About the Website
My name is Michael, and I’m the founder of Devoted to Vinyl. I created this website because not only do I love music and vinyl records, but I have a strong interest in sharing my passion for the hobby with other people. At the same time, I recognize that “getting into vinyl” isn’t exactly an easy process for the average person, who may ask themselves questions such as:
“Should I get a belt drive or direct drive turntable?”
“Can I get by with a ceramic cartridge, or do I need a moving magnet or moving coil cartridge?”
“Should I buy a record player with a built in phono preamp or shell out the money for an external phono preamp?”
And then there’s questions about the records themselves. Between first pressings and re-issues, regular records vs 180-gram vinyl, paper vs poly sleeves, and the countless ways you can clean and store your record collection, it’s enough to make the average person say, “You know what…I’ll stick to Spotify.”
So, I decided to create Devoted to Vinyl in an attempt to simplify things for the uninitiated. From understanding where to buy vinyl records, to finding the best turntable to fit your needs, to properly taking care of your record collection, I wanted Devoted to Vinyl to be the helpful resource that I would’ve appreciated when I started getting into the hobby.
Photos On This Website
Photos on this website that are not taken by me personally are images I purchased under a royalty free license from websites like Yay Images or Deposit Photos. In other instances, images on Devoted to Vinyl that come from Flickr are credited appropriately and in accordance with the Creative Commons License.
About the Author
Vinyl records were always a part of my life growing up—well, at least to some degree. Christmas records such as The Jackson 5 Christmas Album were always played in December, and despite my everyday use of cassettes and CDs as a kid, vinyl records and turntables were always present in the home thanks to my parents.
But in 2013, despite enjoying a life full of CDs and streaming music, I decided to jump full force into vinyl. Now, I wasn’t abandoning digital—this is the 21st century, after all. But I personally wanted to see what this record playing “thing” was all about, especially with all the talk of a vinyl record resurgence dominating the news.
And I figured, if records have been around for over a century in some form or fashion, there must be something to it.
This curiosity eventually led me to my first turntable—the Audio-Technica AT-LP60. It was cheap, but effective. A good gateway drug, if you will.
Dozens and dozens and dozens of albums later, I eventually upgraded to the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon. This player was much more solid–and far better quality. Especially after I upgraded to an acrylic platter and added the Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge to the tonearm.
Ugh. I can feel the addiction digging its claws into me at this point.
Before I knew it, I had upgraded my speakers three times over, run through just as many amplifiers and budget phono preamps, and now purchased the Clearaudio Concept Black turntable as my everyday record player.
Vinyl is a helluva drug, my friends. Proceed with extreme caution.
Wrapping Up
Ultimately, if you love music and have even a passing interest in vinyl records (let alone a full blown passion), I hope you find this website to be both fun to read and helpful to your growth and knowledge of turntables, cartridges, vinyl records, and music in general. If you think you’re ready to begin, I recommend checking out my Start Here page.
Join Me On YouTube
If you’ve made it this far (major props if you did), why not subscribe to my Devoted to Vinyl channel on YouTube? In fact, you can get an idea of what to expect from my channel by checking out one of my videos below, where I share my advice on how to avoid three major vinyl record collecting mistakes:
