I’ve had a bit of an on again/off again relationship with vinyl over the years. It all began in 2009, when I received my very first record player as a gift. And then, a few years later, the needle broke. And I was too lazy to order a new one until just recently. Riveting story, eh?
And, along with the return of my love for listening to vinyl is my love of collecting vinyl. And, because I’m not willing to make the short walk to the local record store, I thought I’d try out a vinyl subscription service. Lucky for me, the fine people at “Vinyl Me Please” were nice enough to send over a sample of their subscription.
I was sent two records, Panda Bear’s 2007 album Person Pitch and the Vinyl Me, Please-exclusive Fiona Apple record remaster Tidal. (Which sounds oddly similar to a certain streaming service.)
What really stuck out to me was the non-record inclusions in the shipment. (No offense, Fiona. I quite enjoyed the album.) The box also came with two unique art prints and, my personal favorite part, two cocktail recipes. Each cocktail recipe is actually meant to be enjoyed with one of the albums you’ve been sent, adding that extra layer of charm to an already charming bundle. (For the record, the cocktail meant to be enjoyed with “Person Pitch” is my personal favorite.)
The only criticism I could think of someone having with the service is the lack of control that comes along with a record subscription. While, to be fair, the records I received weren’t part of my usual listening repertoire, I actually enjoyed the idea of receiving completely random records. After all, if you chose the exact records you received, that would be pretty boring, wouldn’t it? Isn’t that just what regular shopping is for?
While I had never tried out a vinyl subscription service before, I can honestly say that Vinyl Me, Please makes a great case for itself. Instead of just stuffing some records into a box, they made the experience much more creative, with some wonderful art for my walls and some delicious-sounding cocktails I’ll probably not be able to make because I don’t have lime juice. But that’s besides the point. Overall I very much enjoyed trying out the Vinyl Me, Please record club. Plus, I must say that I enjoy their name. I’d like to think that they named themselves that way so that every time someone asks Siri to “vinyl me, please”, they get sent directly to the website. Or maybe not.
