Time for a new needle

03-30-10

Time for a new needle

I checked my stylus recently – in need of a change. I try to change my phonograph stylus every two years, if at all possible. 4 years ago, I bought two replacements. One broke, and the 2^nd replacement’s time is up.

So, I drove to the electronics store where I always buy my replacement stylus at – of course, it wasn’t “in stock” – I special ordered two of them. So, no more playing phonograph records until the new stylus comes in.

That’s OK. I can still play CD’s, tapes…videos etc. As noted recently in this very blog, my CD burner is working well lately – very efficient. So, no problems there.

I have considered getting a new turntable as well – likely a red Pro-Ject III that comes with a nice, new stylus. I’ll buy it at a stereo store in Los Angeles, so they will set up all the counter-weights, tracking etc. – for me. Looks like I will be hanging on to my vinyl for some time, so a nice turntable isn’t out of the question. Also interested in getting a record cleaning machine – though I have been warned that those kind of machines tend to “fall apart” with heavy use.

As always, when I am faced with not being able to play my records, I always start thinking about getting rid of stuff. Yes, I notoriously “over-collect” stuff – and there are always avenues that I do not eventually choose to go up, particularly with singles. My thoughts on this topic are rather…un-collected, however. Not sure what to get rid of.

It has been amusing recently to discover that there are now more CD’s being made available (Method Actors, Scribble etc.), supposedly at the very end of “CD Time”. I can’t really imagine a time when you won’t be able to buy CD’s, but…looks like that time is nearly on the horizon. That being said, they said that about LP’s too, and they’re still around!

With “Spring Break” upon us next week, I will be taking a break from blogging for a few days. I have time off from work then. With any luck, I should be back up and running by April 12, 2010.

If something becomes apparent to me, I may post something during the time of my official vacation from blogging – you never know. I never know. We’ll see.

As usual, thanks for reading my stuff. Comments are always welcome.

What shall we talk about in April?