Today I was walking with a colleague to the place where we would have a meeting. We had a bit of time, and we passed the location of the radio studios of the national classical music station. They had an interesting collection of classical music, but mostly on CD. I didn’t have the time to check it out, but it led to a remark of my colleague that he had about twenty records of classical music. It was the end of the walk, so we couldn’t really finish that conversation. Now I’m curious about which records you have when you have twenty. I have a bit more, and it led me to buy works I already own, or can easily download. Why do I do that?
Of course that is a question many collectors get asked. Why go to the bother of all that weight in the house, why reserve valuable space in the house, why do you go through the exercise of walking up and down to the record player? And why the considerable outlay of getting the records, the player? Why, if it has no sonic benefits? Because you want to look at the pictures? Am I so sure it sounds better? I think it does, but does my feeling of sonic beauty survive a double blind test?
To be honest, the sound really depends on the quality of the recording, and there are not many records good enough for my ears. But it is not the main reason why I like to listen to records. Most of it has indeed to do with the ritual of picking up a record, laying it on the player and dropping the needle. After that I go sit in my chair, and look at the artwork. I handle the packaging, and enjoy its intricate physical details. Sometimes the record is old, and there is some damage. It makes me wonder about the previous owners. Sometimes it is brand new, and I enjoy the fresh feeling of the surface of the cover. It sometimes has this grainy, sandlike surface that I so like to feel.
Hurray for the record, may it last for a long time (more).