Last year we inherited a second-hand sound system - quite a flashy looking one, but it was the 5-CD changer that turned my head, and made me decide to pension off our existing stereo. The stereo in question was about 12 years old, and the CD player has never been the same since it got some dust in it when we moved house, but it did date back to the days of 'records', which, for the iPod generation, are like bigger, more cumbersome versions of CDs. I know, how did we ever manage?
In light of all this I decided that I would transfer my vinyl onto cassette (I know, I know!) for posterity. Only I hadn't got far through the process when the tape deck exploded.
So (and this is the point of the story) I bought myself a new toy recently - an Ion USB Turntable. And a suitably impressive piece of kit it is too. I bought it with the intention of digitising my vinyl collection, but having hooked it up to the stereo and tried it out on a couple of tracks, I think it's likely to get a lot more use than that. There is something satisfying about the act of putting the needle on the record. Even the snap, crackle and pop of some of the lower quality vinyl I own adds to the experience rather than becoming annoying. And, of course, there is the adventure of rediscovering some of those wierd 12 inch singles I bought in the early 90s.
There is no doubt that the new turntable is far superior to the one I just threw out - after all, that was part of an all-in-one unit released at the time vinyl was being replaced and the CD was on the rise. At least one LP I had thought scratched beyond listenability has turned out, in fact, to skip only one or two spots.
It is, of course, probable that the novelty will wear off and getting up to turn the record over every 20 minutes will get a bit tedious, at which time I will get transfer them all to MP3 and go back to using the 5 disk changer from across the room. Until then, I shall continue to wallow in my nostalgia.
Sci-Fi Song of the Week
I've done enough self-indulgent wibbling today, so all that remains is to introduce this weeks Sci-Fi Song, which, in keeping with the superhero theme of recent posts, is (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, by The Kinks.
In light of all this I decided that I would transfer my vinyl onto cassette (I know, I know!) for posterity. Only I hadn't got far through the process when the tape deck exploded.
So (and this is the point of the story) I bought myself a new toy recently - an Ion USB Turntable. And a suitably impressive piece of kit it is too. I bought it with the intention of digitising my vinyl collection, but having hooked it up to the stereo and tried it out on a couple of tracks, I think it's likely to get a lot more use than that. There is something satisfying about the act of putting the needle on the record. Even the snap, crackle and pop of some of the lower quality vinyl I own adds to the experience rather than becoming annoying. And, of course, there is the adventure of rediscovering some of those wierd 12 inch singles I bought in the early 90s.
There is no doubt that the new turntable is far superior to the one I just threw out - after all, that was part of an all-in-one unit released at the time vinyl was being replaced and the CD was on the rise. At least one LP I had thought scratched beyond listenability has turned out, in fact, to skip only one or two spots.
It is, of course, probable that the novelty will wear off and getting up to turn the record over every 20 minutes will get a bit tedious, at which time I will get transfer them all to MP3 and go back to using the 5 disk changer from across the room. Until then, I shall continue to wallow in my nostalgia.
Sci-Fi Song of the Week
I've done enough self-indulgent wibbling today, so all that remains is to introduce this weeks Sci-Fi Song, which, in keeping with the superhero theme of recent posts, is (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, by The Kinks.
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