There’s no doubt that life in the digital age has provided us with a fast paced smorgasbord of new and innovative music, but as electronic music muscles it’s way in, the humble vintage vinyl record isn’t seeing much love.

At least according to Paul Mawhinney, who is struggling to sell his collection of over 3 million records – the largest collection in the world.

Mawhinney bought his first record in 1951 and has been collecting ever since. But now, with advancing diabetes and the news he is legally blind, the collection seems to be nothing more than a bunch of sentimental memories.

“How can something that old not be worth a lot?” He asks, squinting – pretty ironically – through a pair of rose coloured glasses, adding “No one gives a damn…the days of vinyl as we used to know it are pretty much over.”

The precious, but pretty much worthless collection is home to the first flat record ever produced in 1881 and in total is valued at $50 million. After sitting on ebay for 5 years, it’s had no serious offers, the closest being $3 million from a fraud buyer.

Furthering the supposed value of his collection, the Library of Congress conducted a study on Mawhinney’s collection that found that only 17% of the entire assortment is available on CD, meaning a whopping 83% cannot be bought anywhere at anytime.

This sad story reminds us of another abandoned record home, which was demolished a mere 2 weeks after being discovered. You  can reminisce over that tragedy here.

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

source: Gizmodo