Vinyl Week 2024 day six: happy Record Store Day! The first records we bought, and celebrating the humble 7-inch vinyl

Happy Record Store Day! Whether you've been queuing up for hours to snag that latest release or just ambling towards you local store to crate dig, or spinning some records at home – here's to a day (or weekend) of enjoying music.

We've been celebrating all things vinyl this week in anticipation of this day (it's the 17th annual RSD this year!) and have brought you exclusive reviews, tips on setting up your turntable and storing your records, interviews with pressing plants in Australia and record stores in London, musings about vinyl trends and the younger generation's fascination with record playing, and many more.

Today, we're sharing the first vinyl records that team What Hi-Fi? bought with our own money, our favourite songs from this year's RSD ambassador Kate Bush, the coolest picture discs you can buy, celebrate the 25th anniversary of Brainfreeze's all-45 mix, and there a few more surprises in store before the weekend is over.

Our Vinyl Week 2024 runs from Monday 15th April to Sunday 21st April, and you can stay updated on all the latest features, advice and reviews by heading to our dedicated Vinyl Week hub, or simply bookmarking this page to check out the latest highlights and headlines below.

All our Vinyl Week 2024 coverage

Reviews

• JBL Spinner BT: An attractive and capable Bluetooth turntable

• Dual CS 618Q: Premium direct drive turntable offers composed and detailed performance, and a useful bonus feature

• Vertere Dark Sabre: Is this the ultimate moving magnet cartridge?

• Rekkord Audio F110: A fully automatic turntable that's sensibly priced and is surprisingly capable

Features

• The What Hi-Fi? team on the first vinyl records they ever bought

• Brainfreeze at 25: how this all-45 mix changed the wider vinyl world

• There’s nothing wrong with buying vinyl and never listening to it

• Vinyl pressing plants talk surging demand, the value in keeping it local… and does colour really sound worse?

• When every week was vinyl week: a look back to What Hi-Fi? 1976 issue #1

• Our pick of the best Record Store Day 2024 releases – Gorillaz, Pearl Jam, South Park and more

• Vinyl fans on TikTok are crazy about this three-star turntable – but that's no bad thing

• 14 of the best vinyl documentaries to buy, rent or watch for free

• I would love to have a turntable system at home, but there are two things stopping me

• What led to the resurgence of vinyl? Here are 5 reasons why it’s back and booming

• From voice to vinyl: how records get their groove

• We asked three big record stores what young people are buying – surprisingly it’s not just Taylor Swift

• A brief history of the turntable and vinyl records

• Tales from the Record Store: Lost punk classics, Elton John encounters, CD-fusion and more

• Record Store Day 2024: dates, store guides, and the full list of releases

Vinyl advice and tips

• How to store records: 9 tips for keeping your vinyl tip-top

• 10 tips for buying second-hand vinyl

• How to clean your turntable

• How to set up a turntable and get the best sound

• How to choose the right record player for you

• How does a vinyl record make a sound?

Best of

• 17 best songs from RSD 2024 ambassador Kate Bush to treat your vinyl system

• Our pick of the best Record Store Day 2024 releases – Gorillaz, Pearl Jam, South Park and more

• The 17 best turntables of What Hi-Fi?'s lifetime

• Best record players 2024: the best turntables tested and reviewed for every budget

• Best budget record players 2024: affordable turntables tried and tested