Collecting Vinyl Records

Summary: Back in the early days of the compact disc, many people thought records would be obsolete by now. Most chain stores stopped selling them and major on-line vendors such as Amazon don’t offer them. But at your hip local music store, vinyl has somehow stayed around and even started to thrive again, thanks largely to dj's and record collectors. Collectors are often called crate diggers when referring to that obsessive who will look through every record in the building just to find that obscure funk song or Misfits single that will impress their friends and more importantly, allow them to brag about their record collecting prowess. Yes, record collecting is a competitive field, full of manic music fans who are very, very anxious to find that rare record before you do.

Antique store owner Jan Braunstein has seen her share of rare records. In this free series, she shows you her very own copy of one of the rarest, the infamous “butcher cover” of the Beatles’ “Yesterday and Today” album. She gives you an overview of record collecting in general and talks about some albums by Bob Dylan, Elvis and the Beach Boys which you should snatch up whenever you see them. She also discusses 45 rpm singles and specialty niches such as comedy albums, box sets and show-and-tell records. You never know when you might stumble across a treasure while looking through the stacks of vinyl at a used book or antique store. The trick is to know that it’s a treasure when you run across it, because if you don’t find out until later, it will be gone!