Do you own a record player? – Poll
Is vinyl back for good?
For many years now we’ve been hearing of the resurgence of vinyl. We’ve seen it with friends, and we’ve certainly been growing our own collection over the past decade – also thanks to some of you who have been sending their favourite records to us via Mr. Postman! 🙂Â
Â
And of course, we’ve also produced our ORANGE album on vinyl which has been selling fairly well!
Â
But still – it’s not a first choice for most and might have hit the peak of its comeback by now. Only those who don’t mind the hassle of correct needle placement, crackly sounds and having to get up just to flip a record after every 22 minutes of music are persevering! 😉
Â
We are really curious about the percentage of people who still own and use their record players at home, and we thought, why not ask the MLT Club members!
Â
Do you still have one standing in the corner, and more importantly, do you still use it? Either way, we’d love to know!Â
Â
[wpforms id=”138555″ title=”true” description=”false”]
Â
Stay groovy,
Mona & Lisa
I have a wonderful tower stereo with turntable, radio, twin tape deck and a 5 disc CD player. It was the last big gift my mother purchased for me before she was taken from me at the tender age of 62 some 24 years ago now. It sits beside me every night, sadly my record collection is still in storage over 4,000 singles and more than 1000 albums. My CD collection is here with me but you cannot beat the sound of the needle on vinyl
Not only do I use the turntable on my modern (1990’s?) Sony deck (which I also pay all of my MonaLisa CDs on), but I recently picked up a 1950s Marconiphone Automatic Record Changing Unit which (when working) can play up to 10 albums via a stacking mechanism. This needs some TLC and I plan to try and fix it up over the winter months.
I actually have three….all in good order and of different vintages.
I bought no records in the ’60s because I was too young. In the 70’s I bought a lot of vinyl, the rock and roll I grew up with, plus vintage R&B, jazz – mostly fusion, progressive rock, and blues. The ’70s was the great music decade for me. Back then you could find used vinyl for cheap. I have a couple that look like the hockey team practiced on them before they sold them, but oh well. To hear them today, it’s YT or spin up the turntable. But I listen to a lot of jazz these days since that’s what I’m working on in my playing, so I don’t run the turntable very often. Yes, I have a Technics turntable like so many others mention.
I’ve got a cheap turntable, cassette, cd combo and some old 45’s. Not very good sound. Nothing like those big old console stereo’s. My older sister had one that she played her gospel records on. Her younger brothers weren’t allowed to touch it but when she would leave we would treat the neighborhood to some CCR or Deep Purple. Haha good times.
Vinyl has a warm sound that is hard to explain unless you hear it. Keep looking at turntables and so wish i hadn’t given away my vinyl LP’s in the late 80’s for CD’s Money Wise could never afford to replace CD’s back to Vinyl but one does hanker for having a few of the old favourites back for old time sake
Currently I have 2 turntables one of which I use several times a week. I love the warm sound of vinyl and can tolerate a little bit of extra noise if it is music I love. CDs/digital audio are played the most frequently because of ease of use but I also have a sizable collection of cassettes which get played frequently. I am very fortunate to live in a metro are where new/used music is easy to buy.
I think I own four turntables and my brother has a fifth one (the best one) of mine. But in the 80s I switched to CDs. I have maybe 100 LPs that I bought back in the day plus another 100 or so that I picked up in boxes at auction. I virtually never put them on. Mostly I remember the pops and scratches that drove me crazy. Whatever the charm of the LP was lost on me given what I listened to. I do miss the album liner notes and artwork. And I miss the deliberate choice of how to end side one and how to start side 2. Now it’s just an unbroken stream from start to finish.
I did, until my wife Deborah sold it at an estate sale, lol!
Pretty sure mom has one, and my brother-in-law has one, so I will probably inherit mom’s.
I used to have one, but vinyl was next to impossible to find for a while.
I actually own two players, but can’t use any of them right now because of lots of stuff I have to sort out. That’s a shame, since I’ve bought a couple of albums (numbered issues) that I would love to play. It would be nice anyway to be able to play more of my collection which include about 7000 singles from the 50s up to the 90s.
I would use mine more often if I had the time but with me working nights I’m not home enough.
I haven’t played in about a year because of time constraints. Before that I played records on weekends with glass of wine. Maybe I’ll start again.
I owned a Technics player in the 80s, but then I switched completely to CD. The beautiful big slipcases of the LP are already missing, but the cumbersome handling of the LP incl. noises not. I don’t think the CD will die out. It will become more of a niche product for music lovers and collectors. I like to listen to SACD (there are no real differences to a CD, but most SACD recordings are usually produced in high quality and therefore sound better), DVD-Audio (is already extinct), Bluray audio and multichannel mixes. The re-release of Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper and The White Album as sorround mixes is a revelation for me in terms of sound. Therefore my request to you Lisa and Mona: Please continue to produce CD’s and these also in a tonally good quality. Your music is special and does not deserve to be released in compressed MP3 quality.
Exactly, it’s like images on web pages 20 years ago. The compression and low resolution might’ve been unnoticeable back on those small, low-resolution monitors. Now it jumps out. We need to know the music we enjoy today will continue to sound great even as listening technology improves.
I still have my Technics 1210 that I bought in the late 80’s, and I still have all my LPs from that era too, and I’m still buying music on brand new vinyl, I still also have my CD player from that era.
A correctly set up turntable with good quality cartridge and stylus, and vinyl in good condition sounds really nice, it has a nice warm sound, CDS sound a bit harsh by comparison.
I have one that replaced the Technics turntable I bought in the mid-70s, but it’s not that great. I’ll be buying a new one soon though. My collection (600+!) started with Sgt. Pepper and has a lot of material from the 60s – 90s that never made it to digital. Too many to not be able to play them!
It´s really interesting to notice that those “eternal” CDs are now fading but good old vinyl has come back. I like CDs too but the pleasure listen to LP that´s in good condition is something else. And don´t forget the cover art.
I have a huge record collection and I still roam thrift shops and garage sales looking for that special one that got away, much to the dismay of my wife! But, hey, I’ve been doing this since I was a kid getting an allowance in the early sixties! I like cds but I missed that larger format, the cool album art, the gate folds, the occasional poster that was large enough to hang on your bedroom wall! Modern tech in music is cool, but I’ll always be a record album guy. Pops and all!
I remember going with my mom and siblings to Sears where she bought the white album, then looking at the portrait photos and the big poster-sized collage. You don’t get that with a CD!
I have 2 am I greedy. I have a system in my main room where I can listen to my vast vinyl collection whilst doing other things.A lot of which are60s or early 70s. Plus I have a quality system of separates in my room where I keep my guitars and other musical instruments. It’s also the room where I can shut my self away, put headphones on and drift into musical heaven. Of course my MLT collection is also in here.
I used to have a large collection of vinyl until it was stolen when I was in college many, many years ago. That happened to be right when CDs were coming into popularity so I figured I wouldn’t bother replacing the old discs but just get the CDs so my record player didn’t see much use for decades. Only in the last decade did I go and buy a new one but I’m such a sloth that I prefer to be able to just click a file and play it than go thru all the steps of pulling out a cardboard package, slip out the paper sheath, place the record, lower the tonearm…LOL…so much work. Yes, I guess the sound is better from the original vinyl (unless it IS original and dates back to the ’60s, then it is probably full of snap, crackles and pops).
I really LOVE my record player/stereo. She is a1966 Magnavox Astro Sonic. My folks bought brand her new. It was regularly used through the late eighties. Then it sat in my folks house neglected for twenty years or so. I sent her off about three years ago had the electronic internals refurbished and the grease changed in the turn table. Now it plays and sounds like new. The record changer was made in England of all places. I can stack a bunch of records on her. She plays 16-33-45-78. The heck with twenty-two minutes I am talking a hundred and twenty-two plus minutes of Beetles, Stones, Kinks and Elvis! The bonus is she is a nice looking piece of furniture.
Thanks for all you guys do great stuff!
Bye.
I’ve always had a turntable, even while accumulating 3000+ CDs. However, I’ve always preferred CDs ever since hearing my first one. I don’t like all the “extra” sounds from the vinyl.
I have tons of vinyl from when I was a kid. My favorite collection is all of the US releases of the Beatle’s albums. Gotta love the crackle of the needle on the record as it plays.
Have vinyl been away?? Well yes for awhile, now even cassette tapes are back!!
Bought vinyl all my life and will continue. But for a serious music collector vinyl and Cd`s go hand in hand, because so much music will never be released on vinyl……..::))
I’m glad you mentioned cassettes, Leif. They were always a great way to enjoy a wide variety of music, mixed to one’s personal tastes. The phasing out of tapes was not a positive development, imo. I agree that vinyl and CDs are both essential, and last year upgraded my speakers and replaced my turntable. But I still love my cassettes!
Hello Ladies
Unfortunately when I divorced my ex decided she wanted it. She never plays it. She just wanted it.
I’ve thought of getting another one, but space is limited now.
I do enjoy all your music, and can’t wait to see whats coming next.
Enjoy your current editing process. Looking forward to its release.
All the best Ladies.
Rick
Luv’ my record player. A couple of years ago, I bought a new record player (AKA turntable) when I installed new speakers in our living room. Soon after I got sent all my LP’s I had as a kid, and the collection just grew. The old crackly ones are fun, but when they’ve been played thousands of times, sound quality suffers. I have to say that with good speakers and new LP’s they sound better than the digital versions to me. Also, it makes listening to music an activity, not just music in the background and I enjoy the music more. It’s interesting how the medium changes how we listen to music.
Tomás
I own two turntables, one for vinyl records and another for 78s. And a Victrola.
W. Hauslein
For awhile it looked like vinyl was going the way of the dinosaur (or the 8-track). When I first introduced my young elementary aged nephew and niece (in their 20’s now) to some of my 45’s, they imagined these were some kind of giant computer floppy. Neither had ever seen one before. Or an LP either.
I let the eldest do a needle drop on a record (with some assistance) . I still remember the look of amazement when the sound of The Beach Boys filled the room. Showing the kids the old technology was so much fun. It’s true that CD’s and Mp3’s are far more convenient. But I kept all my records. And a working turntable too. I’ll let my heirs decide what to do with them, because I’m keeping them all until I drop.
I have 3 record players. 1 Sony, 1 Kenwood, and a Crosley turntable-CD player-cassette player combo. My vinyl collection is small by comparison to Tom C’s, but it dates back to classical-Opera-Old Country Western-New Wave-Popular rock and roll and BEATLES.
I have 4 record players. A 70’s vintage Sony with a Denon Cartridge, a generic USB player, a 1905 RCA Victor #5, (with the large horn), and a 1903 Edison cylinder. I also have about 350 LPs, 30 vintage 78’s, and 15 2 minute cylinders. I used them all!
No, sadly got rid of it and my record collection many years ago when it looked like it would be gone for good.
I have a Sony turntable, but it doesn’t work anymore. I have hundreds of record albums, but when they invented the compact disc I switch to the CD. I’ve thought about purchasing one again.
I have a USB turntable that I use on rare occasions to convert some of my old vinyl LPs and singles to digital files. My preferred format is CDs, which I eagerly shifted to around 1983 or so — I love the clean sound and the fact that with proper care they don’t warp or wear out. When I was buying LPs on vinyl I was constantly going back to the record stores to exchange copies that were either warped or skipped on my turntable, and at this point I’ll only buy vinyl if it comes with digital download including bonus tracks not included on a CD release.
Nothing beats vinyl!! Lost most of of LP’s due to a hurricane/flood 9 years ago.Have been slowly rebuilding it.
We got rid of our turntable years ago. We weren’t using it and space became an issue in our entertainment center area. Digital music is pretty much all I listen to now, mostly from my computer via a pair of good quality over-the-ear headphones – I love the sound from the headphones.
When I was a kid, Mom and Dad had a bunch of 78’s, including many waltzes and some by Spike Jones, a favorite of mine back then. Dad had a great hi-fi system for that time, including a large woofer in a homemade tuned cabinet that would literally vibrate your bones. I’m not sure if any of those 78’s survived my five siblings and me, but now I wish we still had them.
It’s been a very long time since I had a record player. Probably 25-30 years now. I was a huge fan of the brand Pioneer. My last player was a Radio Shack “Realistic” brand turntable. It was very nice. But as we moved more and more to CDs it kind of went by the way side. Although records IMHO still sound much better than CDs. They just have a much more fuller, warmer sound.
You girls have given me much to consider on this subject. I have literally dozens and dozens and dozens of 33 1/3 and 45’s and don’t have ANYTHING to play any of them on!! I should be ashamed! Ok, I promise to fix this problem instead of wait for you two to play every LP on Whats on the Table?. Im on the market for cool turn table and stereo. Sadly… I DO have an 8 track player!!!! Was that a judgement in error back in day of what to keep and what to sell. I feel so foolish right now…LOL!!!
I got a record player in 2017 when my Orange vinyl arrived, and my vinyl collection has been re-growing since then. I say re-growing because I still have my Beach Boys (Pet Sounds original LP and more) and several other LPs from my teenage years in a box buried deep in basement storage at my parents old place that I got to dig up one of these days. My brothers collection is there too, a real gem with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Beatles Blue and Red albums and so many more greats, and even some 45s. This post is giving me the motivation to dig up those old vinyls.
I don’t have a lot of vinyls yet, but the ones I do have I play all the time, Orange, Rubber Soul (original used good condition LP UK version from 1965 confirmed), Sargent Peppers, To Sir With Love soundtrack, Bananarama, 3 Little Pigs (my first record got as a gift when I was 5), my dad’s Beethoven Symphony No 9 4 LP set, and a few other very sentimental LPs. I always remember my mom and dad’s first record player they had in the 60s and into the early 70s, a portable one like this with detachable speakers that fold up into a suit case. So I got a wooden nostalgic Victrola record player with built in speakers that remind me of those old 60s portables.
Playing vinyls feel more ceremonial and the proper way to listen to music that means a lot to you. Love looking at the big glossy album cover, and reading all the fine details, and in the case of Orange if the vinyl is made of groovy psychedelic patterns, even better. Putting a record on a turn table and moving the arm over it, and letting the needle down on the grooves is like getting some nice paper, stylish envelope, bottle of ink and fountain pen, and even wax seal and writing someone a hand written letter or post card versus firing off an email. It’s more deliberate, slow, and you savour the act of listening or writing more. I think vinyls are like beautiful mechanical Swiss watch movements with all the fascinating intricate parts moving in harmony, keeping time so beautifully and elegantly but so vulnerable and delicate at the same, yet so perfect when everything is properly tuned, kind of like life itself.
I think vinyl will continue to increase in popularity over time. People like the finer things, which is what records and record players are compared to CDs and MP3s.
I have a handful of albums from my teen years and I have bought a few in the last couple years. Now I just need to buy a turntable. My last one got lost in the shuffle of too many moves and not enough room. The house I have now has a small room that I’m making into a music/reading room. I do have the Orange LP and I hope your next one is released as a LP too and yes David Herrick, I do remember the 45 cutouts on the back of the cereal boxes, The Archies Sugar Sugar!
As a bit of an audiophile, yes I own a turntable but don’t use it much these days.
The cost of records has gone crazy which was the main reason I stopped buying them.
I still have a few though that get played from time to time.
If you hear crackles and pops then you need to clean the record and needle!
Either that or the record has seen better days.
And if anyone calls them “vinyls” I’ll scream 🙂
Once upon a time I had a record player, but now I don’t .it is a pity that there is no now
I probably assume too much, but if you’re trying to gauge wether or not to offer your upcoming releases on vinyl with this poll, here’s my take on it. I can only speak for myself, and I have no idea how many sales would be needed to consider a vinyl pressing worthwhile, but I’d buy anything you release on vinyl, wether new albums, or previously released ones. DVDs as well, as far as that goes. I thoroughly enjoy the WWT DVD, with it’s ‘making of’ vids! I don’t know if sales would justify production, but I’d ???? to see a ‘Live at the Cavern Club’ DVD containing all the videos from your last gig there in order. Less likely to warrant production, I fear, but one I would cherish: a DVD of your family gig as ‘MonaLisa and Band’ back in the day. Just my unsolicited and uneducated opinion.
When my sister cleaned out her attic, I foolishly let her “dispose” of the old Penncrest turntable/record changer I grew up with. I had a more modern component set with a turntable that never did perform right, so that one also got vanquished. I recently bought a cheap portable Crosley player from the Walmart clearance aisle. It produces surprisingly good sound, at least to my untrained ears. The first new album I purchased after acquiring it was ‘Orange’! If it had a full size turntable I would have bought an Orange slip, too, but alas, it won’t fit. I average slightly less than one use per week, so ‘use it fairly often’ would probably be a better choice for me on the poll.
Whoops…I forgot to add, I still like CDs, and would buy vinyl to collect, just not play unless I have an old school portable non Modern Tech Record player to play them on….
I still have the onethat was part of stereo system that was setup at my childhood home, still packed away in a box from when we sold the house and I moved into my first apt and my then my current apt…Just never bothered to setup, because the speakers were dinosaurs, I have no clue on how to hook it all up, no space for it… and there’s no point in my getting a portable one either as I have no proper computer to plug the USB cable into… but…if I came across an old school portable record player minus the modern tech of USB, then I’d buy that…lol… but I still have all my records, ain’t giving those up and the record player/stereo system will remain in box, no intentions on getting rid of it, I’m sentimental attached to stuff…lol…I know, I’m Quirky Weird and somewhat of a Sentimental OCD Hoarder of sorts….????????
I bought a record player about 15 years ago and used it a lot, but it was damaged during a move such that the turntable no longer rotates, and I haven’t looked for a replacement yet.
You don’t necessarily have to get up every 22 minutes to enjoy continuous music. The record player I had as a kid had a little platform on the spindle where you could stack several records, and as each one finished playing the stylus would swivel back to the outside and a latch on the spindle would release the lowest record in the stack to fall down onto the previous one, and the party continued.
Turntables and vinyl records were the ultimate science lab for me when I was little. I’d play records at all four speeds and compare the sounds. I learned that a woman’s voice on a 45 sounds like a man’s voice when played at 33 RPM, and I figured out the secret of Alvin and the Chipmunks by playing them at 16 RPM.
I’d turn the power off and spin the record backwards by hand, trying to maintain the correct speed, so that I could learn what speech and music sounded like reversed. (I had to put my ear right next to the record, though, because without power there was no amplification.) Or I’d start the record at the beginning and, again with the power off, give it one huge spin and see how far into the first song I could get it to go before it stopped.
Sometimes I’d put a 45 on the turntable without the adapter, with the inner edge of the record butted against the spindle so that it was mounted as off-center as possible, and enjoy the audio wobble effect. Or I might set it to 78 RPM and position various small objects on the turntable and see how far out from the center they could be placed without flying off.
I recall being utterly mystified by the mechanism by which the stylus moved across the record. I watched closely, and I interpreted what I saw as the stylus riding the crest of a wave, with the waves being generated at the outer edge every two seconds through some sort of compressive process and propagating inward. I couldn’t figure out what was producing the waves, or where they went when they reached the inner edge. It stunned me when I just held a record in my hands and rotated it, and it still worked. It was a long time before I realized that it was just a single static spiral groove.
By the way, does anyone remember those flimsy cut-out-and-play records on the backs of cereal boxes? Man, I thought those were going to be the future of breakfast entertainment.
David, it looks like you had a lot of fun with record players growing up. I vaguely recall putting things on the turntable like little match box cars to see them drive around until my parents expressed their disappointment. I think I was forbidden from going near the record player after that. I also remember the cool effect you could get if you jump up and down on the floor while the record is playing. 🙂
Yeah, for some reason my parents never listened to records, so the record player was understood to be for us kids. We could do whatever we wanted with it as long as we didn’t break it. In retrospect, we were really lucky to have such a cool toy to mess around with.
I don’t remember that jumping on the floor did anything other than make the needle skip around, but that was a neat Fonzie’s-fist-on-the-jukebox kind of way of manipulating our audio environment.
Vinyl was the only real medium for music in the ’50s and ’60s, apart from open reel tape. I’m very pleased I still have my classic LPs from the ’60s, including Beatles original pressings. I also have a jukebox which plays vinyl 45rpm singles.
Vinyl is a by-product of oil, and an oil shortage in the early ’70s led to vinyl albums becoming thinner and lighter, which probably reduced the sound quality. With the recent rise in the popularity of vinyl, I have bought several classic jazz albums on heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. To me, they sound at least as good as CDs. I also enjoy the full-sized cover art and liner notes, which can be virtually unreadable on CD inserts.
It’s funny that when CDs first came along in the ’80s, they were considered to give ‘perfect’ sound. They were also much more expensive than vinyl albums. That now seems to have turned on its head again, with CDs relatively cheap and vinyl much more expensive. Plus ca change …
Can someone tell me – are new vinyl albums on heavyweight vinyl, or just the thin stuff?
Melvin,
I believe they are heaver because I got the New Paul McCartney album and the REO Speedwagon greatest hits and that one is heaver to me. But that is my 2 cents here…LOL…Great Post Melvin.
Oh my yes, My boys bought me a record player for Christmas last year and I still have a ton of vinyl albums and plan on ordering the Orange Album on Vinyl soon. Takes me back to when I was A kid and we had some pretty cool record players in the past. But loving that it is making a come back. Mona and Lisa your the best and love being in this club and meeting so many cool people and chatting with you both is the coolest and most grooviest thing ever for this ole boy! Keep it coming ladies
Bill and Maddie Isenberg Huge Fans from Pittsburgh Pa USA
You know when I was a kid, I think I was 9 here in Denver and my mom got me my first record player as we called them back then. There were not only old 78’s that you could play but the new 33 1/3 and of course 45″s. My first album was Elvis Presley but I can’t remember which one. The second album was Meet The Beatles!! I knew I was home. Everyone of my friends wanted that album and wanted to play their songs. Dillon was known for Folk so we stuck with rock n roll. As the years passed the 8 track came along and that was it, It looped so if you were trying to listen to songs to learn, it was the perfect vehicle. The record player just seemed to go by the way side. There are a few of my friends that have reinvested in the player but I’m still trying to figure out all the new inventions coming out. The look on Mona and Lisa’s faces when they play a band from the era makes me think of me. Rock N Roll is in my blood and so is Mona and Lisa and my Heart!!!!!!! Thank you Twins for everything you do!!!!! The best on line Club that you can join!!!!!! You taught me q word that I hadn’t used since the 60’s, Groovy!!!!!! So stay Groovy and I may bye one and reinvest in vinyl!!!!