High Fidelity for dummies.
I consider myself fairly technologically advanced. I set up a DSL connection on my parents’ computer a couple of years ago when they thought they would have to have somebody from the phone company come and install it.
I installed a high-definition cable box on my television with little or no hassle. I can text, e-mail and download music with the best of them.
So, when my parents let me have their record player, along with their vinyl collection (which consists of albums by artists including the Rolling Stones, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd, Willie Nelson, Peter Frampton and ZZ Top, along with various Christmas collections, mostly country), I figured it would be no problem getting it going. I figured, just move the needle onto the record, the record would start playing, and voila, music is being heard the way God intended!
Of course, it wasn’t that simple.
The first album in the brown crate was Paul McCartney’s classic “Band On The Run,” which I had heard remastered. So, naturally, I wanted to hear it on vinyl, with all the pops and cracks. I turned the dial on “phono,” which I figured meant the player would start going.
No such luck.
I looked around for a switch, a button, or anything, that would get the turntable going. I couldn’t find a thing. I did a search on the internet for the model of the player, for some FAQs, which would be how someone my age would look for information when they had trouble.
Couldn’t find anything.
So, I went to the Web site of the dealer of the player, which had an 800 number. I called it, and told them my problem. They asked me if I had pushed the needle to the right gently until I heard a click.
I felt like slapping myself in the head. No, I had not. I then did what she told me to do, and it started working.
So now I’m enjoying “Band On The Run,” the way it was intended to be heard. There’s some Skynyrd in the collection, and later I plan on listening to that and some Allman Brothers, while shotgunning a six-pack of PBR, because that’s how people in the 70s who lived in Alabama rolled. (That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.) And I might turn my computer off while I’m doing that.
