[78-L] Thanks for recent help, and still more thirst for knowledge

[Rod Brown]

Hello 78ers,

Benno's advice of earlier this month has been very helpful. I'm surprised I
didn't already know about popsike.com, but I do now. Thanks Benno!

This evening, I started to explore the 78-L archives to see what other basic
lessons, what fundamentals of 78 rpm record collecting, I might be able to
learn there. I've been collecting for about five years now, so it's past
time I hunted up a few clues on how to collect--reasonably intelligently,
maybe even sanely. A good impulse, but I found the archives were not
equipped with a search function. Not surprising. After all, the listserv is
a free service.

So I'm inviting members to steer me toward those past discussions you found
most helpful. If you know the correct year and approximate month, that may
well be close enough. From there, I'll hunt through the threads and subject
lines until I spot the key discussion, whether on recommended styli, or etc.

For example, I'm curious about how people choose to organize their
collections. If for no other reason than to make it easier for me to decide
what records to cull, I need to get my hoard in better order. Maybe with
nice, legible tabs on the edges of the sleeves.

I would eagerly read about the basics of running an auction on 78-C, even
though I may be sticking with eb_y for a while yet. (Any particular reason
we don't correctly spell out the name of the main on-line auction service?
Is it a Voldemort kinda thing?)

I'd also pore over discussions about what restoration software is currently
favored (myself, I conservatively apply the tools available in Sound Forge
and Adobe Audition).

Also, please feel free to suggest topics I  _should_  be clamoring to learn
about!

I'd be grateful to have such discussions pointed out from amongst the acres
of archives. Or if anyone would like to send me advice directly, I will
definitely and appreciatively read your messages.

A quick, belated intro:

I'm yet another male collector, 58 years old, housed in Oakland, CA. I
started working in the education software industry in 1996, as an assistant
sound designer. I remember our first CD burner measured about 18" by 20" and
burned at either 1x or 2x speed. Amazing how fast I can get nostalgic about
bygone technologies...

In 2002, I spent the month of August as a volunteer at the
Smithsonian/Folkways "Save Our Sounds" project. I digitized a lot of
field-recorded tapes made by Frederic Ramsey Jr. back in the 1950s. For an
old folkie like me, it was a real peak experience. It was a let-down,
however, to get back to the Bay Area and find that virtually all the
interesting audio archives are in the eastern and southern states.

I think that, as much as anything, propelled me into collecting old records.
It's silly of me, but I seem to believe I am, in my own small way, saving
some more sounds. I try to keep my collection leaning in favor of folk and
ethnic music from most anywhere, but there is plenty of jazz, blues, and R&B
in there too. Probably there is only a very small percentage that is
particularly scarce or otherwise important, but then, I honestly wouldn't
know, lacking adequate background by which to evaluate such things. I do
know I've enjoyed a lot of what I've heard!

I use a Denon DP-DJ151 turntable fitted with a Stanton D6827 stylus for most
plays. There are a few older turntables I sometimes use, when I want to hear
whether another stylus might give me a better playback. Over the past
several years, I've gotten good at salvaging the audio for broken or
otherwise abused records. A fun and rewarding challenge.

That's enough from me. Thanks for reading, and for any hints, clues, etc,
you might wish to share.

Best wishes,
Rod