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I Think I'm Gonna Quit The Hobby


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3 hours ago, Stress On The Sky said:

I guess if I was in your shoes I'd take a break until I've sorted out a new rig. Keep an eye on some of your big faves though because sod's law dictates as soon as you take that break your number one artist will release something pure gold you'll have to chase when you pick this hobby back up.

This is sound advice. You’re fairly young so you may kick yourself down the road if you unload everything and then decide you want to start it up again in a few years time.

 

If you’re on a fixed income stop the fringe buying and think about saving up for a new setup. By the time you saved up for what you want, decide if you want to invest it in a new turntable or something completely unrelated. The break from collecting will tell you which direction you really want to go in. 

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Yeah I would agree to hold off, keep your collection until you're in a better situation later to buy a nice table. I've been on the road for 9 months with all my mail orders stacking up at a friends house and no way to enjoy them, it is what it is. I can certainly see the frustration in shelling out cash and having no way to enjoy it. 

 

But having records show up in bad shape is not justification for stopping the hobby (imo), just part of the game you have to deal with. Also, being a college kid, this is a very expensive hobby and I can see it taking a major toll on someone who wants all the latest releases but is tight on cash. Hang in there man, you'll enjoy that collection later on when you have a decent salary and need some stress relief after the days work

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While I've never completely stopped, the priority of this hobby has definitely moved down on my list (due to other daily tasks / other hobbies)

What I've been doing lately is going through my collection and selling off stuff that I haven't listened to in over an year.  Records are like clothes, if you don't use it for an entire year, chances are you won't use it for another year.

 

edit: I guess my point was  that you don't necessary have to completely walk away from the hobby, but instead take a break or just make it a less significant part of your life

Edited by fitterhappier
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I've stepped back a bit in the last couple of years, in part because I have 3 little kiddos running around, also because I've invested far more into a higher end headphone setup, and due to physical space issues, it is not connected to the turntable.  I listen to records when I cook or am doing work at home, but just as often put on my headphones with hi res digital files.  One of the biggest issues is that between increased shipping costs to Canada and within Canada, plus a noticeable shift in cost of records as of about 3 years ago, when the Canadian dollar went from about 95 US cents to 75-80 cents, which it has been lately, it has added to the cost considerably, coupled with our $20 threshold for imported goods. I just got dinged $21 CAD on a $22 USD record last week. Stops making this kind of thing quite as worthwhile. Still like to go to record stores and look out for the odd online deal, but in Canada they're so hard to find these days. 

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I myself have pretty much stopped buying records unless its something I REALLY want to have.  The prices are just too much for some things (and I am glad that hopefully the bands are seeing a lot of that money), but I just saw the weezer blue album is getting repressed again, this time on blue vinyl, for like..30.00.  I got the tape when it came out, and the tape still sounds great.  To each their own, I just stopped a couple of years ago to see if things come back down to earth.  

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1 hour ago, shenanigans said:

I'd bet this guy cries every time a record shows up with a corner ding

No, as I said I've bought records with bends, it didn't bother me till it consistently happened, and I'm not talking about corner dings, I'm more upset at seam splits. And I don't know what your problem is, I'm just asking for advice and you're in here being a dick for God knows what reason.

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1 hour ago, Tidal Wave said:

Get into 80s and 90s punk/hardcore. You’ll quit complaining about condition real fast. 

One of my favorite records I have is Minor Threat's S/T, Red cover. Paid like 25 and it has seam splits and bends and everything. If it's a good old record, I don't care about condition, I'm more upset about fresh out the factory records coming in rough shape.

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36 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Are there people out in the world who genuinely aren't fans of The Office?

Watching seasons 2-4 in real time was a special thing. It was my favorite show for that whole stretch. It morphed into something slightly different past that though and I wouldn't begrudge anyone who grew up watching seasons 5-9 and aren't fans of the show it became.

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17 hours ago, Reshiram454 said:

I'm gonna post this here cause I don't wanna clutter up the boards,  but I'm getting extremely furious with vinyl collecting. At this point I buy probably 90% of my records online. Almost all of them NEVER come in good shape. Between people not writing fragile and just the negligence of USPS, I really can't handle spending hard earned money on records that shows up damaged. Today was really the last straw, when I ordered the Noname record for a second time since my first had a seam split/ripped jacket. My second one shows up in worse condition than the last with seam splits on all the jackets and corner bends. I know a lot of people are gonna be like "Vinyl should be about the music, who cares about seam splits." Let me be real here, at the end of the day, this is an investment. Granted I never wanted to sell my collection but if an emergency happened, I'm sitting on thousands of dollars. Buying rare records is an investment and has always been a reason I gravitated towards this hobby, at the same time I get to enjoy a hobby based around music. But the enjoyment has really gone away, like I haven't even had a record player in months since my old one broke, but I keep buying since I had the intention of buying a new record player soon.  Maybe this is all my fault for going media mail on my shipments, but at the same time, I've never had a problem till recently. And maybe I feel this way since I'm just stacking records and have no way to listen to them.

 

Regardless, what I'm getting at with this is, I need opinions. Should I just call it quits? Is there anyone else feeling this way. And having issues with receiving records in the mail? And I hope I don't come off as whiney, to be honest I've had a tough month. I got really sick and then my car shitted on me and it's gonna cost a grand to fix, which I won't have all the funds for that till Friday. It's like vinyl collecting made me happy and helped with depression, but lately it's been more of a gamble. Everytime I open a package, I expect the worse and still get disappointed when it's the worse. Anyways, thanks to whoever reads this and helps me out, I really just need peace of mind, but at the same time, I'm paper thin close to calling it quits on vinyl collecting.

I have I think about 800 records 99% all purchased online and I think maybe 4 have arrived with damage. I also want to say I think 3 of 4 of them were from DHL because they are terrible. 

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Wow we're on the 3rd page, might as well speak my mind for now since I think I've gotten everything I needed out of the thread.

 

First of all, thank you to all who made thoughtful responses, I really appreciate a lot of people in the VC community. You guys have helped me come to the conclusion that I needed. I believe I'm gonna take a break from collecting until I get a turntable, at the end of the day, I love the music I buy and the joy it brought me back when my turntable worked was immense. However I know I don't have money to drop excessive funds on a great set-up, so I think I'm gonna just stay posted on Craigslist for a good deal on something entry-audiophile level. I might just end up with an Audio Technica AT-LP120, unless I can score a nice Technics. Either way I just need something to hold me together until I'm making the money I'd like to at a job I love. 

 

Though to help with funds, I believe I'm gonna start selling off some things I'm not gonna be listening to. If I do, I'll come up with a list of stuff and put it in the STWs section of VC.   Definitely gonna sell everything at fair prices, and hopefully that helps with buying a new turntable.  But if anyone sees anything on my discogs and wants to buy something, lemme know, only things that are off limits (that I can think of right now) are TON stuff (Though I'll sell the black Slow, Deep, and Hard), SOAD stuff, Frank stuff, Kendrick stuff and Vince stuff.  Just PM me.

 

As for my shipping issues, I'm gonna experiment and have everything sent to a friend's house. I'm very much convinced it's my post office. 

 

Anyways, I'm gonna leave this thread alone now, thanks again to everyone who helped.

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