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Collectible, who cares

snaphappybob

snaphappybob

pfm Member
So I was reading an article on buying Vinyl as an investment which got me thinking.

I had a small collection amassed during the early to mid 90s which, unbeknownst to me at that time would be seriously collectable. At least it would have been had it not all been bunged into boxes following a divorce and in due time got wet, adhering the covers to the vinyl itself and leaving them worthless and hence they all ended at the tip.

The author of the piece argued that due to the record companies trying to kill off vinyl we have shelves full of plastic discs worth about a pound. I’d counter his argument as I can pick up some great music for that sum and spin it on my Mike Pickwell modded Sony CDP-710 which sounds consistently better than most turntables I’ve heard. (Consistency is key)

Now I’m a sucker, and now that I’ve finally got the Rega P3 to sing I can see the argument for the whole collectible nature of the vinyl record but it’s the content that interests me most.

I think as audiophiles we often lose sight of why we spend so much money on media and equipment. I’m sure I’m not breaking new ground in saying this, it’s probably been gone over many times before. I just need to admit that I’m finding myself buying vinyl records over CDs not because they sound better, they don’t but because they look nice, they’re more tactile and they’re reassuringly awkward to handle.

I have a problem and you’re my therapy.
 
Unbeknownst, I love the sound of it. :)
I too am a collector. There is no cure. :D
 
I tend to buy albums on both vinyl and cd and play whichever takes my fancy.
I’m not at all interested in “first press” or collectible copies of either. I just buy for the enjoyment. If coincidentally it has value greater than the price paid, it won’t make any difference to me. It will still be played and enjoyed.
 
Some people are collectors, some want to participate in an activity. There's no right or wrong, it's the same all over. Classic cars, music, stamps, take your pick. I know people with classic cars who take them out a few weekends a year and otherwise leave them in the garage, I know some who have them forever in bits, I know some who just polish them. Some are pristine, some scruffy. Same with records or record players. These days, if you want the music, get a download or a stream. All the DJs do these days. But you can't collect streams.
 
The music and collectability has always been interlinked for me. I’ve always bought to sell to fund my own collecting. I’ve done so all my life. I just can’t separate the two, I guess due to periods of real poverty where the only opportunity to buy the stuff I wanted was to find undervalued stuff I could flip at a good profit to pay for it, but I’ve always done it. I can’t leave a bargain in the rack!

I’ve been an obsessive record collector since I was a school kid disappointed by the fact the reissue of Hawkwind’s Space Ritual didn’t have the cool fold-out sleeve, T. Rex Electric Warrior didn’t have the poster, printed inner etc. It wasn’t far after that I started to realise 1st pressings tended to sound a lot better too, so a lifetime of matrix reading, listening comparisons and upgrades started. I’ve become just as obsessive with CDs and really enjoy the collection aspect there too. My audio buying has aligned over the years to a similar mindset as I’m now far more interested in owning (and restoring) truly superb examples of tried and tested audio classics than whatever the current flavour of the month is.

My brain just works in a certain way and retaining details of label design changes, matrixes, what should be included with a title etc came very naturally to me. Pretty much a photo memory I guess. It’s always been that way. It likely isn’t for everyone, but it is what I do!
 
Err. Really? I guess it boils down to true values. Me? I love stuff that sounds good. If it's worth a fortune nowadays and I bought it for peanuts back in the day then, Great!

Bring it on.
 
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snaphappybob said:
I just need to admit that I’m finding myself buying vinyl records over CDs not because they sound better, they don’t
Click to expand...

!
I think vinyl can sound better - it depends on your system and the production.

I often play records that sound better than the c.d. version, not just to my ears, The Wife and kids agree.
I have had to spend a reasonable sum to get the c.d. reproduction to compete with my vinyl set up, and still prefer the record generally. Worth noting that it is rare for my records to have any noticeable surface noise - pops or clicks are rare in my collection.

I don’t buy records in terms of an investment, but some are worth a few hundred £££
Now that I have a decent c.d. player, I am buying those again as well.

Best not to fixate on the >
snaphappybob said:
why we spend so much money on media and equipment.
Click to expand...
it matters not a jot.

Enjoy it - whilst you can.
 
I was quite surprised by the value (according to Discogs) of some of my records. For example, I've got a mint, first pressing (US) copy of Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel that is certainly worth many times what I paid. Same goes for several albums from the late 90s.

I buy what I like to listen to. Not sure if that makes me a collector.
 
Nostalgia and more spending money available in later life - a music companies dream.

Yes 1990’s vinyl is super popular now. But work out how old a 19 yo in 1990 is now…

52. Loadsamoney.
 
I like collecting stuff (there, I said it!) but it's not really about the value - in fact I think it's a lot more fun to hunt down interesting modestly priced records than be chasing lolprice grails.

I listen to lots of jazz and LPs from the mid 1950s to mid/late 1960s are often just really nice objects - way nicer than lots of modern vinyl. I don't really mind if there is a bit of crackle and a few pops and clicks. If someone has scrawled their name on the back and put *** next to their favourite tracks that's fine too. All part of the record's history before it came to me.

Yes it's about the music obviously but I get a lot of enjoyment from the records themselves too.
 
Rug Doc said:
Nostalgia and more spending money available in later life - a music companies dream.

Yes 1990’s vinyl is super popular now. But work out how old a 19 yo in 1990 is now…

52. Loadsamoney.
Click to expand...

Spot on.

I Ebayed a load of late 80s death metal fanzines a few years back. Some of them were bid up to obscene amounts for what was often a few sheets of badly photocopied A4. In the end I felt so uneasy about the stupid prices people were prepared to pay I sold them off to the winning bidders for whatever the cover price was - 50p, quid, etc.
 
Like James I’ve always bought stuff I wanted to listen to. The fact that some of it is valuable is a bonus for my kids if they don’t want to keep it when I’m gone.

I have quite a few signed records but that’s because I’m a fan of whoever. I just play them and don’t consider the value or the depreciation from my playing them.
 
I listen to music... rather a lot of it
I have about at least eight im shelves of vinyl (I had to have the unit specially reinforced to avoid the 1m spans sagging under the considerable weight).

I practically never listen to the vinyl these days - Roon and more than 3To of files on the NAS are so much more convenient to access and run through.

So I'm slowly recording the albums I don't have on the NAS as 24/48 WAV files which probably means the SME etc and vinyl will end up leaving the flat...

As for vinyl sounding better... not in this home. That being said, the home brew needle drops are making my vinyl available to me again. Two such albums so far the evening.
 
I have only made one vinyl “investment”. I bought two boxes of Nitin Sawhney’s One Zero. I think the unopened copy is worth about £10 less than I paid for it.
 
I'm a bit of both, if I'm buying vinyl I like to buy at least an interesting copy of whatever it is, be it a Japanese pressing or a coloured/limited run or indeed signed. That bit is the collector in me, even if it's not lol value I just like having something that isn't the regular mass pressed edition. I think it also subconsciously increases the enjoyment a little that I get from playing it, but I am also inflicted with the FOMO gene and have bought far too much stuff on a whim with one eye on it being potentially valuable. I need to stop doing that. I am also guilty of buying things with no intention of playing them and I'm already wanting to thin those out a bit but can't be arsed to sell/list them.
 
Signed copies are different because they remind you of the gig where you had a great night, friends, etc. I've got a Bob Dylan t shirt that I bought at a big on my 27th birthday. Great night, and a long time ago.
 
Only ever buy the music you like. I've always bought on condition rather than whether its the right pressing etc. I do have a pretty valuable 'collection' purely by luck as I was doing a lot of buying in the 90's & 00's.

I listen mostly to digital now & have actually started buying cheap CDs of late, they sometimes have interesting extra tracks. I've always had great results from digital whereas vinyl can be very hit & miss; I have far less tolerance for faff these days.
 
I've sold all my records years ago and made a considerable loss but I had enough and just wanted to get rid of them after moving several times.

I recently acquired another TT, mainly because my partner was hooked after a show but also because I like the look of the thing. We have agreed that we adhere to a strictly 50 records only collection. After that if one comes in another goes out. We stream almost 100%.
 
I consider myself an accumulator rather than a collector. I don't worry about first pressings etc. but I do take a lot of pleasure in owning things, also in buying them to begin with. I don't feel bad about this but I do wonder what it all means. I sometimes consider restricting myself to streaming for a while, to see if it's possible for me to separate the pleasure of listening from that of buying and handling. I have a theory that audiophiles are people who actually find the pleasure of listening too much in some way: we need to distract ourselves from it by shifting part of our attention to the kit or to the product, and to acquisition. Just a theory.
 
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