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awful thing about collecting records in 2008


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Anyway, kids these days should be required to labor for hours in record shops, going thru the thousands of 99¢ LPs in the bins on the floor so they understand how hard record collecting is, sneezing cos of the dust and mildew - and just how fucking exciting it is to find that highly-sought first-pressing that somehow got tucked away behind all those Men at Work and Falco records!!

i couldnt agree with this more. im probably just old and jaded, but it gets me so mad/bummed when i read threads about people saying "ive been searching, and i NEED this record!!!", and its something that came out 3 months ago, and they havent been to a record store in a year. searching nowadays involves looking at your 2 favorite distros, and ebay. and sometimes, typing it into google, for a grand total of 12 minutes of "searching"

its so much less fulfilling to just shell out a bunch of cash on ebay, than to be excited about finding something in some random box in a dingy record store.

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Guest builtbycash

bestbuy selling records again. not something really i'm looking forward to. then again everything i've seen them get in so far is fuckin way overpriced so i don't even have to worry about buying anything from there. the underoath box set for lost in the sound of separation $100!!!!

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Misuse of the phrase "white whale"!!!

I realize I am an old (pushing 40), grumpy and jaded hardcore collector from the 80's. Probably snobby to boot as well. Please keep that in mind as I rant.

After 25+ years of collecting, I find it remarkable that so many people on here seem to find "white whales" on a weekly basis!

Look, if it is up for auction more than 5 times a year, it isn't hard to get. ebay has made this game easy.

If there are 1000+ pressed and it is an independent release, it isn't rare.

If you can find it on just about every trade list, it isn't rare. (Friend's presses, tour presses, tour covers)

If it is a 40th color from a 10th pressing of a record from 6 years ago that has never gone out of print, but gets counted as a "variant" due to lazy pressing plants who forgot to clean the vat, you are getting taken. This is an artificial rarity that looks good on a web page discography and screws all those who try. You are chasing windmills. You can't win. The game is rigged against you. I'm sure the hardcore Against Me! and No Idea collectors are aware of this fact. It just seems futile. (Not exactly the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen single on A&M, even though there are probably more copies of that than some inane Against Me! variation.)

Rant over.

Sorry to all who take offense, I didn't mean to piss in your Corn Flakes.

I guess I would just call it getting a record off your want list instead of slaying the white whale.

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bestbuy selling records again. not something really i'm looking forward to. then again everything i've seen them get in so far is fuckin way overpriced so i don't even have to worry about buying anything from there. the underoath box set for lost in the sound of separation $100!!!!

i think i got mine for like $60 with free shipping?? you got robbed. best buy had the best price i saw and the package was actually really well done.

the true outrageous price i've seen on bestbuy.com is $157 for the nada surf boxset. i can't see them selling out of their stock unless people didn't know to look in better places or it is sold out everywhere else.

i think vinyl collective is the awful part of collecting in 2008 because they put out too much good stuff and i am unable to save any money. thanks virgil and staff ;) it's been a good year!

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Guest genericinsight

People emailing you repeatedly trying to buy or trade your records when you're not looking to do so... even worse when they try to buy records that you specifically you're not getting rid of. Or, getting pissed at you when you won't trade or sell them something.

Ahem, see the situation with my Sink or Swim (Gaslight Anthem) on black. Finally let it go cause one kid wouldn't leave me alone about it.

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Guest genericinsight
Misuse of the phrase "white whale"!!!

I realize I am an old (pushing 40), grumpy and jaded hardcore collector from the 80's. Probably snobby to boot as well. Please keep that in mind as I rant.

After 25+ years of collecting, I find it remarkable that so many people on here seem to find "white whales" on a weekly basis!

Look, if it is up for auction more than 5 times a year, it isn't hard to get. ebay has made this game easy.

If there are 1000+ pressed and it is an independent release, it isn't rare.

If you can find it on just about every trade list, it isn't rare. (Friend's presses, tour presses, tour covers)

If it is a 40th color from a 10th pressing of a record from 6 years ago that has never gone out of print, but gets counted as a "variant" due to lazy pressing plants who forgot to clean the vat, you are getting taken. This is an artificial rarity that looks good on a web page discography and screws all those who try. You are chasing windmills. You can't win. The game is rigged against you. I'm sure the hardcore Against Me! and No Idea collectors are aware of this fact. It just seems futile. (Not exactly the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen single on A&M, even though there are probably more copies of that than some inane Against Me! variation.)

Rant over.

Sorry to all who take offense, I didn't mean to piss in your Corn Flakes.

I guess I would just call it getting a record off your want list instead of slaying the white whale.

These are excellent points. Back in March, someone sold me a weird variant of a record I honestly never thought I'd get, but I didn't consider it a white whale cause I only looked for it for maybe a month.

My real white whales are all records I've been trying to locate and had no luck (due to losing ebay auctions and the like) for literally 7+ years or a little more. I was able to buy one of those this year after maybe close to a decade for looking, but that's been it.

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I never thought I would ever say this but.... living in Australia, our dollar is seriously fucked! No records at all for me (it's killing me to watch the Joey Cape TP go to someone on ebay) and i'm off to europe early next year and it will cost me 3 times what it should :(

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The rising dollar is a pain, but I've been buying records so recklessly, that I have barely taking it under consideration, which is really lame considering that each record cost 1/6 (app.) more then they used to. When you're after $60+ records, it's quite a bit!

If I were to buy a record (6 months ago) for $60, it would cost me app. 300 Danish Kroner (DKK). Today, a $60 record cost me 360 DKK - and I still live in the illusion that $60 bucks is 300 DKK. Soon I'll be overpaying for records! I just hope I'll wake up and smell the big green buck before that happens.

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Not exactly the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen single on A&M

I hear that!

Try finding The Ex EPs here in the US w/o ebay - where they go for 2-3x what they're worth. I had to go all the way to The Netherlands to find 'em. Damn!

(Too bad I am not a Sex Pistols collector - this skateshop/record shop in Amsterdam had that single for 15 euro when I was there in 2005 - I had the Virgin release, and thought eh, why have two?)

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somehow we've gotten to the point where we spend 17.99 on a new LP.

that (and other reasons) are why I started buying LP's, cuz a new record was 10 bux. Major Label CD's cost 17.99, independent label LP's shouldn't cost the same.

I sell my LP's for $7-12. I think that's fair.

I hate the 'limited-ness' of many releases, and the artificial inflation that results. Don't press 300 of something if 1000 people want one.

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Calling a record limited edition then pressing 5 colors, each of them "limited" then pressing more "limited" pressings one after another.

What ever happen to a limited version on color and then black fuckin wax.

Agreed. I'd like to see one color plus a 180 gram version. Do not want 65 colors of each pressing.

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