Jump to content

How Paranoid are You about Vinyl Covers?


corbet
 Share

Recommended Posts

As with many different hobbies, collectors are known to be anal regarding the overall condition of said collection. As a newcomer to the world of vinyl, I've noticed one thing when buying them - many have flaws.

I recently purchased MewithoutYou's latest album on vinyl and noticed that the middle hole was cut incorrectly and there was a small spot missing around it. Obviously I'm not going to buy another one for such a small nitpick, but it is quite annoying.

Another occurance happened today. My copies of Bear vs. Shark - Terrorhawk, and Right Now came from MerchNow. Terrorhawk is in flawless shape - I managed to get the Red/Yellow version. But Right Now... well, it was wrapped in cellophane plastic and the corner of the cover was slightly dinged and smashed.

Is anyone else paranoid/anal about the condition of your vinyl records, covers, and cases? Am I the only one? I can only be terrified when it comes to my copy of Deja Entendu coming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my lagwagon - Duh on purple vinyl that just came on saturday looked like it fell of a roof. It was dinged up and corners were bent. that was the first time that happened with FAT. It was packaged perfectly so it happened before the ship.

But no worries, i could always replace the cover with the other copy of duh i have on black vinyl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me it depends on the record I guess...

If I buy it whent it gets first released from either label, band, or even store, I'd expect for it to be in great shape as it's brand new. If the sleeve/cover is a bit dinged up in the corners and whatnot, I won't care too much...as long as the record itself is OK and plays fine.

Now, if I get a record via trade or sale (eBay, another collector, etc.) and pay a great amount, I'd be even more upset if the cover is not in anything less than great shape. This is just the OCD collector in me talking now. I'd expect it to be in perfect shape. It's almost as if I forget that it's all about the music itself in the end.

The music fan side and OCD collector parts of me are always at odds with each other. It's a lot due to my hobby of toy collecting (mostly Japanese action figures and whatnot) in which the shape of the packaging is crucial in affecting the value of the piece.

I know...I'm a mess... ;D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^AH cool, glad to see I'm not the only toy collector. For the past few years I went from McFarlane >> Muppets >> Transformers. Lately I've been selling off all my Transformers toys, I plan on keeping my Muppet toys, and I've been getting into the Vinyl market...

let me tell you... the Vinyl market is quite insane...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny that you mention your transition...

I started out with being hardcore into comic books...around the mid-90's I stopped because I got tired of the while multiple covers shit that publishers started to pull.

Then I focused on collecting action figures and different types of toys: McFarlane, Japanese, SLU (mostly hockey), and a bunch of others. Then that market got saturated.

And now the focuse has been vinyl. Granted, I have been collecting and listening to vinyl since the late 80's or so but in the past 3-4 years it has been an intense hobby. And let's not even mentione my stumbling upon VC...now that's making the spending even more so...

But at the end of the day, it's fun and entertaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i expect things to be perfect from labels. sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. on ebay, i'll give them a little breathing room, because they have had previous owners (some who could've possibly not have known how to take care of records). but that's how i see things. i'd like them to be in the best condition that they can be, but at the same time i have no control over that. so yeah.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dont know about the toys!, but i get real pissed when my new records come with dinged covers. or even worse, splits where the vinyl has gone through the sleeve and even, the cover. unfortunately, with mailorder, ive come to expect some damage, so i'm well chuffed when one arrives tip-top. inoxia are real good at packaging, as are robotic empire. vinyl collective arent too bad either ;-)

i got altar from a shop in the States and it arrived FUCKED up, like someone dropped it from a plane to land in front of a herd of stampeding rhinos.

sorry about that...

....just really badded my week right up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

inoxia are real good at packaging, as are robotic empire. vinyl collective arent too bad either ;-)

I was pleasently surprised by Inoxia when I ordered the ISIS records from them. They were perfect. Granted, the records themselve kinda slit the inner sleeves but those were pretty paper anyways...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a few slightly dinged corners doesnt really bother me, but i hate creases and seam splits are the bane of my existence, because their so avoidable.

I know that feeling. I received a copy of ISIS' 'Oceanic' from an eBay seller and there was a 1 inch split in the spine...actually two...one along each edge...it bothered the hell out of me...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just use regular glue-stick glue. Nobody will ever know the difference.

As far as what I expect from labels....as long as it's packaged well, I have no complaints. You don't have to be a psycho and use ten layers of cardboard, a mailer, and bubble wrap all taped up and whatnot. If you send it in a mailer, preferably with the record removed from the jacket, without a lot of extra space in the mailer, I'm happy. It's when people do the lazy shit where they tape two pieces of cardboard together with a record in the middle or don't put ANYTHING in the mailer so the record bounces around in there that I'm annoyed. Or I guess when they don't use the mailer properly and it causes the sleeve to get damaged. You can't really expect perfection when you're paying a few bucks for media mail. Hell, even if you pay for priority mail, it's the USPS, and they'll destroy anything. So really, small dings/creases/etc. no big deal. They're usually not the labels' fault anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not that paranoid about covers, its problems with the vinyl that pisses me off more than anything. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but I get the feeling that newer vinyl is of much poorer quality than back in the day when everything was pressed on vinyl. I don't know how many records from no idea that i've gotten where I've had to take a knife to the inner hole so I can put the record on my turntable, and several records have really bad surface noise in certain spots, even though to the eye, the vinyl is flawless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist