Recently I have spoken to many people who are just getting into the hobby of collecting and listening to LP's.  Most often these people weren't even born when you could walk into a record store and buy actual records (remember when you could go in to Sears and pick up an LP?).  So this is just a little beginner's guide to record collecting and playback that I put together.  Maybe it will help you, maybe it won't, maybe it will tell you things you already know, but, here it is in all it's glory.

Buying LP's:

Used book stores, thrift stores, some record stores, and even garage sales are a great place to find LP's.  They can usually be had anywhere from $1 to maybe $10.  But, watch yourself, when you find that LP you've been looking for take a VERY close inspection of everything.  If you're not concerned about the wear on the cover and just want the vinyl, here are some quick tips.  More often than not there is a heavy amount of dust on the record, blow on it a little to get some of that dust off.  Look for gouges, sleeve burns, cracks, chips, etc.  One thing I've seen a lot of people do is not take the time to see if the record is warped at all.  Just the other day I was in a book store and looking at a Husker Du LP.  It looked great in all aspects, cover, inner sleeve, LP was clean, but when I held it up horizontally (like a waiter would with a tray), I noticed some SEVERE warping going on.  Most likely a pressure warp from years in someone's closet.  I put the LP down and continued browsing.  No more than two minutes later a guy walks in and is all excited because he found this Husker Du LP.  He takes it out, looks at it, put it back in its sleeve and heads to the register.  Now when he puts that on his turntable the tone arm is going to fly all over the place and it won't be playable at all.  So, a record may look fabulous and cleanable, but check for warps, you'll be thankful you did when you throw that LP on the turntable.

Playback and Record Care:

When you get that LP home it's time to clean it.  First off, it's probably been sitting around in a garage, closet or attic since about 1991, so it's pretty dirty.  Even if it doesn't look bad, clean it anyway.  Sometimes little particles get in the grooves and effect playback.  I've heard of people filling their sink full of hot water and literally "dunking" the entire record in there to clean it.  Now, I tried this once.  ONCE.  I pulled it out of the water and started to pat dry it.  All the colors on the label of the LP started to run together and it turned into one big fiasco.  So now there is this Fleetwood Mac LP (I picked one that was easily replaceable) laying on my counter dripping with water, colors running, just making one big mess.  Never again!  The best thing to clean your LP's with is Discwasher.  It still can be found on many audio websites.  In fact, I even saw some at Circuit City about a year ago.  The discwasher kit comes with a brush and the cleaning fluid.  Simply put a few drops of the fluid on one side of the brush, start the turntable in motion (without the needle on the record!) and let it go a few revolutions around.  Then take the dry side of the brush and let it go a few revolutions, and your record will be clean!  When you look at the brush you'll be amazed at all the junk that it picked up.  If you can't find discwasher, you can always make your own fluid in a pinch and find a soft, all cotton washcloth to use as the brush.  I've used 1/3 part isopropyl alcohol and 2/3 part distilled water to make my own solution.  It worked fine.  Some people will tell you this is bad, others will say it is good.  So far I've had no problems with it.  Just make sure that it's dry before you start to play the record. 

Record Storage:

If you're really serious about preserving and collecting LP's, pick up some good quaility inner sleeves.  They can be found at places online such as bags unlimited.  Personally I use the ones with rice paper on the back made my MFSL.  If they trust those sleeves with their records, they will definently be good for mine or yours.  You can go to MFSL's web site and buy them there.  $20 for 50 of them.  So, if it's rare or just a record you really care about, take it out of it's original sleeve and pop it into a new one.  If the original sleeve has lyrics or pictures and is part of the original release, you can always put it back in with the record, just don't put the record in it.  It even acts as another layer of protection against the fragile record.  Old sleeves are not acid free and they start to deteriorate, causing little particles to get in the grooves of the record.  Putting in a new, acid free archive sleeve will preserve your record.  Always store your LP's upright too, laying them down flat all stacked up will cause some major warps.  I don't care what anyone says online, there is no way to fix a warped record.  I've tried everything.  The only way to fix a warped record is to throw it away and get a new one. 

Turntables and Needles:

I know it's tempting to go in the basement and dig up mom and dad's old turntable from 1973, but sometimes that can be risky.  The turntable itself would probably work fine, but the problem lies with the stylus (record needle).  First off, it's probably the same needle that came with the turntable in 1973 and was used for years and years without being replaced (well, let's give mom and dad the benefit of the doubt, it might have been replaced twice in 15 years).  This will not only sound bad when you go and play the record, it will also do permanent damage to the record.  Don't take the chance that the stylus will work fine, there are many places online that sell styli.  If you're not sure what the replacement is, just shoot the guys who operate the website an e-mail describing what kind of turntable it is and what kind of stylus it had on it.  You can find new needles ranging in price anywhere from $20 to about $70.  Sure there are more expensive ones, but most people would not be able to tell the difference.  I certanly can't.  And you can always just buy a new turntable.  A word to the wise though, invest in a good quality turntable.  The ones they still sell at the major retail stores aren't all that great.  Amazon sells a fantastic Audio Technica manual turntable for around $200.  It's the AT-PL 120.  It not only looks cool, but it has everything you need.  You can adjust the weight of the tonearm (so it's not to heavy and digging into your prized LP's) and the antiskate function is great too (so the tonearm is balanced when riding the grooves).  It will even play those ancient 78's you see stacked up at the book stores.  Believe me, you will notice the difference in sound quality when you use a new turntable and stylus.  It's well worth it. 

Well, that's it for now, I hope I at least pointed some people in the right direction.  Thanks for reading!!