on the web anyway. Jeepers, I'm old enough that when I need to buy replacement supplies for something, the first place I look is the store where I got the original item in the first place. But after their attitude, I'm not going back there again for anything.

There's one store in the yellow pages with an ad saying they specialize in turntables. It's in a lurid industrial zone miles away. I drive there. They're closed till 1 PM. I come back. It's not a store by the normal definition, it's a big garage full of old equipment. Remember the computer store Weird Stuff? Like that, only with stereos. The crusty owner looks at the needle. He can't replace it. To borrow a line from Walt Willis, the manufacturers had made this one cartridge and then broken the dies, burned the blueprints, and shot all the technicians responsible.

He can replace the cartridge, but needs to have the whole turntable so he can rebalance it. I go home. I remember how to unplug the turntable. I bring it in. He fits it with a new cartridge that he promises won't be unknown eight years from now. I go home and resume playing records.

Which is where I am now. See you later.

Comments

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I said "burn" when I should have said "rip." It's the same reason I was drummed out of the Visigoths. For me, it's a matter of letting the record play, dividing it into tracks, and saving it to the computer. I don't make CDs out of everything I rip; I keep the files on the computer and back them onto DVDs when I have enough to trigger my backing-up reflex. The five minutes is, of course, if I don't do a lot of work on a file, like taking out pops by hand. If (as it often is) I can auto-correct, the whole thing takes a little over five minutes.

Then the next time I want to listen to it, I don't have to cause further damage and trauma to my records, which are refiled in the attic for the next time I have to pull a recording from them. I don't do like some friends of mine seem to and use the LPs for target practice after I record them. Didn't do it with tapes, either. The next new medium might be an even better way to save the information on my dearly bought LP collection.

The mp3s I think I'll listen to again go on my iPod. The hard part is guessing what I'll listen to again and what I won't. I haven't mastered that yet. I suppose if I know for a fact I'll never listen to something more than once, I could save myself the minutes, but I like having a collection of mp3s, and copying instead of just listening is like the difference between renting and owning. To me.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "rip". For "burn" read etc etc in my own comments.

There are definitely different perspectives one can take on this. If it's convenient enough to do so, sure, why not burn a quickie CD to have something to listen to, the same way as we used to make tapes? I can see that.

But in my case, few of my remaining LPs are music I'd listen to often enough to want to bother to get a new turntable just for that purpose. I don't even do it often with CDs, though I am considering taking a few obscure folk CDs I only ever listen to one or two tracks of, making an anthology, and disposing of the originals.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking I'm done with this comment! I'm not talking about making a CD at all. That's more of a commitment than I want to make, and I don't want to have to store a lot more CDs. I just put the things on my hard drive where I can listen to them easily if I should take another mania to do so.

Different streaks for different freaks, and all that.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

As my computer is right next to my stereo, and the computer is balky enough as it is, I have to reason to store music on its hard drive to listen to it.

But, for "burn a CD," you may read "transfer to an ipod" if you so desire. I have my own reasons for not being very interested in an ipod, but they're unrelated to the LP-vs-digital-storage question.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

No, not transfer to an iPod, either. That's only for the stuff I'm pretty sure I will listen to (I have to keep deleting stuff to fit more things on). I just mean keep files on the computer and double-click on them to play. Your reasons for not doing so are fine; I'm just trying to clear up what I tried to say.