Good Bye to Vinyl

I've since realized how big a pain in the ass ripping can be. I recently ripped my CD collection, and I was surprised at how arduous that was. I was cursing the quality of Free DB data—but at least there was data. There is no Free DB for albums; you can't checksum vinyl.

The metadata problem may be the smallest of the issues for rippying vinyl. I'd need to get a good analog-to-digital converter to capture the sound, tools to slice the audio stream into tracks, and lots of sound processing to clean it up. It's a lot of work and I'm realizing it just isn't worth it.

So, time for plan B. Instead of spending $200 on equipment and software to rip albums, I'll spend that on buying replacement CDs. That would buy me about 30 used discs at $6 a pop. That would probably be enough to get me the albums I really want.

Today, I inventoried the albums so I can decide what to replace, and if there are any rarities I want to keep. Maybe I'll keep the original issue of Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers with the working zipper. Or maybe Stomo Yamashta Go. Then, with the rest, I guess I'll see if somebody on Craig's List wants them.

So, here is the music of the first 30 years of my life. From high school (Jethro Tull and James Taylor) to college (Grateful Dead and Hot Tuna) and beyond (Talking Heads and Thomas Dolby).

1. Aerosmith; Aerosmith featuring "Dream On"
2. Allman Brothers; Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas
3. Allman Brothers; The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East
4. Joan Armatrading; Show Some Emotion
5. J. S. Bach; Brandenburgische Konzerte Nr. 1, 2, 4
6. The Beatlest; Introducing the Beatles
7. Jeff Beck; Flash
8. Jeff Beck; Truth
9. Jeff Beck; Blow by Blow
10. Jeff Beck; Wired
11. Bethoven; Symphony No. 5 in C Minor
12. George Benson; Good King Bad
13. Big Brother and the Holding Company; Cheap Thrills
14. Boston; Boston
15. David Bowie; Let's Dance
16. David Bromberg Band; Midnight on the Water
17. David Bromberg; Demon in Disguise
18. David Bromberg; David Bromberg
19. Jackson Browne; Late for the Sky
20. Dave Brubeck, Dave Brubeck's Greatest Hits
21. The Byrds; Mr. Tambourine Man
22. Chicago; Chicago
23. Eric Clapton; Too Much Monkey Business
24. Stanley Clarke; School Days
25. Jimmy Cliff; In Concert The Best Of
26. Bill Cobham; Life & Times
27. Ry Cooder; Bop Till You Drop
28. Cream; Live Cream Volume II
29. David Crosby, Graham Nash; Wind on the Water
30. Croby, Stills, Nash and Young; So Far
31. Roger Daltrey; One of the Boys
32. Dire Straits; Brothers in Arms
33. Thomas Dolby; Blinded by Science
34. The Doors; The Doors
35. Bob Dylan and the Band; The Basement Tapes
36. Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Works Volume 1
37. Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Works Volume 2
38. Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Welcome Back my Frieds to the Show that Never Ends
39. Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Pictures at an Exhibition
40. Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Emerson, Lake & Palmer;
41. The Firesign Theatre; The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra
42. The Firesign Theatre; Don't Crush that Dwarf Hand me the Pliers
43. Fleetwood Mac; Heroes are Hard to Find
44. Peter Frampton; Frampton Comes Alive
45. Jerry Garcia; Cats Under the Stars
46. Jerry Garcia; Garcia
47. Jerry Garcia; Reflections
48. Jerry Garcia; Run for the Roses
49. Genesis; Genesis Live
50. Steve Goodman; Words we can Dance To
51. Steve Goodman; The Essential Steve Goodman
52. Grand Funk; We're an American Band
53. Grateful Dead; Reckoning
54. Grateful Dead; Wake of the Flood
55. Grateful Dead; Volume 1 (Bear's Choice)
56. Grateful Dead; Blues for Allah
57. Grateful Dead; Steal Your Face
58. Grateful Dead; Europe '72
59. Grateful Dead; San Francisco's Grateful Dead
60. Guess Who; The Best of the Guess Who
61. George Harrison; Thirth Three & 1/3
62. Jimi Hendrix; The Cry of Love
63. The Honey Drippers; Volume One
64. Hot Tuna; Hot Tuna
65. Hot Tuna; First Pull Up Then Pull Down
66. Jefferson Airplane; Bark
67. Jefferson Airplane; Flight Log
68. Jefferson Airplane; Volunteers
69. Jethro Tull; Aqualung
70. Jethro Tull; Songs from the Wood
71. Jethro Tull; Songs from the Wood
72. Jethro Tull; Too Old to Rock'n'Roll: Too Young to Die!
73. Jethro Tull; Stand Up
74. Jethro Tull; Minstrel in the Gallery
75. Jethro Tull; A Passion Play
76. Jethro Tull; Thick as a Brick
77. Elton John; 11-17-70
78. Rickie Lee Jones; Pirates
79. Rickie Lee Jones; Rickie Lee Jones; MFSL Original Master Recording
80. Freddie King; 17 Hits
81. King Crimson; In the Court of the Crimson King
82. The Kinks; Soap Opera
83. Leo Kottke; The Best
84. Nicolette Larson; Radioland
85. Led Zepplin; Led Zepplin (Zoso)
86. John Lennon; Imagine
87. Gordon Lightfoot; Don Quixote
88. Little Feat; Waiting for Columbus
89. Little Feat; Time Loves a Hero
90. Little Feat; Feats Don't Fail me Now
91. Little Feat; Dixie Chicken
92. Little Feat; The Last Record Album
93. Mahavishnu Orchestra; Birds of Fire
94. Marshall Tucker Band; Where We All Belong
95. Don McClean; Playin' Favorites
96. Don McLean; American Pie
97. Pat Metheny Group; Travels
98. The Steve Miller Band; Living in the U.S.A.
99. Joni Mitchell; Court and Spark
100. Joni Mitchell; Dog Eat Dog
101. Joni Mitchell; Clouds
102. Joni Mitchell; The Hissing of Summer Lawns
103. Monty Python's Flying Circus; Monty Python's Previous Record
104. Mozart; Mozart Serenades, Eine Kleine Machtmusik
105. Mozart; Symphony No. 40 in G Minor
106. Martin Mull; Normal
107. National Lampoon; Gold Turkey
108. New Riders of the Purple Sage; The Best Of
109. Orleans; Let There Be Music
110. Robert Palmer; Pressure Drop
111. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; Southern Accents
112. Pink Floyd; Dark Side of the Moon
113. Jean-Luc Ponty; Enigmatic Ocean
114. Pousette-Dart Band; Amnesia
115. Pousette-Dart Band; Pousette-Dart Band
116. Pure Prarie Leage; Bustin' Out
117. Bonnie Raitt; Sweet Forgiveness
118. Bonnie Raitt; Sweet Forgiveness
119. Rolling Stones; Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
120. Rolling Stones; Sticky Fingers; original release with zipper cover
121. Rolling Stones; Sticky Fingers; MFSL Original Master Recording
122. Santana; Inner Secrets
123. Sea Level; Sea Level
124. Andres Segovia; Segovia and the Guitar
125. Carly Simon; The Best of Carly Simon
126. The Great Society with Grace Slick; Conspicoous Only in its Absence
127. Bruce Springsteen; The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle
128. Bruce Springsteen; Born to Run
129. SpyroGyra; Morning Dance
130. Steely Dan; Pretzel Logic
131. Steely Dan; The Royal Scam
132. Steely Dan; Countdown to Ecstasy
133. Steely Dan; Katy Lied
134. Talking Heads; Fear of Music
135. Talking Heads; More Songs about Buildings and Food
136. James Taylor; Gorilla
137. James Taylor; JT
138. James Taylor; Greatest Hits
139. James Taylor; Ten Years After
140. Thompson Twins; In the Name of Love
141. Traffic; When the Eagle Flies
142. Traffic; The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
143. Loudon Wainwright III; Attempted Mustache
144. The Who; Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy
145. The Who; Who's Next
146. Sonny Bou Williamson; One Way Out
147. Steve Winwood; Arc of a Diver
148. Stomo Yamashta; Stomo Yamashta's Go Too
149. Stomo Yamashta; Go
150. Stomo Yamashta; Go Live from Paris
151. Yes; The Yes Album
152. Yes; Fragile
153. Neil Young with Crazy Horse; Everybody Knows this is Nowhere
154. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention; One Size Fits All
155. Warren Zevon; Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School
156. Artists United Against Apartheid; Sun City