Starting Analog...

I started with no albums a year ago. I sold all of my albums in the early 80's. Since the year has gone, I have already upgraded my vinyl rig once. I think it has increased my pleasure of this hobby 100%. Once a month I go to a local store that gets vinyl from the Bop Shop out of Rochester NY. I buy about 10 - 15 albums a month. I must have 500 albums now.
Just go into it with a level head. If you are like me ( obsesive, compulsive) You better get you finances in order because it is a wild ride.
And NO, Cd doesn't come close!!!

Aside from a cheesy plastic cheap POS player, my adventure started with an AR Turntable and a Linn Basik arm. Nursed it to health, slapped a Shure cart on...was officially in vinyl playbackland for under $150. A year an a half later, shortly after upgrading to a Clearaudio cart on the AR, I sucked it up and bought a Gyro SE, VPI cleaner and some tube amps! Worth every penny, I might add ;)

It's dangerous stuff! Listen to these guys, you'll be hooked! I want to do some structural mods to my stand, mod my tonearm, and upgrade my cart at some point and I'll be happy for a while (then I'll have time to work on getting my CD playback to some kind of "tolerable" level--I just can't stand it right now, but my player is pretty modest).

If you don't mind the attention vinyl commands, I suggest you jump in with both feet and don't look back. You'll love vinyl, and more and more new titles are becoming available along side all the old used gems out there. Just make sure you get a 'table with a good upgrade path, as you will definitely follow it, and make sure you make some kind of cleaning system part of your budget. This doesn't have to be costly, but it can be. Up to you, and how much DIY work you're willing to put in.

It's worth it! :)

One person's hassle is another person's idea of a great time.

I like the time, the involvement, the rituals. The sense that one is handling precious objects - LP, turntable, tonearm, cartridge, stylus.

I like the gorgeous construction of well-made analog devices. It's a pleasure to see the mechanical running of them.

Nothing could be a further cry from pushing a silver disc into a drawer, or indeed clicking a mouse or trackpad.

The WHOLE analog deal is wonderful. It might not be to your taste, but many of us have fallen in love with it and won't let go. And in some way it seems to me that all this - the physical and emotional involvement, the sense of running parts in a system where everything has to be set just so, like the rigging of a ship, is somehow connected to the glorious sound of a great analog stereo, and its unrivalled ability to communicate emotion and music.