The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Marco Gilardetti wrote:I also remember buying from him a stock of cardboard 78rpm sleeves, of a very good quality that I've never found again later.

I buy from http://www.planetedisque.com/fr/, good stuff, outer and inner sleeves, and plastic covers.

Several shops have closed in the past or luckily moved out of Berlin. I fortunately never owned a shop myself, but never had any regrets to have left this city. Especially in Berlin, the situation is particularly precarious with an already massaged unemployment rate of almost 10%, the second highest of all the federal states of Germany. That said, it is quite easy to imagine, that you don't see walk-in customers on a regular basis anymore.

Running an actual shop in this town is hard work and usually associated with more costs than earnings. Therefore, many owners use it as a kind of representative storage place, thus you will often encounter obscure opening hours. Practically all shop owners are nowadays forced to be present at the major flea markets as well as on eBay to make a living somehow.

In case, some of you might be interested in vinyl too, I can strongly recommend Peter Patzek aka 'Platten-Pedro'. He has running his shop since 1969! At the age of five, I dragged my mom inside and got two colorful singles, a few months later, my first 78rpm record followed - also from there. That was way back in the 80s and he is still there:

Platten-Pedro
Tegeler Weg 102; 10589 Berlin; Tel.: 030 – 344 18 75
Opening hours: Mo-Fr 10.07 am - 5.52 pm; Sat 9.59 am - 1.07 pm
http://www.platten-pedro.de

Here's an article in English: http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-fa ... ure-trove/

Thanks for the link Carlos, I may try the french website at my next purchase. After having lost contacts with Mr. Herbert Noritz, however, I began buying accessories from "Protected.de" in Germany. They have a very large assortment of accessories, not only for records but also for CDs and DVDs (like multiple-CD boxes etc.). Cardboard sleeves for 78rpms can be found in their "10 inches" section:

http://protected.de/de/10inch-vinyl-zubehoer

Norman, thanks for the insight about Berlin. Coincidentally, also the guide book (Lonely Planet, expanded edition) mentioned that "notwithstanding the fall of the Berlin Wall and the promotion to capital city of the re-unified Germany, Berling struggles to find its role as work/economics locomotive of the country", and an unemployment figure of 10% was reported. (As a side note, it didn't impress me much, as Italy has a 11% average unemployment rate and Rome is everything BUT a work/economics locomotive for the country...). I got the impression that local authorities are trying to inverse this idling trend with a huge program of real estate building. Should this be true, it is not a good idea in my very humble opinion: it is the same strategy that recently led Spain right to the threshold of bankruptcy, and also (but this is a matter of personal taste, of course) the new buildings may well be signed by cutting-edge architects, but still they look - simply put - atrocious. Berlin is one of the very few European cities of which I enjoyed the outlying districts more than the downtown.

The guide was so detailed to suggest even a visit to Pedro! Unforntunately we didn't have much time to spend in town, and we were also travelling on budget with a hand luggage only, so I skipped it. Maybe next time! Does it still have a nice assortment of 78s, by the way?

As a tourist, Berlin can be great, but it is not place easy to get a long if you actually live there. A newspaper once put it, that the relationship between the city officials and its citizens is based on mutual contempt. Practically all larger businesses that have moved into this area, did bring their own people with them instead of hiring local people. And due to subsidies, this behavior is at least economically encouraged.

Yes, Pedro does still have a some 78s in stock, but nowhere near as many as he once had like 20 years ago. I was there year in March and didn't find any interesting 78s, but came home with a load of 1960's vintage jazz LPs.

Just don't ask him about cylinders, he has a quite strange opinion about a general poor quality of them...

Well, as a matter of fact, we really enjoyed the most traditional attractions in Berlin and we are making plans to come back and visit what we have left behind in a near future!