(TV) E-bay Madness[?] / Confessions of Vinyl nut

["Casey, Leo J" <Leo.J.Casey@Volpe.dot.gov>]

Re: 'mint' MM on e-bay:
I once paid $35 (in 1987 $s) for a Japanese higher-quality-vinyl 
pressing of the LP, "MM", but I think the e-bay auction for this 
promo---it started at $14.99,  now at $122.50---is probably 
madness[?] :>)  for the following:

1) Seller says: "STERLING` STAMP ... , WHICH IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED 
AS A PROOF OF AUTHENTICITY OF THE **FIRST GENERATION OF PRESSINGS**"

Probably true, but:

2) Seller says: COVER IS STILL IN ITS ORIGINAL SHRINK (CELLOPHANE) WRAP
Yeah, but is the record *itself* still hermetically sealed, and hasn't 
yet been played?  If it has been played then it doesn't matter if it's 
a first generation pressing (at least not for $122.50). 

Granted, promo LPs were manufactured in a special way so they wore at 
a considerably slower rate since they would be played repeatedly by 
DJs, (believe this more expensive manufacturing process not true 
for critics' LP promos), but none of the DJs treated the station's records 
with kid gloves--esp. a record by an unknown band like Television. OTOH, 
maybe this particular radio station never opened the record because it 
was by a band named Television.

3) I once read in an article in a High-Fi/High-end journal that claimed 
that to avoid wear and permanent damage to your LPs, you should never play 
one twice within 24 hours because it takes that long for grooves to 
completely return to their initial state (as the needle traverses a groove 
supposedly the vinyl becomes almost liquefied--but not to the naked eye).   

3) In Cambridge, MA back in the 1970's, the Harvard Coop had a very liberal 
policy of letting a buyer return a LP within 7 days if the pressing wasn't 
great---the fact that most store Harvard Coop employees were hippies or 
musicians certainly helped--plus what was a few record returns for 
Harvard's 4 billion $ endowment?   

A friend and I used to buy all the new LP releases at Harvard Coop; we would

keep retuning a particular LP until we got a just about 'perfect' pressing 
(some times as many as 4-5 returns!). We would while listening the very 1st 
time, first clean it carefully and then record on an expensive Teac
Reel-To-Reel 
machine. Thereafter, we would always only listen to the Reel-To-Reel tape
(if 
not in a car); the LP itself was carefully stored away in case anything ever

happened to the tape.

Harvard Coop no longer sells records/cd-s, but in my head I can still see
the 
bright red-orange LP cover of "Adventure" in Coop's  new releases section. 

Leo (who 98% of time listens to only cd-s)

-----Original Message-----
From: tv-owner@obbard.com On Behalf Of Jay
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 3:08 PM
To: tv@obbard.com
Subject: (TV) Mint marquee moon

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4064558834&ssPageNam
e=STRK:MEWA:IT
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