I bought my daughter a record player for Christmas, a product that I presumed she wanted for the novelty aspect of listening to music in an analogue way.

At no point was I expecting anything other than the really bad standalone record players that seem to dominate the market today, but boy was I surprised.

We chose a (Amazon catchy name follows) 1 BY ONE Bluetooth Turntable Hi-Fi System with 36 Watt Bookshelf Speakers, Vinyl Record Player with Magnetic Cartridge which at the time was discounted heavily and I chose it purely because it had separate speakers. She also received 3 albums that she wanted and so starts her record collection.

After some fiddling about setting it up she let me play some of my old Queen vinyls and the result stunned me. Sat in between the stereo speakers took me straight back to my teenage years and it dawned on me that you can ‘experience’ music as well as just listening to it. I felt almost inside the music and every track had more depth than anything I hear through my AirPods.

It was a brilliant experience and as much as I enjoy the stylus-placing ritual and reading the lyrics on the album sleeves, it was the vibrancy of the experience that hit me. Vinyl does appear to have a place in my future and I may even make a purchase of a half-decent player soon.

Categories: Articles, Music, Retro