The modern teen….plays Vinyl!
So what does a 14 year old boy/young man do on a rainy Sunday? Why troll the basement for the record player and the decommissioned “stereo” (purchased in about 1988).
The usual place is at the laptop, but with music (stand, guitar, etc) nearby. We also have this cool store in town, Wild Rufus, that cells CDs (new and used) and (!!!!) old records! So number one son has taken to buying albums, yes…black, vinyl 33 1/3 rpms records… which were displayed on the wall. I’m glad I snapped this picture because two hours later the were down…..
Joshua had also recently scored a nearly virgin Led Zeppelin IV (or is it II) album…the one with stairway to heaven! The cover is a bit rubbed with age, but otherwise in perfect condition except for a name written on the back in ballpoint…no scratches, no tears, nada… and the album inside looks nearly unplayed!
So, with a little help in hooking up components from the resident dinosaur (aka Mom)…. we have (drum roll……)
The speakers are a bit worse for the wear…dented, fabric cat-scratched, etc., but they worked…. and so did (!!!!) the turntable. So we listened to AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin (not that we had much choice… ahem! he is a teen…. he might live to adulthood….) on vinyl!
Whoodathunk it…. in the iPod age, we’re back to 33 1/3!
Speaking of which…. does anyone know what technology I might need to get some old records and tapes transferred to digital… I don’t care if they are copied to CD first or go straight to the computer…. I have some ancient folkie stuff that is no longer available anywhere and would love to have it on the ‘puter and iPod….
June 17th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Hi,
I enjoy your blog. Brookstone has a lp to cd turnetable. If I recall correctly, they have a couple different ones. There are probably other stores too. I took a quick look and here is one that is more reasonably priced than I thought it was: http://www.brookstone.com/store/thumbnail.asp?wid=11&cid=1110&sid=111003.
Linda
June 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Best Buy has a turntable to electronic thing. Probably something you can google and find. Try Pricegrabber for a cheap price.
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:51 am
I was also surprised when my 23 year-old son took an interest in vinyl, scouring the libraries for vinyl sales and stores that sold old vinyl. He had a high-quality turntable and an impressive collection of records.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Sarah, I am sure if you can hook your phonograph to a stereo along with a cd recordable player you can transfer, just like the old days when boyfriends made tapes for their girlfriends of all the songs that said I love you. If your stereo has a phono jack and an aux jack for the cd recordable player, it should work. Then put the cd’s onto the computer and then download to the mp3. My hubby is always playing around with that stuff, he records them I just play them, so beyond knowing that it can be done, I don’t really know how, myself. My hubby just recently threw out his last cassette deck a week or so ago and is now looking through his collection of cassettes and trying to come to the realization that he has no player for them anymore…
June 24th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Hi Sarah,
I have a turntable that hooks to the computer via a USB port and you can record your records straight into the computer, as mp3 or convert to other formats. It is ION brand I bought at Costco for $100.00 and comes with software that was real easy for even me to figure out.
Jan