Steering clear of vinyl "greatest hits" packages is normally a good idea. The packages are often assembled by a disinterested producer at the label's behest as an easy money maker. For the most part when you compare the same tunes on the original releases and on the greatest hits package, the latter suffers sonically.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of comedian/actor Dane Cook's album Harmful If Swallowed, Comedy Central Records recently announced a limited edition vinyl version with exclusive new artwork. The one thousand copy edition went on sale earlier this month.

It's "that" time of year so here are analogplanet's stocking stuffers in three different price categories.

Rega’s versatile $1500 Aria phono stage combines high build quality, flexibility and dynamic capabilities more commonly found in more expensive phono preamplifiers.

If you're of a certain age you'll know that "let your fingers do the walking" was the Yellow Pages slogan. If you're of a different certain age, you might not even know what the Yellow Pages is! It doesn't matter really because it's just a play on words. The slogan meant you could thumb through the Yellow Pages rather than walking around to find a particular retailer or service.

Day two of the Utrecht Record Fair was less crowded, as my hosts predicted it would be, but still, in the morning at least, it was plenty crowded as record buyers returned for the discounts many vendors offered, hoping to sell records rather than schlep them home (or to the next record fair somewhere in Europe).

If set-up day was cold, dark and less than pleasant, day one of the Utrecht Mega Platen Record Fair was warm, crowded and festive. With both the lights and heating system on and the enormous exhibition hall packed with record fanatics, it was a full day of fun for vinyl lovers from around the world.

Friday, November 22nd was set-up day at the world's largest record fair. For a premium, organizers did let consumers in early so even as the booths were being set up and stocked, buyers made the rounds in the usual mad frenzied way.

I know I keep repeating these LP/CD comparisons done by youngsters, but they're so much fun. Here's another.

My friend's son is in a band, and they'd cut some tunes that they wanted to hear back on my system. They brought the CD-R over, and, of course, they'd never heard their music sound so good—actually, the recording was quite accomplished. One of the kids looked around dumbfounded at my records and turntables and said, "Why would you have all of these?"

I told him they sounded better. "What do you like?" I asked.

"How about Green Day's Insomniac?" he replied.