Super Vinyl Adventure Club

I've been debating this idea for the Super Vinyl Adventure Club for a while now, for reasons that I'm sure you'll understand. But my reasoning for doing it is that online shops and shopping are becoming a stable fixture of buying vinyl whether we like it or not. So basically this post is to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of fuelling my record collection via the internet.

There are two types of online shops. Those that act as an online version of a real record shop, such as Rocks Mail Order which serves as an online shop for Glasgow based record shop LOVE Music. Then there are those which as only online, they have no physical building that you can browse through the racks of. Now the romantic side of record shops is that you get the interactive experience, and I've talked about my love of that in the past. So you might wonder, what's the point of an online store, where you don't get the smell of the sleeves in the racks, you don't get the music playing in the background, you don't get the chat and recommendations. Well here's my account of buying from Insularis Records.

Venue

The home page on Insularis Records website is extremely well put together. An iTunes style scroller displays new additions, a tweet feed lets you keep up with recent announcements, such as discount codes and competitions, and below that features quick link banners to recommended purchases. The website as a whole is very easy to navigate, and kudos must be given for placing a tab for Scottish Releases right at the front. This also showcases some great Scottish labels, including Song, By Toad Records, Chemikal Underground and more. So yes you don't the the satisifaction of trawling through racks, but you do get the ease of being able to find what you're looking for pretty much within a few clicks of your mouse.

So what other benefits is there to shopping online? You might think that you'd lose out on the customer service side of things, but I have to say the guys at Insularis are on the ball. Offering free shipping for orders over £50 thus encouraging you to spend that extra penny, and also offering regular discount codes. In fact I was rather impressed by the fact that they tweeted me the discount code which was specially reserved for the Scottish Independent Record Fair even though I couldn't make it along. They also keep you up to date with order confirmations, dispatch details and thank you emails, all of which I suppose are pretty much standard, but still nice to have.


Purchases

Remember Remember - The Quickening
Arctic Monkey's - Suck It And See
Fair Ohs - Everything Is Dancing
Male Bonding - Endless Now
Mogwai - Earth Division EP
The Avalances - Since I Left You

I'll be honest I'm not going to review all these, fair to say that they were all rather reasonably priced, certainly no more that one would pay in a shop, and all arrived in perfect condition. (I lied, have a read of a review of Mogwai's 'Eart Division' here.)

So all in all, I would certainly recommend Insularis Records for purchasing vinyl. My personal preference will always be the visit a record shop, trawl the racks and have the whole 'shop' experience. But it would be folly to overlook the benefits of buying online, and when the circumstances conspire to keep me housebound, then Insularis Records is a happy substitute.