I went to Sam's Wholesale club yesterday and saw several new cds (shania, faith hill etc) in the old cd longboxes. Depending on your age, you will remember these long boxes that cds used to be packaged in back in the 80's. They did help prevent theft but they were also total throw away packaging. How many trees were cut down for this type of packaging? I forget the number. As a result of consumers trashing the entire long box (except the prince ones of course) after buying the cd, this design soon faded. Now there is the electronic doo hicky in every cds to prevent theft. ANYWAY...who decided to bring back the long box? I don't see them at the larger chains stores. Is this only a Sam's Club thing?

Do you remember those long boxes that 8-tracks used to come in? Those were cool.

Hate to say this, but yes i do. Actually I remember going to my uncle's house and RECORDED the Silver Convention's LP (Fly Robin Fly) onto an 8 track. Made labels for it too. Wow, i have been through 8-tracks, albums, 45's, cassettes. Children of tomorrow will have no idea.

jthad1129 said:

True... I remember the special feeling you got when cracking the seal on a new vinyl album, or tearing that box off an 8-track tape... the 45s were great too...

Pulling the wrapper off a CD is not as satisfying.

My brother had suitcases of 8-track tapes...


Ok, I won't jack it...just a nice memory.

LaVisHh said:

Goddamn it... that is a BARBARA STREISAND tape!!!

:Evil:

I hate that bitch!

Sorry, lmao!

It was the only decent flashback shot of an 8-track player.

45 - Elvis Costello

Bells are chiming for victory
There's a page back in history
45
They came back to the world that they fought for
Didn't turn out just like they thought
45

Here is a song to sing to do the measuring
What do you lose, what do you gain, what do you win?

Nine years later a child is born
There's a record, so you put it on
45
Nine years more, if we're lucky now
Nine-year-old puts his money down
45
Every scratch. every click, every heartbeat
Every breath that it held for you
45
There's a stack of shellac and vinyl
Which is yours now and which is mine?
45

Here is a song to sing to do the measuring
What do you lose, what do you gain, what do you win?

Bass and treble heal every hurt
There's a rebel in a nylon shirt
But the words are a mystery, I've heard
'Til you turn it down to 33 and 1/3
'Cos it helps with the elocution
Corporations turn revolutions
45

So don't just weep and shed
Just change your name instead
What do you lose when it all goes to your head?

I heard something peculiar said:
Perhaps he's got a shot and now he's dead
45

Bells are chiming and tears are falling
It creeps up on you without a warning
45
Every scratch, every click, every heartbeat
Every breath that I bless
I'd be lost, I confess
45

i kinda miss the scratches and clicking

jthad1129 said:

Not to mention you actually felt like you got something for your money.




'
[This message was edited Fri Feb 7 7:04:47 PST 2003 by LaVisHh]

jthad1129 said:

Those lyrics are so GREAT!!!

Every scratch. every click, every heartbeat
Every breath that it held for you
45

---

Every scratch, every click, every heartbeat
Every breath that I bless
I'd be lost, I confess
45

LaVisHh said:

Buying an LP was a very special thing when I was a kid. You would always read every word in the liner notes a million times and you would sit there with the album sleeve in your lap while you listened.

Damn, I miss that.

IceNine said:

So do I. I still have a bunch of LPs...but nothing to play them on...

IceNine said:

I think the old 7-inch 45's are still made, at least to a limited extent, for the jukebox market. For example, I have some Sting 7-inch 45's, complete with the large hole in the middle, with copyright dates of 1999 and 2000, that I picked up on eBay. I don't know whether they can be special-ordered through the normal distribution channels or not.

But for the most part, you'll find today's vinyl singles in the 12-inch format. Some of them are 33 RPM and and others are 45 RPM. In fact, I've got one that's 45 RPM on side A and 33 RPM on side B.

Oh, despite what people say, vinyl in general is far from being dead... at least in dance music.

jthad1129 said:

As I recall, the point of the longbox was to allow music retailers to put their CDs in vinyl bins... you could put two stacks of longboxes, side by side, in a bin intended for one stack of 12-inch records.

Here's one for you... does anybody remember the multicolored diamond sticker that you'd find on some longboxes in the early 1990s, right before the longboxes disappeared? The sticker meant that the CD inside was shrink-wrapped... part of the transition process away from longboxes.

LaVisHh said:

I spent several years without a turntable... until I bought the legendary "wheel of steel" (Technics SL-1200):

http://pix.crutchfield.co...3D_MT.jpeg

However, there are still many options to choose from, and if you're just looking for something that'll let you listen to your records, head down to your local DJ equipment supplier (or an online retailer--and I don't recommend Crutchfield for this purpose) and take a look at the entry-level offerings from Stanton, Gemini, Numark, etc.

matt said:

You should have gone for one of these babies!!!





EDIT: Oh, they are only about $13,000.

...
[This message was edited Fri Feb 7 7:56:17 PST 2003 by IceNine]

Goodness, IceNine...is that your DJIce machine?

LaVisHh said:

I am ALL the way into high-end audio... damn, I think I will start a new thread!

matt said:

I want one to play 33, 45, AND 78 rpm...you threw on some names...could you give me 3 names you would recommend (or anyone for that matter) for what I just described?

AFFORDABLE... I'm poor.

LaVisHh said:

Okay, forget Technics. Aside from the price, none of the US versions have a 78 RPM setting. There are folks who will modify the SL-1200 to add a 78 speed, but that'll probably void your warranty.

All of those companies I mentioned make turntables with a 78 RPM feature, although you won't find it on their cheapest models. I do believe that 78 RPM records require a special cartridge... I'd recommend getting a spare headshell for your 78 cartridge, because it's easy to change the headshell (with cartridge attached) on the tonearm, but mounting a cartridge to a headshell properly takes time.

One other consideration: do you have a receiver with a built-in preamp and ground? (If your receiver has inputs marked "phono" or "turntable" with a ground screw next to them, the answer is yes.) If not, you might want to look at turntables that offer "line-level outputs" (i.e., a built-in preamp) and require no ground wire... but it'll cost you. (An alternative is to buy a cheap DJ mixer... it'll have a ground screw and a preamp.)

A preamp is necessary at some point in your system, because turntables by themselves put out a signal that's too weak to plug into a line-in jack (as you would do with a CD player or tape deck). And unless your turntable has a built-in ground, you'll have to connect a ground wire to prevent unwanted noise.

LaVisHh said:

It can't be--it's a belt-drive turntable. Both cheap and audiophile (expensive) turntables are belt-driven... but DJ's prefer direct-drive turntables.

Here's a $75,000 Goldmund Reference turntable:



If money's a little tight this month, I like this $1,500 Basis 1400 turntable:

jthad1129 said:

no way! i kept mine. they made great wall decorations for a teenager's bedroom

AaronUnlimited said:

I did as well! Used to really piss my mom off that I was hanging "garbage" on my walls. They would always disappear after a few days, which would really tick me off! It was one of those teenagers vs. parent battles that never really went anywhere! In fact, I think the only thing that ended it was the deletion of the longbox from most retailers!

.....
[This message was edited Fri Feb 7 10:45:01 PST 2003 by JediMaster]

matt said:

THAT'S what it meant?? And here I thought it was a part of some sort of conspiracy or something. Oh..wait..maybe it was...CD shrinkwrapping is evil and annoying. I almost break the damn things trying to open them sometimes

I went back and re-bought Prince cds that I already had (Prince, Dirty Mind and the cool ATWIAD one w/the insert), just to have the long box large picture. Total Prince geek

IceNine said:

There is nothing like having a fixation on an era