I'm quite happy to be homeboy with the portable everywhere I go
me too
My portable paid for itself in about a week. All those wack records that I would have otherwise bought. I try not to dig without it now. Not that I'd be crippled by not having it, but it does give an advantage. That thing stays under the seat in my car (along with the most recent copy of "the list") so that I "don't leave home without it."
I can understand some store owners not letting people use them. But why hate if dudes want to use em on dollar records? Those dollars add up.
If you know what you're doing (and I don't always) it's pretty easy to bat a high percentage while taking chances.
It took 10 years of listening to everything, but I'm nearly there... I pretty much know what I'm looking for... I have a portable but rarely need to use it
I recently went through about 5-8000 12s and LPs at a rural junk shop... listened to less than 10 records, left with about 80. Everything I brought home that wasn't good musically was $$$ and there was nothing left behind
1.Carrying around a portable to the record shops downhere will get you strange looks and a price hike on the vinyl(dont get it twisted i dont own a portable ).
2.I told the dj in the store i buy from to change the needle and clean the lint off it,his response was to say "nuthin' nuh wrong wid di needle,[h]it ah play dont!?"
if the record is $1..just buy it you cheap bastard
if the record is $100..do you really think Mr. record store owner wants your fisher price needle on it...how arrrogant of you
you look corny walking in the store carrying a toy
you're in the fucking way with your toy
listening stations are a convenience provided by the store owner....if the owner does not provide a listening station...you should not even have the right to ask if it is o.k. to listen to his records on your traveling listening station.....you are now being disrespectful and arrogant...record stores are not libraries ....
if a clothing store does not have a dressing room you can't just try on clothes in the corner !!!
haha! i like this opinion more than the jealousy theory.
So when you buy 10 records and 9 of them sucked, you basically bought a 1 dollar record for 10 dollars. Then what do you do with the other 9? through them away?
i used to say the same shit, if its a one dollar record just take a chance.
but now i say diffrent. this is because after years, taking chances with one dollar records, these one dollar records just accumulate (even though records are thin, they take space). And unless your just trying to bulk up your quanity and not really caring about your quality this is a good thing, but not for me. I move around so often, i try to not add unnecessary records to my collection, just extra records to move.
so even with dollar records, i use a portable, more just to save space, its not so much a money issue then a space issue. Its very rare i bump into other diggers at flea markets and thrift shops i go to anyways, the only people i ever see at flea markets who check out records, look at the first five records in a crate, say "cool, records" and walk away empty handed.
I don't see what's so terrible about trying to maintain a minimum amount of control in one's own store. A store owner has NO WAY of knowing if random portable dude takes care of his needle, what kind of care people take, etc. Shit, stores take a chance having their own listening stations....people seriously don't know how to act.
There's truth in that but I always spend more in stores that have listening stations. Saturn Records in Oakland has a listening station (had one at least, fix that shit!) but they keep all the vinyl in the back that I really want to listen too.
i bought about 100 12"s in the last two weeks.. without the aid of a portable.. of those only 4 or 5 were ass..
if your batting average is SO low then maybe you need to step out of the game
I guess it depends on what you are looking for that would define an ass to goodnees ratio. In my genre the ratio is skewed heavily towards ass. Portable is highly needed to weed out the gems.
Now, if its early rap records that you collect, then yeah, a portable probably isn't necessary. Or even soul for that matter.
I ended up buying shit out of dudes pile. I had been hitting this spot for years and some kid is gonna try and do that funk that! In a small town it's every man for them self. One or two records at atime is cool but like 100 I hate to use the word etiquette but damn!
There's a major etiquette issue at hand when it comes to bringing a group of records up to a listening station. I cringe when I see a dude with a pile of 20 or 30 records but I have never hesitated to tap dudes on the shoulder and ask if I could slip in for a minute. Never had a problem. Actually, Peanut Butter Wolf was doing some mad hovering over me once at Groove Merchant. I had only like 3 records in hand too. He was cool though. Took a picture with me.
I guess it depends on what you are looking for that would define an ass to goodnees ratio. In my genre the ratio is skewed heavily towards ass. Portable is highly needed to weed out the gems.
Now, if its early rap records that you collect, then yeah, a portable probably isn't necessary. Or even soul for that matter.
I think Dizzy is absolutely right. In general, I will never need a portable at a dealer's house or at a high end store with soul, funk, jazz, psych, etc. In those situations I only buy what I know/care about, and don't take too many chances unless it's a recommendation I can't pass up or the owner just played it for me on their own player. I don't like handling expensive vinyl I don't own.
If I have time out in the field and have a huge stack of unknown privates, gospel, EZ listening, or Mexican 45s I don't recognize, I'm going back to my car to bust out the portable and have a good listen to the ones I don't know. Mind you, this is ONLY if I have time, privacy, and care enough to save a good $20-$50.
I ain't trippin if its 1 $1 LP from junk seller joe.
i bought about 100 12"s in the last two weeks.. without the aid of a portable.. of those only 4 or 5 were ass..
if your batting average is SO low then maybe you need to step out of the game
I guess it depends on what you are looking for that would define an ass to goodnees ratio. In my genre the ratio is skewed heavily towards ass. Portable is highly needed to weed out the gems.
Now, if its early rap records that you collect, then yeah, a portable probably isn't necessary. Or even soul for that matter.
But Diz, it's only you and that guy looking for loungey 60s records fighting over Reader's Digest Box Sets in the flea parking lot! You have PLENTY of time to hang out and rock your Al Martino LPs on the portable. The rest of us have to deal with some wily mofos out here at the crack of dawn, and I for one would rather travel light than set aside a stack, listen to them all, then make up my mind, then buy the few I have weeded out. Because at the end of all that, I would rather be on to the next junkman sonner than later, maybe with some extra crap I coulda left behind.
I AM NOT MAD AT ANYONE WITH A PORTABLE. I want to make that clear, but I would never have the patience for one. My speed cost me an ESG II 12" last weekend, I thought I had bought it, but I must have set it into a pile I DIDN'T buy. So no route is perfect, just sayin'.
Speed is definitely an issue. I noticed I almost never use the portable between the hours of 6:00 - 9:00 a.m.
If it's a huge box of gospel at 10 a.m. and nobody is waiting for me to finish going through it, I'm busting out my portable to have a good listen, hah.
So when you buy 10 records and 9 of them sucked, you basically bought a 1 dollar record for 10 dollars. Then what do you do with the other 9? through them away?
Would this really happen to you without your portable? I would say in shopping without sampling everything unknown, maybe 1 out of every 10 records I buy at most is a bust.
Definitely would like to have a portable for certain 45 spots that don't offer a listening station, 45's are a little harder to drop any loot on without enough clues - Albums are way easier to gauge...if I really need to know what an LP sounds like, I ask the store to drop the needle on it. I don't hate on portables, but the title of this thread is on point - can't deny I roll the eyes and feel encroached when dude rolls in with the portable. Most dudes do have the decency to put the portable over to an unused area and do their listening there, not on the stacks in your path. The guy I see everywhere with his portable these days is Soul Strut's favorite, Edan. Dude must be back from tour with fat pockets, he's in every store I go in these days, stacking up vinyl...but he's playing 80's soundtracks and shit on his portable anyway...
I use a portable butcause i'm retarded. I scooped a grip of white label reel-to-reel re-edits off this urry day gay Prelude soaked collection that I almost slept on because they were a whole $2 each. so retarded.
Would this really happen to you without your portable?
Yeah... but... well see the previous posts. If there is a record that says "The Harmonica All-Stars Play Broadway Hits In a Latin Disco Style" then I'm checking it out.
Portables should be used on expensive records. People using portables on dollar records are
Prime Example: For the past week we have had LPs,12"s,and 45's on our porch that we are selling for $.25 each and donating all the proceeds to the Red Cross. Dudes will stand out there for 3 hours and come inside with a huge stack and ask if they can use our portable to listen and see what they want. They're a fucking quarter! Buy them all and help out! Other folks will come inside and ask if they can get a deal if they buy a whole bunch of records. I say "Yes, you can get a deal! How's a quarter a piece?" Then they give me an The money is going to the Red Cross and they want a discount! If you bring in 25 records that's like $6.00! If you can't swing six bucks for 25 records you have no business shopping.
My only problem with the portables in the store is dudes that pull huge stacks out and then listen to them. Why not listen when you find the record...check it out...then file it back in it's correct place while your there. Dudes with the stacks never put them back! I'll find a stack of hip-hop 12"s stuffed in the country section cause dude is to lazy to put them back. My main job at this store is to re-file hip-hop records.
Wether you have a portable or not... RESPECT[/b] is the main issue while digging. Dudes that tear up the store and disrespect don't get discounts or heads up on new stuff.
Yeah what is up with that? No matter how cheap you price records, guys always want a special deal. Why would you argue if it's under a buck each. How cheap do you want em??? two-for-a-quarter?
There's truth in that but I always spend more in stores that have listening stations. Saturn Records in Oakland has a listening station (had one at least, fix that shit!) but they keep all the vinyl in the back that I really want to listen too.
Take it from a former Saturn Employee that they have no plans of fixing it. It's probably not even broken, they just have some weird ideas about customer service. I.E., they don't give a fuck.
fuck what i look like, lemme make this hot beat out of this hot loop off this dollar record that i came up on using my toy, thats whats up.
true fukkin dat.
flea market portables, i'm all over it. hey if you want to consider me ghey for carrying it at the flea market or record show, you're allowed to have an opinion.
however, i definitely have cut down on the amount of shit stuff i have picked up in the past. just my $.02
I don't see what's so terrible about trying to maintain a minimum amount of control in one's own store. A store owner has NO WAY of knowing if random portable dude takes care of his needle, what kind of care people take, etc. Shit, stores take a chance having their own listening stations....people seriously don't know how to act.
yeah, but I think I would file that under cost of doing business. I think the # of dudes with portables that will treat records with the respect they deserve out weighs the lil dudes who dont know or dont care. I bought a protable so I didnt have to waste money on gambles... well expencive gambles, I have never used one in a thrift or flea.. and becuase of that I have TONS of .99 shit..
Really I see It as a funny thing If you use your portable to check 50 cent and dollar records but bringing it when you dig is dope
This is me. I bring my portablet o the flea, I keep it in my car when I go to the thrifts, and if I see an opportunity to use it I will. I've already got a few thousand records and I'm trying to keep my shit high caliber while adding more high caliber rackords to the mix.
I don't care what the pricetag on the rackord is. $1 LP's can have some mysterious heat/ beauty and $100 reackords can have pure low-grade crack.
People, this is the CTI thread with a different name! I don't get it; it's like we all decide to have the same conversation we've had ten times before. Talking about CTI is fun, maybe, but portables? Isn't this a tired subject? Judging by the number of replies I guess not, but still--what more can be said about portables? If I was anything but heinously lazy, I'd delete this thread. Fortunately for you, I'm not.
I just think it helps to have a portable in the car, in your backpack, or close by while digging. Doesn't mean you need to use it, but what if you need assurances on something? You can:
A: always be a and buy everything interesting, ending up with cool looking country/rock, terrible gospel failures, and countless 45s that disappoint (yes I know fleas are cheap, and you can mostly just grab and go, but not everywhere does 1 record = 1 or 2 $'s)
or
B: use knowledge to grab most things probably nice and then spend a quick sec if you need to with the portable.
I just think it helps to have a portable in the car, in your backpack, or close by while digging. Doesn't mean you need to use it, but what if you need assurances on something? You can:
A: always be a and buy everything intresting, ending up with cool looking country/rock, terrible gospel failures, and countless 45s that disappoint (yes I know fleas are cheap, and you can mostly just grab and go, but not everywhere does 1 record = 1 or 2 $'s)
or
B: use knowledge to grab most things probably nice and then spend a quick sec if you need to with the portable.
Portables are just good to have around.[/b]
Stop it!
basketball speak now,
Why was john stockton like the NBA lone hold out on getting shorts that go to the kneecap?
Comments
me too
My portable paid for itself in about a week. All those wack records that I would have otherwise bought. I try not to dig without it now. Not that I'd be crippled by not having it, but it does give an advantage. That thing stays under the seat in my car (along with the most recent copy of "the list") so that I "don't leave home without it."
I can understand some store owners not letting people use them. But why hate if dudes want to use em on dollar records? Those dollars add up.
It took 10 years of listening to everything, but I'm nearly there... I pretty much know what I'm looking for... I have a portable but rarely need to use it
I recently went through about 5-8000 12s and LPs at a rural junk shop... listened to less than 10 records, left with about 80. Everything I brought home that wasn't good musically was $$$ and there was nothing left behind
You have obviously never been to a sample sale.
1.Carrying around a portable to the record shops downhere will get you strange looks and a price hike on the vinyl(dont get it twisted i dont own a portable
2.I told the dj in the store i buy from to change the needle and clean the lint off it,his response was to say "nuthin' nuh wrong wid di needle,[h]it ah play dont!?"
haha!
i like this opinion more than the jealousy theory.
but now i say diffrent. this is because after years, taking chances with one dollar records, these one dollar records just accumulate (even though records are thin, they take space). And unless your just trying to bulk up your quanity and not really caring about your quality this is a good thing, but not for me. I move around so often, i try to not add unnecessary records to my collection, just extra records to move.
so even with dollar records, i use a portable, more just to save space, its not so much a money issue then a space issue. Its very rare i bump into other diggers at flea markets and thrift shops i go to anyways, the only people i ever see at flea markets who check out records, look at the first five records in a crate, say "cool, records" and walk away empty handed.
if your batting average is SO low then maybe you need to step out of the game
There's truth in that but I always spend more in stores that have listening stations. Saturn Records in Oakland has a listening station (had one at least, fix that shit!) but they keep all the vinyl in the back that I really want to listen too.
I guess it depends on what you are looking for that would define an ass to goodnees ratio. In my genre the ratio is skewed heavily towards ass. Portable is highly needed to weed out the gems.
Now, if its early rap records that you collect, then yeah, a portable probably isn't necessary. Or even soul for that matter.
There's a major etiquette issue at hand when it comes to bringing a group of records up to a listening station. I cringe when I see a dude with a pile of 20 or 30 records but I have never hesitated to tap dudes on the shoulder and ask if I could slip in for a minute. Never had a problem. Actually, Peanut Butter Wolf was doing some mad hovering over me once at Groove Merchant. I had only like 3 records in hand too. He was cool though. Took a picture with me.
I think Dizzy is absolutely right. In general, I will never need a portable at a dealer's house or at a high end store with soul, funk, jazz, psych, etc. In those situations I only buy what I know/care about, and don't take too many chances unless it's a recommendation I can't pass up or the owner just played it for me on their own player. I don't like handling expensive vinyl I don't own.
If I have time out in the field and have a huge stack of unknown privates, gospel, EZ listening, or Mexican 45s I don't recognize, I'm going back to my car to bust out the portable and have a good listen to the ones I don't know. Mind you, this is ONLY if I have time, privacy, and care enough to save a good $20-$50.
I ain't trippin if its 1 $1 LP from junk seller joe.
But Diz, it's only you and that guy looking for loungey 60s records fighting over Reader's Digest Box Sets in the flea parking lot! You have PLENTY of time to hang out and rock your Al Martino LPs on the portable. The rest of us have to deal with some wily mofos out here at the crack of dawn, and I for one would rather travel light than set aside a stack, listen to them all, then make up my mind, then buy the few I have weeded out. Because at the end of all that, I would rather be on to the next junkman sonner than later, maybe with some extra crap I coulda left behind.
I AM NOT MAD AT ANYONE WITH A PORTABLE. I want to make that clear, but I would never have the patience for one. My speed cost me an ESG II 12" last weekend, I thought I had bought it, but I must have set it into a pile I DIDN'T buy. So no route is perfect, just sayin'.
AMEN
Speed is definitely an issue. I noticed I almost never use the portable between the hours of 6:00 - 9:00 a.m.
If it's a huge box of gospel at 10 a.m. and nobody is waiting for me to finish going through it, I'm busting out my portable to have a good listen, hah.
And best believe I am not missing those ESG 12"s.
Would this really happen to you without your portable?
I would say in shopping without sampling everything unknown, maybe 1 out of every 10 records I buy at most is a bust.
Definitely would like to have a portable for certain 45 spots that don't offer a listening station, 45's are a little harder to drop any loot on without enough clues - Albums are way easier to gauge...if I really need to know what an LP sounds like, I ask the store to drop the needle on it. I don't hate on portables, but the title of this thread is on point - can't deny I roll the eyes and feel encroached when dude rolls in with the portable. Most dudes do have the decency to put the portable over to an unused area and do their listening there, not on the stacks in your path.
The guy I see everywhere with his portable these days is Soul Strut's favorite, Edan.
Dude must be back from tour with fat pockets, he's in every store I go in these days, stacking up vinyl...but he's playing 80's soundtracks and shit on his portable anyway...
Yeah... but... well see the previous posts. If there is a record that says "The Harmonica All-Stars Play Broadway Hits In a Latin Disco Style" then I'm checking it out.
Prime Example: For the past week we have had LPs,12"s,and 45's on our porch that we are selling for $.25 each and donating all the proceeds to the Red Cross. Dudes will stand out there for 3 hours and come inside with a huge stack and ask if they can use our portable to listen and see what they want.
They're a fucking quarter! Buy them all and help out! Other folks will come inside and ask if they can get a deal if they buy a whole bunch of records. I say "Yes, you can get a deal! How's a quarter a piece?" Then they give me an
The money is going to the Red Cross and they want a discount! If you bring in 25 records that's like $6.00! If you can't swing six bucks for 25 records you have no business shopping.
My only problem with the portables in the store is dudes that pull huge stacks out and then listen to them. Why not listen when you find the record...check it out...then file it back in it's correct place while your there. Dudes with the stacks never put them back! I'll find a stack of hip-hop 12"s stuffed in the country section cause dude is to lazy to put them back. My main job at this store is to re-file hip-hop records.
Wether you have a portable or not... RESPECT[/b] is the main issue while digging. Dudes that tear up the store and disrespect don't get discounts or heads up on new stuff.
Take it from a former Saturn Employee that they have no plans of fixing it. It's probably not even broken, they just have some weird ideas about customer service. I.E., they don't give a fuck.
true fukkin dat.
flea market portables, i'm all over it. hey if you want to consider me ghey for carrying it at the flea market or record show, you're allowed to have an opinion.
however, i definitely have cut down on the amount of shit stuff i have picked up in the past. just my $.02
yeah, but I think I would file that under cost of doing business. I think the # of dudes with portables that will treat records with the respect they deserve out weighs the lil dudes who dont know or dont care. I bought a protable so I didnt have to waste money on gambles... well expencive gambles, I have never used one in a thrift or flea.. and becuase of that I have TONS of .99 shit..
This is me. I bring my portablet o the flea, I keep it in my car when I go to the thrifts, and if I see an opportunity to use it I will. I've already got a few thousand records and I'm trying to keep my shit high caliber while adding more high caliber rackords to the mix.
I don't care what the pricetag on the rackord is. $1 LP's can have some mysterious heat/ beauty and $100 reackords can have pure low-grade crack.
Only the big bird lets me know for sure
Now, what do you think about that Vestax?
I like talking about basketballs
whats your favorite?
I think Wilson makes one hell of a ball
how about you?
A: always be a
or
B: use knowledge to grab most things probably nice and then spend a quick sec if you need to with the portable.
Portables are just good to have around.[/b]
Stop it!
basketball speak now,
Why was john stockton like the NBA lone hold out on getting shorts that go to the kneecap?
ufck that!
i primarily use my hamberguesa on dollar joints.. hell i'll listen to a shard of vinly on the street!