Vinyl records.  Remember those?  Some of you do, I imagine.  Others don't but might be music nerds who still buy records when you can find them.  (Request of the Anti- record label - Please release Joe Henry's and The Frames' albums on vinyl as well as CDs!)  Anyway, so, records.  Yes.  All my life I've had a record player.  The family had the ol' hi-fi when I was young and I had my little Fisher-Price plastic turntable.  You know, the brown case with the orange insides?  Exactly.  When I was seven or eight I finally got a proper stereo thingie of my own.  Sad as it may seem, I've been using that for the past twenty years.  It had a dual cassette deck and a turntable up top.  I got a CD player years later when CDs replaced tapes and I've been rockin' on that ever since.  Now, I've been meaning to replace it for years - Get a proper receiver, new turntable, etc.  However, as time went on, I realised I really only listen to my iPod and vinyl.  So, sad as I am to replace my old stereo (despite it being...well, crap (sentimental value, you know)), I decided to pick up a new turntable and a new iPod dock for my bedroom. 

I looked around.  I considered a couple different USB turntables but realised I didn't want to convert my records to MP3s, I just wanted to listen to them.  I considered some pricey, fancy-pants turntables, but realised I didn't want to go that route either.  Then I started looking at the Crosleys.  They look super-swanky and ye olde tyme and the reviews were pretty good.  I thought about getting the single player, since it was a fair bit cheaper, but this Stack-o-Matic version was the one I decided on.  It can stack up to six records and play them (well, once side of each album) in order automatically.  Rock, rock on.

I got it home today (it came this morning and I ran out to the record store at lunch to buy some new records) and I must say, I really like it.  The sound is...OK.  Good enough.  The speakers are on the side of the unit so I'll probably have to turn it sideways when I listen to it from now on, but the sound coming out of the speakers isn't bad.  It's not audiophile quality sound but it's perfectly fine for the average user.  And it looks awesome.  What more can you ask for?  :)