Last year, my vinyl collecting affliction—which had been in remission for decades—suddenly returned. Worse than ever. This time, I’m relegated to my office. My wife thinks turntables are too big and awkward to be setting up in the living room or rec room, and, frankly, I’m pretty sure that between them the kids, dogs, and cat would make short work of any easily accessible setup.
So everything is in my office. Fine, but that presents a storage issue. I wanted something a little nicer than the classic plastic milk crates for storing albums, ideally something that would keep my vinyl out of sight when not in use. This is an office and place of work after all, and I need to keep up appearances. I found the Eurolite Half Split LP case on Amazon and it seemed like the perfect solution. Each one holds 70 LPs, they’re completely enclosed, and the case even has a handle so you can bring records with you if you are so inclined.
It even looks kind of cool. The complicated latching mechanism on the sides that holds the two halves of the crates together takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it works well.
Unfortunately, including that latching mechanism introduces a major problem—at least if you’re the type of vinyl collector who keeps records in their covers. The latch requires a big indent on both sides of the case, significantly cutting the interior width.
If you store your records without the covers, that isn’t a problem. They still fit without a problem and I’m guessing you could indeed get the advertised 70 LPs in there.
However, if you keep your vinyl in its cover—and that’s true of all collectors I’ve ever met—then those indentations mean the case is too narrow for a record to fit. You could get a few in there if you’re willing to jam them it at an angle, but the latch design effectively renders about half the case useless. You might get 25 or 30 records in there, with their covers on. That’s an unfortunate issue that a simple tape measure could have prevented—it’s not like record covers vary in size.
If you don’t care about the covers, then the Eurolite Half Split LP case is a pretty decent storage and transportation solution. At under $60 in Amazon, it’s reasonably priced too. But if you want to store your LPs intact—with covers on—you’re better off sticking to the milk crate.
