I the record collector....

When I was a child I loved to look through my parents records that they saved from when they were young.  The dusty, musty smell they acquire through the years, the history, the music, the size, the novelty, the album art, and the vinyl are just a few of the reasons why I love records.  I go to estate sales, garage sales, and thrift stores to find the real gems.  When I am at these places the best part is that I have no idea what it is going to sound like, so I judge the album by the year it was made, the cover, and what type of music.  The best part is that a whole album is only one dollar or less at these places.  I usually search for 60's garage, psych, surf, exotica and rock n' roll.   I do occasionally go do record stores if I know exactly what I want and if I think they will have it.  I hate buying new, re-issued lp's.  The older and rarer the record the better!  I love knowing that the records I own have been around longer then I have.  Some of the records I own have peoples names on them from the previous owners, which I love!  I just picture Pam for instance, listening to the same record as me 40 years ago, and she wrote her name on her records so they would not get lost at the crazy dance parties she attended.  When my friends and I get together we throw a stack of 45's on our record players and dance all night long!  

I am dedicated to listening to my music on vinyl, though I do have the new forms of consuming music like everyone else.  I have some CD's that I purchased because they are awesome compilations that Rhino puts out, for example Nuggets, Pebbles, and Girl Groups.  I also have an ipod so I can listen to music in my car.  If I have a rare record that I love and want it on my ipod, my boyfriend will record the album through garage band and them import it to itunes.  I do also download music from Chocoreve and Twilight Zone.  I use these sites because the downloading is free, the only restriction you can only do it once every several hours.  I believe that downloading music should be free because if I download an album or a few songs and like them then I will be on a search to find the real first issued album.  I believe that albums are a work of art.  Bands put a lot of time and effort into recording and mixing their songs to sound perfect and compile them into a perfect listening order.  Not only is the music important, the cover is important in conveying what kind of band they are.  Having the real record also has a more warm or raw sound then a downloaded version.  The added joy to records are that they are memorabilia and a novelty.  I know that some people find records a pain in the ass because they are lazy and complain about having to get up and flip the record.  I feel that records make the parties.  How fun is an ipod at a party?  You plug it in and forget about it, and forget you are listening to music.  My friends and I all get together everyone brings their favorite records and we take turn playing our tunes, talking about the music, sharing thoughts and details about the bands and of course, dance.  It just makes for a more pleasurable time.  We all wish that we were in our twenties in the 60's when music was just better!  It was a better time, and a better time makes for better music!