Re: How many plays before a record shows enough deterioration to be noticeable?
Reply #20 – 2017-07-01 21:16:41
Some of the stuff in Reckless was expensive. I sold them some albums once... they paid peanuts. I worked in Islington 1974-1990. I guess my Reckless years were in there somewhere. My other second-hand-LP shop was in Soho. The guy would always say he didn't have the record I wanted, but I often found itSearch was not working this morning, so I was unable to search this topic. As an analog medium , I would think vinyl would wear out over time, just from friction alone. But how long does that take? Are used albums a bad idea? Has the world been spoilt by perfect digital reproduction? Perfect the first time, perfect every time. apastuszak, this is not what buying second-hand LPs is about. Its about stuff like finding an album you always wanted, getting it at a price you can afford, all the mystique of handling that properly-printed, decent size physical object, sometimes buying it even though it may may be far from perfect. We have a thread on what people like about vinyl. Not about how it sounds, how many Hz it can accommodate or whatever, but the sheer, personal experience of the thing. You have a store. There are used records there. Go find out! Disclosure: Vinyl (and even shellac before it) was, for me, so so long, the stuff that music was made of that it still causes certain feelings, passions, even. In practice, however, my modest collection of LPs, some of which I have had for fifty years (unplayable, but won't throw away) remains in the cupboard, and, these days, even the turntable is there with them. There's an old generation that gets it. There's a new generation that thinks there is something to get, and wants it. If you are part of the former, I don't think you would be asking the question. If you are thinking of joining the latter, I personally advise against it. To reiterate: perfection is not the point of second-hand LPs, although it is a great treat when you find it. Which you might. I grew up with vinyl. My parents had a very large record collection from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I bough vinyl in the early 80s through 1989 as my exclusive pre-recorded format of choice, I would copy my albums to cassette to listen to on my Walkman or in my car. I understand what people like about vinyl. I also know that it's quite possible to hunt for some long lost album, find it in a used record store, bring it home, and have it sound pretty bad. I've bought used CDs, popped them in my CD player and had them not play. That can be quite a frustrating experience. I would think that the same could happen with vinyl. I'm just wondering if there is a point where a record will deteriorate to the point where you'd prefer not to listen to it. As I said in my original post, I am a complete digital snob. I bought my first CD player in 1989 and immediately started to buy CDs and left my vinyl behind. I gave it all away about 2 years ago to a coworker. Since then, I've moved on to an iPod, then a smartphone. But I recently bought a used CD player and fixed it up, and have been buying a lot of used CDs. And I was curious about used albums. I'm not looking to get into used albums, I was just curious how they hold up over time. Albums have a number of very subjective limitations for me that keeps me away from them. Someday, I may buy a turntable for those few releases I want that never came out digitally. But for now, I'm content. Well, I guess I made a big mistake about your background! We are not so far apart in history and current situation, except I have shed quite a lot of snobbery along with my HF hearing. But with a background in vinyl, you should know already how a record can get clicks and ticks when you're not even handling it, and how something that looks good can have horrible problems. Let me readjust my bottom-line advice: if you do not even currently have a working turntable, don't even think about that used-vinyl side of the store!