Favorite Music-Related Links

	Ion iTTUB turntable has generated a lot of buzz because of the ease with which it can digitize your vinyl.. Tech Republic's Practical Gadgetry has an article "Convert your favorite vinyl albums to MP3s" and their First Look gallery displays the unboxing and assembly of the turntable. Be forewarned: there is no dust cover for the model shown (another model does), the tracking weight is heavy at 3 gm, there is no lever to adjust the tonearm, the conversion of 78 records is handled through software, it may not be compatible with Windows XP media center, and there may be errors in the manuals for the turntable and the software. Updates can be requested from Ion or downloaded from the Audacity web site. ION TTUSB turntable can be seen on the manufacturer's web site http://www.ion-audio.com/. The street price should be under $150. Check the buyer reviews at Circuit City before buying.
	HiFi Engine is a rich "archive of classic, often unobtainable hi-fi instruction manuals, service manuals and schematics for amplifiers, receivers, cd players, tuners and tape decks". If you just like to browse, there is a gallery of hifi-related images and valuable links. www.hifiengine.com
	Vinyl Engine contains turntable user manuals, service manuals, brochures and technical documents. For those just getting into vinyl, there are free tonearm/cartridge alignment protractors, printable strobe discs (50 or 60Hz), and plans for a DIY turntable strobe. www.vinylengine.com
	ArtistFacts.com is a searchable database of artist information compiled by radio professionals, music enthusiasts, and visitors to the site (registration required). The "Artistfacts" are interesting tidbits about the people making the music, e.g. the length of Gene Simmons' tongue. SongFacts.com is a companion site which contains "artifacts" about specific songs. The artifacts include comments from performers and fans. The factoids on both these sites are fascinating.
	Bill Clark's 78 Home Page is devoted to 78 rpm records (which admittedly are acetate disks, not vinyl, but what the heck). Primarily interested in UK issues, especially spoken word and comedy, the site has links to CDs digitized from original performances on 78 rpm gramophone discs, single use gramophone needles for sale, and historic labels and advertisements. www.btinternet.com/~bill78/index.htm
	Taropatch.net is "an online community dedicated to Hawaiian slack key guitar & ukulele". There are nearly 50 delightful songs available as mp3's and streaming (from www.soundclick.com), instructional materials, videos, an active message board, local Hawaiian news, and, of course, more. www.taropatch.net
	Bob Dylan Roots is a site devoted to teasing out the sources of Bob Dylan's music. Far from esoteric, the site serves as a lucid introduction to the American folk song tradition. www.bobdylanroots.com
	Cool Tools announcer, Keith Shaw demonstrates the Teac GF-350 stereo unit on the Networkworld site. The GF-350 contains a record player, AM-FM radio, and CD so people can convert their vinyl to CD at the touch of a button. The video is preceded by a short promo. www.nwdocfinder.com/5360
	Laura Beamer is an artist who creates earrings, pendants, bracelets, rings, and necklaces from sterling silver and recycled bottle caps, vinyl records and license plates. Collect vinyl? Maybe you should flaunt one of these. (In the interest of full disclosure, Record Collectors Anonymous is not associated with and receives no remuneration from Laura Beamer.) www.laurabeamer.com
	Review Index.co.uk " provide[s] quick access to thousands of music related reviews." Associated site provides links to reviews of books, DVDs, etc. Google turned up a link to this site for a review of "The Music of O'Carolan." The actual review came from Amazon.com.uk. The site also contains user reviews. Not a bad place to get another opinion before plunking down your money on a CD.music.reviewindex.co.uk/
	"Turn Me On, Dead Man" is an Internet radio broadcast on Live365.com playing garage rock, punk and psychedelia. Tucked into the site are meditations on American film depictions of suburbia ("Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies"), a section on "Rumors, Hoaxes & Conspiracy Theories" (Remember "Paul is dead?"), a dissertation on Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train, the unaccredited sources of Led Zeppelin's music, and, of course, more. Be sure to check their reviews of CD compilations of garage and psychedelic band music. www.turnmeondeadman.net
	acousticmusic.com, "work[s] to promote Acoustic Music and Acoustic Music Venues online." Couldn't say it any better. It has continuously updated links to acoustic music venues, links to many performer's home pages (I stumbled across the site looking for information on Bill Staines), "The Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange" which reviews Folk and Acoustic recordings, and links to other acoustic music resources. www.acousticmusic.com
	Jimihendrix.com, run by the Hendrix family, is distinguished by its own browser, a gold mine of interviews and documentary material including a 4-hour "Tribute To Jimi Hendrix: 30th Anniversary Radio Broadcast", concerts from Koln, Frankfurt, Toronto, Isle Of Wight, etc., and for the true fanatic, the Jimi Hendrix Encyclopedia which "includes a comprehensive day-by-day synopsis of Jimi Hendrix's career from September 1968 through September 1970." (In 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization settled a claim to the Jimihendrix.com domain name in favor of the Hendrix family. A Florida cybersquatter had registered the name and had been offering it for sale for $1 million. The top of the graphic to the left is Jimi’s signature.) www.jimihendrix.com
	VPI Industries makes turntables, tonearms, and record cleaning machines. Even if you're not interested in buying you will enjoy their photo gallery. www.vpiindustries.com
	45 Record Labels Designs displays 45 rpm record labels from the famous to the obscure with knowledgeable curatorial commentary. "The focus ... is on design and typography--not the significance of the artist or song." Labels are shown actual size without retouching. You'll see design changes over time (Kama Sutra and Stax), a label pressed directly on the vinyl instead of using a paper label (Mala), learn the etymology of Bang's company name, and get nostalgic looking at the 45's. If you were a teenager listening to Latin 45's you might be able to add to the descriptions of some of the records. www.norelevance.com/45rpm
	The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music was originally established as a forum for discussing Happy Tyler Rhodes' music and derives its name from her fourth album. Over time the site expanded to discussions of similar artists. The sites's high signal to noise ratio is evident in the commentary and literate concert reviews. Well worth the browsing time. www.ectoguide.org/
	Year of the Blues, a treasure house for blues afficionados, contains past episodes of "The Blues" Radio Series including transcripts and videos, lists of stations carrying the series, lists of 52 great blues recordings (including my personal favorite, Mississippi John Hurt's 1928 sessions), the "Blues Riff of the Month" (guitar lessons with tablature), lists of blues societies, and a link to a Blues Lab Song Writing Contest with Ray Charles for ages 13-19, and more. (Sorry, the contest ended on December 15, 2003.) www.yearoftheblues.org
	Originally the It's Only Rock n Roll Gift Shoppe in New York City's Greenwich Village, it now supplies and maintains a "memorabilia for sale" section in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Museum Gift Shop. A constantly changing treasure trove of arcania and memorabilia, I stayed up way too late browsing through their celebrity scrap book. On first visit they were auctioning off the eight-foot long, fiberglass Yellow Submarine used in the US premieres of The Beatles movie of the same name ($15,000), posters for the Rolling Stones 1973 Australian tour ($1,000), and the exceptionally rare stereo version of the "butcher cover" of the of the Beatles' Yesterday and Today ($4,000), a lovely pencil sketch by Janis Joplin ($5000). (Prices indicate the opening bids.) Their auction catalogs should become collectable. Enjoy. www.itsonlyrocknroll.com
	Big Road Blues's on-line slide guitar and harp (harmonica) tutorials, articles, art, music samples, lists of blues radio programs, and "Blues Enquirer" (a National Enquirer parody - sample story: "BEE GEES RECORD HOWLIN' WOLF FAN ALBUM!") are good for hours of browsing. Musicians (and air guitarists) shouldn't miss Brian Robertson's Flash animation "How Every Musician Really Wants to Go Out". www.bigroadblues.com
	Record Collecting Resources has extensive international links to vendors of new and used records and CDs, collectors' associations, magazines, and books, discographies, format-specific sites, Usenet newsgroups, and, my favorite despite many invalid links, individual collectors' sites. Where else would I stumble across pictures of Goofin' label (Findland) rockabilly recording artist, Lester Peabody a.k.a. Jussi Huhtakangas or the English translation of Uschanov's 1996 analysis of Beatle lyrics, "Not a Second Time": a Study in Rock Semiotics. Oh, the image? Gary US Bonds Quarter To Three album is the only image on his record site. www.helsinki.fi/~tuschano/records/
	Elvis Second to None, is an RCA (Radio Corporation of America) sponsored site with a detailed time line of Elvis's singles, generally well written commentaries on his music and career. (Did you know that Blue Suede Shoes peaked at #24?) There are links to videos, audio clips (including interviews), merchandise, contests, etc. and, if you want more, there's a link to Elvis.com. www.elvissecondtonone.com
	The All Music Guide rates near the top of popular western music databases. AMG is very responsive to user corrections. (The death notices we supplied were posted the next day). Search by genre, label, artist, song (By their count, "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" appears on 218 records), get definitions (Quick! What's a "field recording"?) and look for similar artists. The revised site has enhanced reviews of albums and individual songs and respectable classical music section. www.allmusic.com.
	Tim Gracyk's web site is a labor of love dedicated to "Articles About Phonographs and Old Records," but also includes articles about popular tunes in the early 1900's, piano rolls, the etymology of the word "jazz", "Buying Rare Race Records in the South", popular American recording pioneers, and Edison Diamond Discs. You can also buy new phonograph needles for 78's through his site. Time spent here will be well rewarded. www.garlic.com/~tgracyk.
	CNN has a number of interesting articles including "Study: CDs may soon go the way of vinyl" (09/03/2003) based on a Forrester Research study, "Barenaked Ladies battle Napster with 'Trojan' downloads" (9/18/2000), and "How to turn your LPs into CDs or MP3s" (11/28/2001).
	The Library of Congress has a page devoted to the handling, storage, and cleaning of recording media. The page includes the recipe for the Library of Congress's own record cleaning solution and an excellent reference bibliography. www.loc.gov/preserv/care/record.html. Another Library of Congress bibliography for Recorded Sound Preservation is available at www.loc.gov/preserv/bib/recsbib.html
	NPR has many articles and interviews about records. Stories include: - a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the LP, - Joe Bussard, Collector of Musical Treasures with a basement full of rare 78's including the "Original Stack O'Lee Blues", -The Secret History of Technology and Pop Music including recording engineer and producer Steve Albini's preference for vinyl, - Remembrances of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". For more, go to www.npr.org and search for "vinyl records".
	The Bob Dylan Bootleg Museum contains an encyclopedic database of bootleg Bob Dylan recordings on both LPs and CDs. This is where I found information on the recording of the October 26, 1963 Carnegie Hall, concerts ("Are You Now or Have You Ever Been"). You can custom mix your own bootleg CD, contact other bootleg traders, take a Bob Dylan trivia quiz, see old photos, and purchase the Nag Champa incense which wafts through Dylan concerts. www.bobsboots.com
	Micrographia.com, a site devoted to light microscopy, has a section on microscopy of vinyl recordings, surface contamination, and old styli. Closeup shots of record grooves explains "the strange phenomenon known only to owners of a light-tracking cartridge and a well balanced, bias compensated tone arm, whereby the stylus tracks the record by running on the land between the grooves." This site provides the definitive answer to the question, "What does vinyl fungus live on?" (Hint: See image at left.) www.micrographia.com/projec/projapps/viny/viny0000.htm
	Tyrone's Record & Phonograph Page contains a wealth of links about early recordings, images of old 78 labels, and articles. If nothing else, check out Stella Tobin singing "Tipperary" from a 1908 Edison wax cylinder or a frantic Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) singing "Somebody Stole My Gal". If you're interested in trivia (or you want to win a few bets), follow links to learn the name of the first African-American owned record company (No, not Motown.) or the largest wax cylinder ever made (5' tall and 22" in diameter). www.proaxis.com/~settlet/record/record.html
	Vinyl Music "Based in the UK but regularly travelling worldwide in search of rare and interesting picture sleeve 45's. Thousands of items in stock and hundreds added each week. All styles of music from 1950's til 1990's. " Travelling? Check their world wide list of record fairs. www.vinylmusic.co.uk
	SoundStage Live billed itself as "The Best Show Reporting Covering Audio and Video Shows Around the World." It is now part of the SoundStage! Network, owned by Schneider Publishing Inc. If you can't make it to Frankfurt, Las Vegas, or the other big consumer electronic shows, check out this site for images and commentary. (Browse through their archives to see the show-stopping 199€ ($220) bright red TEAC AM/FM radio/CD radio from the 2003 Frankfurt CES - quite an accomplishment considering the radio was up against a 5000€ ($6,000) battery-powered Rock Solid power amplifier.) Other well-written parts of the site cover home theaters, Hi-Fi, music reviews. Judge for yourself if this site lives up to its tag: "A complete resource for the audio/visual enthusiast." www.soundstagelive.com
	782cd is a service which will transfer 78 rpm records to CD: www.color-copies.com/782cd.htm
	THE BEATLES B.C. -- Before Capitol A series of articles about early Beatles recordings on VJ and Swan records before Beatlemania and Capitol records. Includes discussion of counterfeits and a price guide. Did you know: "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" promo copies were sent out, garnering some airplay. Apparently due to a mistake at Transglobal, promo copies and the first commercial copies misspelled the group's name "Beattles." Also from this web site: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the road sign." www.friktech.com/btls/bc1.htm
	This is the BIG ONE. The Austin Record Convention " is the largest sale of recorded music in the USA. There is more music and related memorabilia available here, at one time, than anywhere else." The Fall 2006 show dates are October 28th and 29th. The Spring 2007 date was cancelled due to construction, so the next show will be October 28th and 29th. You'll enjoy reading about how two dealers were finally able to finally buy Kondoff's Records in Miamisburg, Ohio 35 years after the store had been closed. Collectors note: "There are search announcements at 12, 2, and 4 o'clock from the concession area to help in locating specific items." www.austinrecords.com
	Audio Asylum- Have an audio-related question? This is the place to ask it. From amps to vinyl, you'll find it here. The depth of information, fanaticism, and looniness is breathtaking. If nothing else, you must visit "Propeller Head Plaza". www.audioasylum.com
	Pedipsens Pulterkammer (Pedipsen's lumber room) A great site with instructions on building a DIY record cleaning machine, cleaning vinyl and shellac (78) records, buying a used turntable, and links to useful sites. home6.inet.tele.dk/pedipsen/Audio/indexuk.html
	Good Rockin' Tonight lingo secton has a fantastic glossary. If you want to talk the talk, check out this site. In no time you'll be discussing "ad backs", "secretarials", "splash vinyl" and "x on label" with the best/worst of them. There are some curious omissions, e.g., no entry for "vinyl burr" or Black Swan records. There's a single entry under "Z": "Zappa".) www.goodrockintonight.com/lingo.chtml"
	Frame Your Own Music Got the urge to display your albums? Professional framing from $44.95 to $74.95. They've even got a double wide ($149.95) so you can display the cover in one panel and the vinyl in the other. www.frameyourmusic.com/index.html
	The Record Album Frame This is the frame sold at Graceland and endorsed by Ray Manzarek of the Doors. While you're at their website, take their Album Cover Trivia Quiz. www.rockartpictureshow.com/index1.html
	Nitty Gritty Record Care Products. Need a machine to clean your records? This is the place to buy. When audiophiles say they put their records on their Nitty Gritty, they're talking about this. www.nittygrittyinc.com
	Bags Unlimited. Need a protective sleeve for your albums (or comics or baseball cards or almost anything else)? This is the place. Note that prices include shipping. www.bagsunlimited.com
	August 12th, the date Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, was declared Vinyl Record Day in San Luis Obispo, CA . Vinyl Record Day is dedicated to "the Preservation of the Cultural Influence, the Recordings and the Cover Art of the Vinyl Record." "Be There - Or Have Your Own Vinyl Record Day Party." www.vinylrecordday.org
	The Turntable Factory offers "sales and service of vintage and classic record playing systems", and more. The site is a goldmine of how-to information including directions on balancing tonearms, polishing dustcovers to remove scratches, packing turntables for shipping, and questions to ask sellers when purchasing a turntable. A good source for parts. (The picture to the left shows a dissassembled Dual 1219.) www.theturntablefactory.com/index.html
	Album Frames steel frames can contain the following: an LP cover or with special matting: 12" or 7" picture discs, 45's or 45 picture sleeve. www.albumframes.com/index.htm
	Record Collectors Guild contains articles and links on picture discs, record collecting, music cataloging software, informative articles, and more. www.recordcollectorsguild.org
	Vinyl Underground features an article on and gallery of picture discs, message boards, and books on records. www.vinylunderground.net
	Unrelated Inventions is an umbrella for shareware developed primarily by Andrew Fish. One of the products, Audiotools, is a direct-to-disk audio recorder which can automatically detect breaks between songs and generate separate files for each in real-time. Provided with plugins for CD-writing and encoding to various file formats (including MP3), Audiotools can be used to archive tapes, mini-discs and LP's, etc. www.unrelatedinventions.com
	BeatZenith features trivia quizzes on the Rolling Stones, another on general music trivia and a great Rolling Stones information site. Quick! What song were the Rolling Stones playing when Merideth Hunter was stabbed and killed at the Altamont concert? Get the answer here. http://www.beatzenith.com/mustrivia.htm