It's a great concept and a noble effort to save record stores. But it's a horrible execution - a form of elitism aimed at those who have turntables, limited to a very few who are lucky enough to be ones of the first in the know.

Now, I will admit to being a bit of a hypocrite here; if I had the money the Seeds' records would have been on my Oracle or Dual in a second and I wouldn't have had a thought about those on pensions or anyone who can't afford the luxury of a turntable. I have been a Seeds fanatic since 1966 who no longer has a turntable. Excluding people like me IS pure elitism. And it sucks.

The least that could be done is to offer these tracks later to digital owners, like most of us. (I love analog by the way and still have dozens of my favourite records, many dating back to the late 50's, I just can't afford a decent table.)

I perused the local shop with my daughter on RSD this year. They had live music and food trucks. I don't have much to spend either, but we came away with the Stones 5x5 and a couple excellent grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a good day. 

RSD releases can be a little silly. One of my friends said this in defense of "Go Skateboarding Day": "So maybe you think it's lame but so is Valentines Day. At least on this day it's our local parks and shops that get a small spike in sales." 

And that's basically how I feel about Record Store Day. We don't have to buy the overpriced collector's box set that has gratuitous "rare" recordings of someone coughing on the first take. But considering how many people don't think they need to pay for music, or anything, anymore, I'm inclined to approve of any kind of novelty that gets people to support small businesses and music, with cash money. 

I don't blame you failing to understand my rant. It was borne of frustration that I will never get to hear these exclusive Seeds cuts.

I thought I made it clear that I love vinyl. I own many vinyl albums and love to peruse record stores. My 'hate' is for the exclusivity of the content being sold by record companies in the name of "Record Store Day." Because I do not have the funds to purchase the exclusive vinyl or a turntable I will never get to hear these Seeds classics from two Record Store Days. My 'hate' is reserved for the elitism of this choice not for the stores themselves.

In re-reading my original post, I never said I hated record stores. I wasn't even addressing the record stores themselves! 

As for the title of the post, I thought it sounded like a punk/garage rock song title. But I guess we all have to be attacked for *something*.

I guess I'm just failing to understand the brevity of your usage of the word "HATE" here, which is a pretty strong word in and of itself, and you even used it three times!

So are you expecting "brick & mortar" record stores to sell digital downloads, too? Because some of them already do this via their websites. I love vinyl but I also love the ease and convenience of digital copies of albums. I got the new Oblivians LP on vinyl but still have yet to set up my turntable to play it, so I used the download code it came with to load the songs on my iPod where I can enjoy it in my car. I still love to go "record shopping" and I think that's the point of Record Store Day, to remind people that records (including CDs and even cassettes) are still out there and available for purchase at unique and individualized stores that are fun to explore and shop at. And the fact that you can do this while also hearing some local bands bash out their noise is an added bonus. I really don't have any complaints, but then again I suppose everyone's gotta have *something* to complain about...