Check out the hilarious store this dude bought with all the kickstarter money: Who knows how many of the subscribers even know they're getting dollar bin garbage. I'd be willing to bet the majority of the people who signed up for this are just following the vinyl "trend" that's crept its way back into mainstream culture, since anyone who already buys records knows that they can get "hand curation" for free at their local record store. Apparently the store is in a very chic shops district in LA. Ingorant people are just buying this crap as a "prestige good" or something. They're selling turntables that are already overpriced at $180 (their normal retail value) for $299 on their instagram for crying out loud. "A fool and his money are soon parted."
Great post, lol. That shop is right by me so I may go check it out. It looks pretty ridiculous It's also hilarious because in willing to bet a ton if these new vinyls are just mp3s printed analog. None of these hipsters actually care about sound quality :p. I bet a on of people have their turntables plugged into the RCA jack instead of phono.
I collect vinyl and for me it's not about the sound, but rather about the artifact. Does my vinyl sound good on my system? Yes. But so do CDs and frankly so do MP3. But I like the large format of vinyl, cover art etc. As someone that has released albums, I know how much work and time goes in to such things. It's a piece of artwork you can hold while listening. I dig that.
I totally get that. I guess, personally, that I notice a very large difference between CD and MP3, and vinyl and both of the others. My favorite part about vinyl is that it actually is an analog representation of the recording, and that the circuitry of phono outputs replaces the low end output that you can't fit on the record because the soundwaves are so effing long. :) IMO, the warmth of vinyl through a tube amp is unmatchable via other formats of audio. Everything should sound like that.
Everything about this makes me cringe, it's the worst in startups and record culture. Let's take a look at the words here: "VNYL", "#vibes", "RCRDSTR", "hand-curated" it's all more style and marketing over actual substance, and a group of people who have jumped shark on the popularization of vinyl. I would be angry receiving "hand-curated" records that are used and only worth a couple of dollars, and are records that I could easily find in thrift stores or on discogs. But clearly I'm not the target audience for this "service".