PC RIP OK!

It's been a while! My laptop has decided to die on me. It's been a long, drawn out death with the plucky machine still holding on by the tips of its micro chips. I'll keep this brief as it's likely to spit out its dummy at any moment.

I saw these items listed on eBay and thought that they were a nice addition to my earlier post bemoaning the state of some of the photos people use to sell their LPs. Initially, when I saw the snaps, I applauded the seller for using a visual pun on the albums' titles to add interest to his listings. What a genius, using a spot of visual humour to boost his chances of flogging some two-a-penny LPs! Err, perhaps not. I soon realised that all his LPs were photographed in the same way regardless of their title. Oh well, accident or design, it still tickled me!

Meat Loaf LP going like a Bat Out of Hell!

'Rush Through Time' by Rush inhabiting another dimension

Here's where I began to twig that the seller might not be a master of photographic wit....

Iron Maiden's 'Number of the Beast'

No, that last one doesn't quite work, does it!? Whatever, get yourself over to eBay while you still can. These albums are going quick!

33-and-a-blurred

 Hey, it's Record Store Day! Yeah, whoop! To me, every day is record store day. I appreciate the organisers' efforts to boost the profiles of both vinyl and the ever-dwindling tally of record stores, but I've never fancied camping out with all the opportunistic chancers and having to fight them for the limited vinyl releases that always seem to be on eBay within five minutes of leaving the store. These people are no better than ticket touts. How about leaving the Record Store Day releases for real fans! There's nothing wrong with selling on your surplus vinyl, but denying a true music lover the chance to own a special slab of wax from their favourite artist just so you can make a quick buck strikes me as pretty scummy behaviour. At the other end of the marketing scale there are plenty of legit sellers on eBay who could use a few lessons in maximising the sales potential of their wares.

When I'm browsing the vinyl listings on the 'Bay, I'm often left dumbstruck by the way some of the vendors present the items they have for sale. I've collected a random sample of godawful, genuine photographs from ebay listings over the last week or so to illustrate my point.

This vendor deserves credit for managing to photograph his Neil Diamond LP from the window of a speeding train...

 

What are you selling, records or home furnishings?..

 

 

Turn off your flash, for crying out loud!..

A selection of LPs possibly photographed under the influence of alcohol. I searched in vain for a similarly blurry copy of Foreigner's Double Vision. That would have been too perfect! 

The lack of focus in this shot can't disguise the huge tear in the sleeve...

Bob Dylan, blurred and jaundiced...

You'll be surprised to learn that none of these albums achieved a sale.