vinyl

i'm not sure when i started wanting a turntable/record player but i want one so badly now. i have decided that i will get myself one for my birthday. if you are not in the practice of it, birthdays are an excellent time to splurge and give yourself gifts. yes, gifts from other people are wonderful but it is also fun to buy gifts for yourself with reckless abandon. well maybe just abandon minus the reckless. in any case i have decided i will do some research over the next few weeks and then make the plunge into vinyl.

for a while i've just loved the idea of vinyl coming back full force - that new albums are released on vinyl as well as digitally and in cd format. i gave up cds a long time ago for just downloading the album (instant gratification, right?) but i miss having an actual physical copy of the music with the album art and all that. i am very excited about starting to collect vinyl.

first though, i would like to ask - does anyone have any turntable recommendations? i am looking to spend under $200 and would prefer to have the player work well as a singular device (not a huge speaker system hooked up to it or wiring it through other devices... though i'm open to looking into this option). i also like the vintage looking ones, but something more modern is fine as long as its clean looking. so - if you have a record player and love it or have recommendations.. tell me what they are!

now it'll take me a while to build up my vinyl library but the first 10 albums i'll get are:

adele's 21

coldplay's a rush of blood to the head OR viva la vida (can't decide)

florence & the machine's lungs

mumford and sons's sigh no more

maroon 5's hands all over

something classical - brahms, beethoven or chopin

damien rice's o

something by the beatles

justin timberlake's futuresex/lovesounds

john mayer's continuum


but i also want to albums by:

frank sinatra

more classical albums

lily allen

billie holiday

michael jackson

bon iver

cat power

edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros

amy winehouse

norah jones

queen and some oldies

regina spektor

sufjan stevens

juno soundtrack on vinyl

and all the other albums of the artists in the list above


if you have any album recommendations, something that just sounds absolutely mint on a record player - let me know!