Considering going Vinyl--Please talk me out of it

I would disregard most of the above advice! Spinning vinyl is a contegious illness... a money grabbing pursuit... a time consuming folley RUN.. RUN.. RUN.. away as fast as you can. Please do not enter one of the many used record stores, do not buy that new state of the art T.T. do not demo any of the many phono pre amps and especially avoid the thought of buying one of thoes high end phono cart's.... Instead please come over a buy one of my many CD players that I find that I seldom use, you see I did not heed my own advice and now spend most of my time listening to vinyl.

The wrong people are getting into vinyl for the wrong reasons.

Reason one, it is trendy. Well so is breeding Cockadoodles, but it doesn't mean that everyone is good at it.

Reason two, it seems easy. That would make sense to those brought up on the silver disc, but it could not be further from the truth. Back in the day, when I sold hi-fi in high school, in the forgotten 1970s, there were very few people with the skill, knowledge, tools and dexterity to properly set-up a turntable. Not to mention, properly match arm, cartridge, turntable and phono preamp or stepup. You know what? There are even less now. Everyone thinks that they can watch Mikees setup video and become an expert. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is no more likely than watching a porn flick and becoming a porn star.

Reason three, all of those albums that I have in the garage are like free music, man. Wake up. You are never going to develop the taste for Donna Summer and Simply Red ever again. If you do, you will find that those old albums are scratched beyond recognition and moldy from improper storage. If you think that you can just stroll into the used record store and score great stuff, forget it. It takes time, patience and you will be going hand to hand with old bastards like me who never gave up their turntables. And if you wish to pay the princely sum of $30.00 per LP for new stuff, you will find that a large chunk of it is sourced from digital masters and pressed in places like the Czech republic where they are still trying to figure out how to make a vacuum tube, never mind an LP. That was your three strikes. You're out.

Ask your self what is your compulsion to do so. Is it reasonable?

Jump! You won't know till you do. If you buy good equipment you can sell it later if you change your mind or find you don't want the added hassle. That being said, I have seldom found anything worthwhile that required little or no effort. Vinyl is simply more engaging and seductive in my system, making the added hassle totally worthwhile.

Michael: Think about this ... Vinyl and CD's are reflective of lifestyles .

The Boomers grew up on vinyl playback. Parents taught childern the do's and don't of record playing from the time kids could flip the black orbs without sending them to the trash bin. Vinyl by its very nature in the present tense, requires a significant investment of time , money & patience. CD's require no special skill-set and the playback equipment is cheap.

The fact you questioned..."Do I or Don't I"...tells me your not committed , so avoid the bridge scene... Don't jump just walk away. Besides , you can always visit your friends that own vinyl and buy them out whenever they begin to speak about tall buildings or bridges.