Considering it’s vinyl week here at Be, I thought it would be best to point you in the direction of some interesting vinyl-themed Web sites. After reading and exploring several forums and Web sites devoted to vinyl albums, it becomes pretty clear that the opinions are just as divided online as they are in Anderson.

But let’s start with the funny stuff, like stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. The author of the site pokes fun at the so-called “elite” music listener in entry No. 93 on music piracy. The author states that white people with large mp3 collections are normal, while those with large CD collections are better, while those white people with large vinyl collections are elite.

The author thinks these elite music aficionados hate music piracy because it makes all the rare b-sides and live performances they spent years collecting easily available to the public. While I sometimes take offense to stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, this statement is absolutely true.

Have you ever met a true music snob; one that feels it necessary to rub their knowledge right in your face? When you do encounter one of these people, be sure to tell them about all the rare, live Dylan performances that you downloaded on “bittorrent.”

Tell them you found 200 rare tracks and downloaded them in four minutes so you can watch the snob’s head explode. Before they kick the bucket, make sure to ask them whether head explosions sound better on CD or vinyl.

stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03/30/93-music-piracy/

Much like the bloodthirsty iPod/Zune debate we discussed a few weeks ago, the vinyl forums can be equally shallow and angry. The first link here is an extremely lengthy back-and-forth about the merits of vinyl compared to other mediums, and these people get truly angry defending their side.

This is good for a brief look, but just make sure you don’t get sucked in too deep.

rateyourmusic.com/board_message/message_id_is_620251&show=20&start=40

On the flip side, we have this more intelligent, mature forum dedicated to albums that sound particularly better on vinyl. There is a forum section for general discussion, a section specifically for album recommendations, and even a selection of vinyl-related articles.

I can only imagine the type of people that contribute to this site. I imagine a horde of John Cusack, “High Fidelity” clones exchanging top five lists and droning on and on about the merits of bands that released one LP and/or EP that no one has ever heard of.

www.last.fm/group/Better+on+Vinyl

Finally, this is a collection of some of the most expensive vinyl albums available for purchase. It’s okay to feel sick when you read this list. When you could buy 100 albums online for the price of one vinyl album, it makes sense to feel nauseous.

eil.com/shop/presetlist.asp?pageID=747

Urban Dictionary Word of the Day

turntable (n.) – Until recently, this was only known by today’s youth as a rotating drink coaster. Apparently, you can play music on this thing, somehow.