The Pros and Cons of CSAs
Seattlest Pix 09Nov08
Weekly Around the -Ists
Seattlest Pix 09Nov09
Can't Miss It: Monday
Yesterday Seattlest took a few minutes out of a "working at home" day to run up to 45th and the taco truck in the Winchell's parking lot (man's gotta eat), and since the Seattlest household got a turntable for Christmas and Golden Oldies is right there we stopped in after eating (man's gotta rock out). Our record collection is pretty thin, consisting of maybe a dozen or twenty records which is great because we have absolutely no desire to amass those huge boxes of vinyl that DJ's and nerds tend to acquire, but, you know, maybe one box wouldn't be so bad. One box of rotating content, maybe?
Golden Oldies has a ton of great stuff unless you're looking for something pressed in the past ten years, or, surprisingly, blues. Their folk, jazz and country sections are packed full of goodies. We didn't really get to rock (had to get back to the home/office), but it looked like they had a wall full. We also have to drop some bonus points on them for maintaining numerous "northwest" sections. They had The Cowboys, which we should have grabbed, in hindsight, in lieu of Enumclaw's "Fiddling Engineer" that we bought out of the "northwest bluegrass" section. We got out of there in about half an hour having spent around $25 for four records. We'll definitely be headed back for more, but, again, the blues section was poorly stocked.
Our question to Seattle vinyl shoppers, though, is where else should we go? Sonic Boom's expansion store in Fremont (RIP, Fremont News) has a pretty good amount of newer stuff, but not a lot of older records, and we're pretty sure there's something else on Fremont Ave somewhere. Jive Time in Wallingford is gone and we're rarely on Airport Way at a time that Georgetown Records is open. What else is there?
Our other question arises from a transaction we witnessed in Golden Oldies while peering into the boxes. A guy came in, pronounced himself homeless ("homeless, basically," he said) and shared his intention to buy an iPod. He doesn't have a computer, though. Where can he rip his CDs and records? This question also pertains to Seattlest because while we have a turntable and a computer and an iPod, we did not get the fancier model turntable that includes a USB out. We're looking for someone in town that will rip records.
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If you're in Sonic Boom in Fremont, just look a few more doors down for Jive Time in Fremont. Also try Platinum Records in Capitol Hill for more current releases, especially electronica and imports. There's also a used records store downstairs in Pike Place Market with an interesting selection, but I can't remember the name nor find it on Google.
Oh, also to rip records properly, the most important piece of equipment is a quality turntable and needle. Most USB turntables are junk. It is much better to use a good Technics turntable fed through a shielded cable into the line in of a quality soundcard, which is ideally external. My soundcard isn't the best, but I have access to the rest of the setup.
I've never used them, but I went to college with a couple of them: Reclaim Media in the Wallingford area converts vinyl and cassettes to MP3 or CD.
Bop Street in Ballard is a behemoth.
Bop Street is what you want.
Bop Street has a HUGE vinyl collection.
Dave Voorhees (the owner) is extremely knowledgable, deal with him if you can, he's great.
5219 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
(206) 297-2232
I've been wanting to check out Bop Street for the longest time. I will for sure now.
I enjoy Easy Street Records. Is that an obvious suggestion? They have a good selection of current albums, not so much old used stuff.
Jive Time in Fremont (mentioned above) is good for older stuff. Plus it's a block away from Sonic Boom (which i like loads better than the Sonic Boom in Ballard).
About converting vinyls to MP3: when i lived in New York, i remember seeing several record stores that could do this for you for a fee. Not sure if i've seen one here.
I read this article this morning, and was in Barnes & Noble today, and there's an article in the current issue of Macworld about converting vinyl to MP3. Might want to check that out if you want.