If you're new to collecting LPs, there are a few rules. Never stack, always sleeve, and never ever touch the grooves by hand. Traditionally, a 12 by 12 inch square (except, of course, for your 7-inch singles), records aren't the easiest to store. Bookshelves are often too short or narrow, and keeping them on the ground often leads to unintentional scratches, warping, and dust build-up.
64-year-old Pamela Mansfield sways her feet to the rhythm of George Jones' "She Thinks I Still Care." Mansfield is still recovering much of her mobility after a recent neck surgery, but she finds a way to move to the music floating from a record player that was wheeled into her room. "Seems to be the worst part is the stiffness in my ankles and the no feeling in the hands," she says. "But music makes everything better."
Record store owner Chris Guttmacher grew up on music, but not the kind that predominates in his colorful shop, The Plastic Pancake, which opened in September on Valencia Street. "My parents were both classical musicians," he said. "It sort of ruined it for me." They weren't performers - his father was a psychiatrist and his mother worked at home - but the 59-year-old small business owner got sick of the classical music they constantly played in their home in Brookline, MA.
I've also been reading more. Actual books, that is. And buying way too many. But there is something to looking at those piles stacked around the rooms of my house. All that knowledge and history and art right there at my fingertips. And recently I picked up a magazine, a physical, paper magazine, and have occasionally again started sitting with a newspaper in the mornings. There's something about spreading it out on a table with a nice cup of coffee. Oh, the solitude...
What makes Tiny Vinyl particularly compelling is how it addresses these issues while tapping into our natural love for miniature things. These 4-inch records offer a playful, sustainable alternative that makes vinyl collecting more accessible without sacrificing the authentic experience that makes records special in the first place. Designer: Neil Kohler, Nashville Record Pressing Each Tiny Vinyl holds one song per side, with up to 4 minutes of music that plays at 33 RPM on most manual turntables.
Music collectors can breathe a sigh of relief: vinyl records and CDs won't be impacted by Donald Trump's new US import tariffs. It has been confirmed by US Customs and Border Protection that physical music formats, including vinyl records, CDs and cassettes, are exempt from the tariffs that took effect last week, which will result in higher prices for countless items consumers purchase from other countries.
