Brett Milano - Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting

The pleasures and passions of collecting vinyl record albums are fast receding into the past in a world where digital music increasingly holds sway. But, as author and music enthusiast Brett Milano finds, a sizeable minority of diehard vinyl junkies remain ready to argue the differences between a vintage mono British pressing of SGT. PEPPER'S and its U.S. stereo counterpart. He finds there's something to their snobbery: a good mono recording of a band can provide the depth and warmth that makes a music fan go weak at the knees. In interviews with diehard record geeks like cartoonist Robert Crumb, who collects shellac 78 rpm records, and R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who owns 20,000 vinyl albums, Milano uncovers a level of obsession shared by few outside the immediate collecting fraternity. But the best moments here come when he describes the tactile pleasure of removing the album from its sleeve, and the childlike wonder of simply watching the disc spin around, producing music from its grooves.