The forecast for this weekend is clear and sunny so our rescheduled sidewalk sale will be this Saturday, January 28 from noon-5pm. There will be plenty of bargains on CDs, vinyl, DVDs, box sets, toys and more! See you there!

All sidewalk sales are final. Store credit cannot be used to purchase items from the sidewalk sale.


   

UPDATE 1/20: Unfortunately we have to postpone our sidewalk sale due to a 100% rain forecast for Saturday. Hard to argue with a 100% forecast, right? We'll post updates on the blog for the next one.

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Amoeba Hollywood is breaking out the balloons, the crates, and the deals for a sidewalk sale on Saturday, January 21 from noon-5pm. There will be plenty of bargains on CDs, vinyl, DVDs, box sets, toys and more! See you there!

All sidewalk sales are final. Store credit cannot be used to purchase items from the sidewalk sale.


   

      

As you've no doubt already read, vinyl sales are up so to meet the accompanying increase in demand for turntables Amoeba Music recently began selling various turntable models. As outlined in the excellent recent Amoeblog about buying a turntable at Amoeba Music, the three Amoeba stores each have a really good selection of turntables for sale.  Recently I stopped into the Berkeley Amoeba store to talk a bit with turntable expert Brendan about the variety of turntables to choose from at the Telegraph Avenue store. Note that the San Francisco and Hollywood Amoeba stores may each have a slightly different array of turntables to chose from. Call ahead to your local Amoeba (scroll down for phone numbers) to double check on which models are available. 

As outlined by Brendan in the video interview clip above, the Audio-Technica model on display is a wonderful hands-on, easy to operate, sturdy model that comes with a good quality, built-in cartridge (so you don't have spend any extra time and money getting the needle cartridge) for only $129.98. This exact same model - including the extra feature of a USB connection that is geared for folks who, as well as listening to their records, want to dub off their vinyl into a digital format to have on the go in their iPod and other mp3 listening devices -- sells for $179.98. A great deal if you plan on doing a lot of digitizing of your vinyl collection is the Numark TTUSB model with USB compatibility, on sale for just $149.98. As Brendan says in the video clip, this belt-driven model is "a really solid design for 150 bucks!" It also comes with pitch control, which is perfect for DJs and anyone who wants to increase or decrease the speed of the record being played.

Amoeba Music is proud to be featured in the upcoming documentary VINYLMANIA, a 75 minute feature length film about an object that has never lost its soul: the vinyl record. But the film needs your help TODAY! Go to VINYLMANIA's Kickstarter page to find out how!

An epic love story, the film is filled with fascinating characters and internationally recognized artists including Philippe Cohen Solal (Gotan Project), Winston Smith (Dead Kennedys, Green Day record sleeve artist), Peter Saville (Joy Division, New Order record sleeve artist), and DJ Kentaro (2002 DMC World DJ Champion).  

Devotion, ecstasy, infatuation, agony – these are all feelings that the director of the film, Paolo Campana, has experienced from childhood and shares with like-minded record collectors, DJs, musicians, and artists (the "vinylmaniacs") featured in the documentary. Set in 11 different cities and seven countries worldwide, the director sets out on a global road trip to find out what role vinyl records play in the 21st century.

When you buy a turntable from any Amoeba store now through November 15, you'll get $25 worth of USED vinyl - for FREE - to jumpstart your collection! 


To help determine which turntable is right for you, here are some questions to ask yourself before you purchase and some handy factoids that might help with that decision.

To DJ or Not to DJ
If you want to DJ with your turntable, you need a Direct Drive turntable. This means that you can scratch, mix, cue up your records, and do everything else DJs do without ruining your record player or the stylus.

If you don't plan on using your turntable for DJing, Belt Drive Turntable will work perfectly well for you.


How Are You Going to Hook Up Your Turntable?
Do you have a component system already? Do you have a receiver? If so, does it have a "phono" input selection? If your receiver doesn't have a phono input (and a lot of them don't these days), you will need a pre-amp.

If you have powered speakers (speakers that have their own power source), you can connect your turntable directly to the speakers if you want (and skip the receiver altogether). 


What the Heck is a Pre-Amp Anyway and Why Should I Care?
The pre-amp boosts the sound of the cartridge on your turntable up to the "line" level of an iPod, CD player or cassette deck. A lot of turntables come with built-in pre-amps these days and if that's the case, you don't need to worry about it. But if your turntable or receiver doesn't have a built-in pre-amp, you'll need to get one (you can get a decent one for around $30 at Radio Shack). Then your turntable will connect into the pre-amp which will then connect to your receiver (or your speakers if you have powered speakers).