The Black Keys Fan Lounge Forum

Amazon.com always have a great vinyl selection. Whether it's New/Used, the seller is usually truthful in their descriptions of grading the vinyl. This is, of course, for people like me that live in small-town Iowa and no record stores in sight!
Mirby, I loved your explanation of your love of vinyl. It's just such a great experience. I don't even have to play my vinyl...I can just sit there and thumb through my collection, hold them, smell them, examine them...I get a high off it. I've got around 200 in my collection and I've only been collecting during these past few college years. I didn't even have my own turntable until a couple months ago. But I knew I'd be collecting for the rest of my life...and by the time I got my turntable I had a nice collection to listen to. Definitely worth it for those of you that are contemplating collecting.

Ah, sorry. I read the first half of the posts and overlooked yours. My dad owns an electronics store, and he's all about quality of equipment. I think his cheapest turntable that he recommends for beginners is around $300 (with a good set of speakers, of course.) I can't remember what it's called at the moment though. That may seem like you're digging into your pockets a little bit, so if you're not ready for that, ignore it. I recently bought a Crosley turntable (portable, with built-in speakers). It was $89. (My dad doesn't hook me up, so I have to save my money as well.) Not sure how long it'll last, but it'll get me by for the time being while I save money for a better one. I know I mentioned amazon.com before, but that's another place to look online for cheap turntables. There are probably other sites as well if you just look around.

I'd try to save a bit more and get the Audio Technica ATPL120 I suggested. $219 is not that far from $100. Might take you another month or two of saving but it'll be worth it to have a nice turntable that will last you many years to come.

I don't know of any good turntables for $89. Not saying that there aren't any, but I've just never personally found one. I would guess that any of the $89-$99 tables are all about the same. Maybe even come from the same factory, with different brand names stuck on them, heh. I did this shopping around homework a year and a half ago when I ended up buying my Audio Technica ATPL120. I couldn't find anything better for the price.

Maybe check your local Craigslist.org? You might get lucky. Of course, you won't know if it's been abused or not...