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I've always listened to digital music, mostly through Spotify. However recently I've realised that platforms like Spotify are quite bad (how does making a song and only earning $0.003 per stream sound? Not good right?). I also prefer ownership of the media I use. This initially led me to start developing Chime for digital music (yes, I know that things like Jellyfin exist, It's for personal use if it develops into something more then so be it). But I still wanted to have actual physical representations of my music. This is where vinyl comes in.

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The turntable

Arguably the most important part of a record setup is the turntable, no turntable, no music. My only requirements for a turntable started off as follows: - Plays record - Makes sound - Cheap

After some research I found out what a phono preamp was, and I included that in the list of requirements as well, after figuring out that getting a decent standalone one wasn't going to fit into my budget. I was also strongly steered away from those hipster looking briefcase style record players.

After doing quite a few Google searches for "best budget turntable" (p.s. the internet for reviews sucks nowadays, a lot of websites come across like ChatGPT assisted recycled content), I settled on the Audio Technica LP60XUSB. The "USB" wasn't particularly important to me, but it allowed me to rip my records to my computer if I desired. It also included a preamp, which could be switched off if I wanted to, meaning I could upgrade it with a better preamp down the line if I wanted to. It fit under my budget and could be found on Amazon at ~£150.

The only extra thing I needed to consider was that I needed a headphone amplifier as there was no gain control on the turntable itself. I got Behringer's HA400, as it was only £25 and didn't have any dreadful reviews.

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The records

One thing I'd wish I'd known before doing this is how relatively expensive half-decent records are. Because of this that I would have to acquire most of my music second hand. Which meant I had to learn what record gradings are. You see, most second hand records are graded using the Goldmine grading system, which is a list of letter/word(s) to describe the condition of a record and/or it's sleeve. The gradings go down from Mint, to Near Mint, to Very Good, to Fair to Poor. Basically a mint record should be pristine in every way, and a poor record is probably warped and scratched so much it's not even worth having. This video helped to explain what the audible differences are.

After reading about the grading, I got some records to start my collection, 2 new, and 2 second hand.

The Age Of Consent was in reasonably good condition, only problem with it was dust, which to be honest was the same across all the records after I played them a few times. The crackling only happened a few times in each record and was unnoticeable when audio was actually playing.

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Other things

• I have a dog, dog hair is a big problem. I've mostly gotten around it by cleaning my desk and the turntable religiously but it somehow still seems to get on the records.
• Handling records requires some technique. I'll be honest, I managed to get fingerprint marks round the edge of Californication when the LPs out of their sleeves. I've since redeemed myself by not making the same mistake with the other records by sliding them out the sleeve and then handling them by the edge and centre.
• Discogs (eBay but only for records) is now an addiction.
• I'm going to have to get something to properly clean the records and the stylus.
• Some albums haven't recent reissues/repressings, so are very expensive to get new.

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