Ever since I went to see Between the Buried and Me open for In Flames last year and bought the limited vinyl edition of Alaska on clear vinyl, I’ve been almost obsessively searching for albums I love around the net in vinyl format. There’s just something more satisfying with owning the vinyl edition, and despite the aged format, it’s still going strong.

Vinyl pressings are usually limited, especially in this genre, so you feel a certain level of exclusivity when you have something that only about 3000 people (or even less) around the  world own. The artwork is bigger. The medium is completely physical and tangible; CDs can easily be scratched and lost and mp3s can be erased. Hard drives can crap out, then where’s your music? Gone. With vinyl, it’s there, practically permanently. And let’s face it: colored vinyl looks fucking cool.

Okay, so I have about four vinyl albums. Nothing to really write home about. But have you seen the prices on some of these old vinyl pressings? Once an LP release goes out of print, expect them to hit the internet at a much higher price. One could make a nice profit just collecting limited vinyl packages and selling them online.

For example: I fucking love Between The Buried And Me‘s 2007 opus Colors. I remember around the time when the album came out, there were red and blue pressings available for around $20, if my memory serves me well. At the time of this writing, an eBay search for Colors on vinyl come up with about two real listings, both at over $80 a pop. Unless it goes into print again, I’m going to have to save my money for that purchase. And that’s nothing; doom/stoner metal outfit Electric Wizard‘s highly praised album Dopethrone in white can be purchased for a meager $299. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more expensive releases floating around out there.

I also get shit from a few family members and friends when they find out I’ve been buying up records here and there and getting excited over a new pressing from a band I enjoy. I don’t have a working record player, and I don’t really have the desire for playing them. I just, you know, have to have them. They’re an outstanding collector’s piece to commemorate a particular piece of music that has just blown you away. Like a trophy to put on display, if you will.

Speaking of trophies, if I were a huge Baroness fan, I’d lap this up:

Forget buying CDs; you’re not likely to get such elaborate packaging. In fact, I doubt I’ll ever buy another CD again. It’s mp3 and vinyl for me. It’s not like I’m missing much. Vinyl are said to be of better audio quality than CDs and I can just carry all my music with me on my iPod. More and more new vinyl releases are coming with online downloads anyway. With vinyl, we can turn our love for music into a physical and tangible collection.

What do you guys think of music format, vinyl or otherwise? Got a nice collection? Kickass releases coming out? Let us know in the comments section.

- JR