The most irritating thing...

when you cant tell if it's your record player needle going out, or a worn out record. .. but you dont want to switch records because its your favourite album. (thomas dolby - the golden age of wireless)

also...

when people have no idea what a record is supposed to sound like.
when people set their needles' weight too heavy.
when people dont know how to connect a record player ground.
when people dont know what a preamp is.
when people buy cheap USB record players when they can just plug in their old record player from their stereo and get better sound...

pretty much everything about people not knowing how to operate a record player.

also.. how frustratingly expensive records are.
Then again, the Yacht album I'm looking at comes with two LP's... so I guess it's not that bad.
Gonna have to check all the local record shops for one I suppose.

/hipster problems.

---

Personal story time...

So my first record player was a sony direct drive when i was probably about 13.
we got off to a good start when I took my present and flipped it over to figure out what was in it. My dad yelled at me. (he's an idiot. didnt use any padding. seriously?)
I'm pretty sure I broke it when I did that. because since then it would have tracking problems.

Long story short, I knew that cd players read from the inside/out, so I put the needle on by the end, and was confused as to why it wasnt working.
I also thought it would just magically start playing music.

My dad was kinda a dick in that he let me fuss around it being very confused for about 5 hours before he stepped in.

I hooked it up, and started crying because I thought I broke it. Turned out, I didnt connect the ground. So I connected it to the preamp and from there, connected it to my computer speakers.

It was pretty funny, but at the time I was so entirely mad at my dad, because I could have SERIOUSLY damaged the needle with my fussing around with it. Broken needles are NOT fun in the least to fix.

Long story short, it eventually wouldnt track so I donated it to goodwill and got myself a belt drive.

I STILL have my belt drive technics.
I still recommend a belt drive over a direct drive. why? because you can bloody fix it thats what. Direct drive, once it goes out, it's garbage. you can try to get it tuned as much as possible but it wont hold very long.

I've broken belts, broken fuses, and broken needles on my record player, but it still is running great.
probably needs some WD-40... but.. eh. its working right now.

also fucking love thomas dolby.