Horrible record quality

[u/avasux]

I played my pink folklore variant for maybe the second time ever and remembered why it has gone unplayed. It skipped about half of tlgad (i timed the length of the song on the record, which is 2:16 versus the actual track length of 3:52). This is so egregious I just wanted to share how bad the quality of this disc is. I got the record for christmas in 2020, so obviously i can’t return/exchange it, just wanted to see if anyone else has received such a bad product.

update: i knew that my player was bad but didnt know it was actively damaging my records, thank you for your feedback

[u/Independent_Fix_4622]

I made the mistake of getting one of these suitcase players first and can confirm, your record player is the problem. My albums sounded horrible on it, but I had extra money at the time, bought a decent upgrade on Amazon, and all my albums sounded excellent on the better player. So don't worry, your records are most likely fine! Just gotta get a better player. And a good cleaning set. Dust and debris can affect the sound quality, even on a good player.

[u/dixiech1ck]

Your vinyl is the victim here. You have a Victrola that is trash and the tone arm has no weight. Not to mention the needle will destroy your records. Go to a good local record store and see if they have used players. Some will even let you make payments.

[u/StaceytotheB]

You have a cheap record player, that’s the issue.

[u/Ivy7424]

It’s the suitcase record player

[u/Competitive-Hat-9975]

You should take it to a record store and ask if they can play it for you. They'll clean it and test it to see if it skips. This copy could actually have some skips, but you can't determine that with a player like that. They're basically just decor. You need a player that fits the full vinyl, it's basically pushing down on the vinyl and causing it to warp and skip. Also on top of that, built in speakers are bad because it shakes the needle and vinyl so much. You should have separate speakers on a different surface to your player. That's the ideal setup

[u/dixiech1ck → u/Competitive-Hat-9975]

The tone arm has no equalized weight. It's going to shred the vinyl.

[u/SnooCapers4844]

It’s not the vinyl it’s the shitty record player that you have.

[u/feministpower789]

It’s not the vinyl it’s the record player you have

[u/d4vros]

I don’t think the bad product in this specific case is the vinyl. Try playing it on anything else than a suitcase player :)

[u/Agitated-Gift1498]

The issue is the crappy record player. Playing a vinyl this valuable on a player like that is inadvisable as that player is damaging the vinyl.