Vinyl

Recently I began collecting vinyl records, just like the "good-ol'-days.' It has been quite the experience. Going through old record bins is one of my favorite things to do now and even finding new albums on vinyl has been a blast. The most interesting thing to me is how many vinyls it takes to fit one album.

Take something like "Rumors" by Fleetwood Mac, this album is only one vinyl side A and B. Then we move up to one of my favorite bands and albums, The Dear Hunter's "Act III: Life and Death," which is two vinyls sides A, B, C, and D. And the largest one I have is "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" at three records.

For those who don't know, when one side is done you have to flip the record by hand and when both sides are done you have to put the next one on the player. This may cause many annoyances for some people, but I really like it. I'll put a record on when I need to do some homework or reading and it gives me a pretty well timed-out break between everything. Not only that, but they are some great collector's items. Especially when you get them signed by the artists, like I did with William Elliott Whitmore.

I love music and I love the technology that has been developed in the past few years, but there's just some allure to the idea of vinyl. It's nostalgic...to a time that I wasn't alive, but is just a really cool piece of technology. I received a record player for my birthday and have been collecting records ever since. I went through my parents' old records and found some gems, like the Beatles' "White Album" and "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Club Hearts Band," Pink Floyd's masterpieces "The Wall" and "Dark Side of the Moon," Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors," and many others as well.

The biggest downside to buying records is how expensive they are, but I think it's well worth the expense. It makes for a great time for everyone and is a great way to keep the music industry afloat in struggling times.