Are most people still going to brick and mortar stores to browse around or
Is the majority of record buying done on line these days?

I have 3 record stores near me and even Best Buys has vinyl.

I've had good luck finding albums at second hand stores.

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Good question, good info. Santa gave me a turntable for Xmas, and I'm real short of records.

Hopefully you have a local store specializing in the physical media, vinyl, CDs, even cassettes. Mine also has some equipment for sale. There's Discog and I ordered from Oldies.com once or twice. It's nice to finger through the new arrivals but if you know what you want, online is an option and the store can order it from their source.

If you know what you want, and a local brick-and-mortar source can't help you, discogs is the way to go. I buy and sell on there. If the artist is currently producing music, bandcamp can be a good place too.

We have about 6 pretty good record stores around here (new/used vinyl) and I like to try to use them as much as possible. It's fun to look through them and find stuff on your list or stuff your weren't even looking for. They all seem to have an inside line to buying large collections. I also use discogs, ebay and amazon. I am pretty picky on the vinyl condition and for older records stay around the "near-mint" graded condition. In the store you can hold the record and see its condition, online can be a gamble. I've had to return a couple online as they just weren't as advertized, but generally they are. In some cases it is hard to complete an artists collection, especially if there is obscure stuff, without using online.

I'd check out some goodwill locations - they seem to have some stock of vinyl

Be very careful about new vinyl. Read the jacket carefully and see if it was made from an original analog master, or if they simply took a CD and turned it into vinyl

Online. But it’s genre specific. Some genres online only. Others, you can hit the 2nd hand brick and mortars.

quote:

Originally posted by wishfull thinker:
Good question, good info. Santa gave me a turntable for Xmas, and I'm real short of records.

What did you get? Vintage or new? A wall of vinyl is the new hip thing. I'm waiting for a Fosi pre-amp to arrive, my current Pyle is entirely too week at 10k ohms. New needle, and record weight and carbon fiber brush. My Discwasher is ancient.

My brother makes a good living with appointments to buy record collections... he goes all over the country on buying trips. They are mostly sold on-line.

Our local Barnes & Noble has a small but ok selection of new vinyl. I buy vinyl at concerts sometimes. Most I end up buying online.

There are a couple of decent shops down in the city but that is a bit of a drive, and I don't trust that anything used will be in good condition. Prices for used tends to be too high to justify not buying new, unless it isn't available new.

Estate sales can be a good source of good condition used vinyl. You can judge from the equipment and other stuff for sale if the owner probably took care of the records or not.

One handy thing about discogs is the member feedback. It can often be used to determine which releases of a certain record the buyer would most prefer.

Discogs is more than a buy/sell site. It is also a database.

A good online source that has a huge store is Amoeba Records

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:

quote:

Originally posted by wishfull thinker:
Good question, good info. Santa gave me a turntable for Xmas, and I'm real short of records.

What did you get? Vintage or new? A wall of vinyl is the new hip thing. I'm waiting for a Fosi pre-amp to arrive, my current Pyle is entirely too week at 10k ohms. New needle, and record weight and carbon fiber brush. My Discwasher is ancient.

It's new, middle priced I think. I've got some records in storage and if the ants haven't got 'em I'll be good for a while. I've got a 'Bread' album I've longed to rock out to for a while.

My cousin had five thousand albums, when his brother passed he got four thousand more!
Estimated about nine thousand. All the best audio stuff. One day I'll drive up to Chicago
and see it.

I like to buy in person at retail stores or antique stores, have bought a few from FB Markerket place. Flipping through records, reminds me of my youth. Music Plus, Licorice Pizza, Tower Records.

I do my best to support the local stores. Often I will order direct from the artist or the record label. Many labels offer items which won’t ever get to a local store like the Rhino High Fidelity pressings

I do order from a couple web based stores like Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct etc.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
My brother makes a good living with appointments to buy record collections... he goes all over the country on buying trips. They are mostly sold on-line.

What kinds of record collections? My dad has a pretty good collection he’s ready to let go.

I prefer to buy in person and have a few shops in my area that sell new and used. I have purchased online as I can't always find what I want locally. I have had the local shops order for me and I don't mind paying a little more to support them. However, typically when I order online it's usually several at a time, as an average of about $5-10 more each adds up when buying 4-6 at a time.

I also peruse thrift shops. They are cheaper than the shops but are a gamble. I have picked up some really good condition ones, and some I've thrown away after listening. I have a pretty good eye for condition, but still occasionally get burned. I have a record cleaning machine, and all of my vinyl has been washed, even new ones.