This essay follows how a vinyl collection became a device for ordering my life—structuring time through ritual and anchoring myself across moves and breakups. It describes how a collection gathers biography, value, and community while facilitating curiosity and posing ecological and technological questions.

More than commodities, records are cultural artefacts tied to ritual, care, and aesthetic curation, contrasting with the ephemerality of digital music. Vinyl embodies authenticity, communal rituals, and the thrill of discovery while also confronting ecological concerns. Ultimately, the collection symbolizes personality and presence, a lived-in soundtrack that may outlast its owner but not necessarily its meaning.

Keywords: vinyl records, collecting, memory, material culture, authenticity, ritual, mortality, music consumption.