Authenticity
Authentic means the first original issue, pressed by the artist‘s label in his home country which was intended for DJ/Radio use (promotional copy) or sold in shops (Stock copy).Example: Prince was US citizen and had a contract with Warner Records/USA. Original first issues are ‚made in USA‘. Elsewhere in the world different issues exist: they had been pressed in the same year ( =contemporary issue) or later (=reissues) by WEA (subsidiary of Warner) or even by licensees with different catalog numbers (and sometimes different versions/remixes of the tracks and/or different sleeve graphics).I preferably collect the so defined ‚original issues‘ but in some cases
also the contemporary pressings or rare foreign pressings (e.g. ‚made in Brazil‘).From my view as a German collector imported records are more rare and therefore more desirable. I collect reissues only as long as I can‘t afford the original and bootlegs only if the version/remix is really worth it.Unlike a HiFi enthusiast who cares especially for sound quality and prefers these 180g remastered reissues I want a near mint and clean sounding original. In many cases these sound very good or at least better than reissues (e.g.Pink Floyd‘s: Dark side of the moon LP).
As collector I prefer vinyl records to CDs – although nowadays I‘m mixing digitally (after digitizing my vinyl).