i don’t have any snooty audiophile reasons for listening to records. and i don’t really have any aspirations to become a deejay or anything like that. i don’t care about that junk, by and large. i just happen to like records. my undying thanks are due to the pretentious indie fuckers for helping keep LPs trendy, so i have still more selection.

• they’re tangible music. i can see the music. i can hear it without amplification. it’s physical and i can interact with it.
• you can watch the light reflected on the disc as it goes round, as the needle goes up and down due to slight warping.
• twelve inch singles mean REMIXES, REMIXES, REMIXES.
• they’re heavy, and when i have a lot of music i know it.
• try finding a vintage boxed set on CD for $5.
• they’re called B-sides, not “tracks three and four”
• some things sound better with slight pops and crackles.
• record jackets and sleeves > elaborately overdesigned CD inserts any day.
• you get eight tracks, maybe ten. make ’em count.
• they come in different sizes. sometimes they come in different colors and shapes too.
• there’s something satisfying about sitting on the floor going through a stack of records, or spending two hours in a record shop to emerge triumphant with hours of music, having spent twenty bucks (and that includes the one new pressing).
• records reward you for taking care of them.
• it’s mechanical, not digital. i know it’s working right because there’s a strobe light that tells me so.
• $2 for a record i don’t know if i’m going to like all that much beats $18 for the CD any day.