By Michael Bednar

My first serious brush with a turntable was the first week of my freshman year of college; it was one of Bob Dylan’s live albums released in the 1970s. I don’t remember which songs were on the album, and whenever I walk by the turntable’s owner on campus we always pretend we don’t know each other, but I remember being blown away by the way the music filled the room to every corner, how rich the music sounded, the little pops, crackles and hisses that marked the record’s imperfections. I didn’t acquire a turntable until this past Christmas, but I’ve been spending 50 percent of my paychecks on vinyl ever since. For me, it’s really not about snobbery or artier-than-thou pretensions; I love the way I’m forced to consider every song on the album. I can’t just blaze past it like I would on my iPod. I consider myself a full-fledged music junkie, but even a casual listener like myself can appreciate hearing music on a turntable. Jordan Jacobson, a Wamego senior, says that while he owns only a few records, and isn’t all that interested in building up a huge collection, he still loves pulling a record out of its sleeve and putting it on his parents’ old turntable from time to time.