I did something tonight I wish I had done a long time ago, I got my record player to work. No, I am not talking about my CD player but a bona fide vinyl record player.

See, I have had this thing for almost a year. A lady knew that I was interested in owning one and she pulled hers out of the basement and gave it to me for a modest fee - A simple hug and thank you. Now I may not be the smartest fella in the world but when someone who reminds you of your grandmother offers you something for a hug and a thank you, well you take it.

I took the machine home and anxiously hooked it up to my receiver and was saddened by the fact that I could not hear anything unless I turned the volume way up and pressed my ear firmly against the speaker. Just imagine the looks I was getting from my children over that one!

I went to Radio Shack to try and figure out the problem but found the service there to be absolutely useless. This is not a slam against Radio Shack but the one where I live is really bad.

Desperate to solve my problem, I called the one person I knew that had strong working knowledge of record players, my dad. My father currently owns about 5000 records. I would bet he will listen to almost everyone of them this year.

The man works hard transferring his records to CD via his computer, an item he did not want to learn until he was told he could put his records on CD. His record player has been with him for almost thirty years and I would bet it will be for at least 30 more.

He told me I needed to replace the needle. I informed him Radio Shack was no help and he had me give him the make and model number of my player.

Within a week he mails me a diamond needle. Here is my stupidity. I thought a needle was a needle but according to my dad this was the one I needed to be using, it was also the most expensive. No worries because Dad footed the bill.

So, I installed my needle onto the record player that was hooked up to a newly acquired receiver and waited for the sound. Still nothing. I called my pops once again and he now told me I needed a receiver with a phono mode to play it.

Hmph! So much for that idea. Well, life happened as it does and I forgot about my record player. It still sat on the shelf longing for me to blow the dust away and use it but I needed to buy other things before investing in a new receiver.

A new job brought with it new responsibilities and also the need to be able to tape radio broadcasts on a system that would automatically flip the tape. I learned from a friend that he had an old stereo system that he had stopped using 5 years ago and would be willing to part with it for $20.00. Thinking to myself it was a good idea, I bought the system.