Prospecting Begins

I really have to thank George Moneo for handing me yet ANOTHER way to waste time and money while becoming an even bigger hedonist than I already am.

I have the turntable set up, and I'm starting to find good records on Ebay. I can't believe how cheap this stuff is. In some cases, I understand why. I wouldn't pay a dime for an LP of a recording I could find on a CD. But why is the out-of-print stuff so cheap?

I found the coolest stuff. Two Richter recordings, for $18, shipped! Rachmaninoff, Chopin, and some other asshole. Prokofieff. I found Moiseiwitch on weird little 45 rpm records made of red plastic! I found Paderewski on the same label! I found a big ol' Moiseiwitsch LP I had never heard of!

I was hoping to find some Van Cliburn stuff, because let's face it, his in-print CDs suck ass. "My Favorite Debussy." "My Favorite Rachmaninoff." Yes, okay, the music is good, but that is NOT the way you record the classics. A few "sampler" albums are fine, but there are some chunks of repertoire you ought to record in a logical sequence or grouping. Like Rachmaninoff preludes or Chopin etudes.

Unfortunately, it looks like Cliburn's LPs aren't much different from his CDs. Same stuff.

I have a feeling jazz will be easier to find than classical music, but on the other hand, they seem to be doing a better job of moving it to CDs too.

I look forward to having some of this stuff just because it's old and weird.

George is now trying to make me buy real audiophile stuff to convert the plastic into 1's and 0's. I have this feeling I can do pretty well with the preamp out on my the spare NAD receiver in my bedroom, hooked up to the Sound Blaster Audigy on my spare PC. But perhaps I am wrong.