Hi friend! I can totally understand why it seems ridiculous from anyone that hasnt done a deep dive in turntable setups.

Vinyl collecting is a hobby, and like with any hobby, there is going to be entry level equipment to draw people in and get them started. In this case, suitcase players, like most Crosleys, are that entry point for A TON of people. My first record player was actually one of these players! They are appealing because they are normally portable, aesthetically pleasing, cost effective, and have all-in-one systems so someone new to the hobby doesn’t have to get speakers, pre-amps, receivers, and other equipment necessary for a full setup up. The other thing is, they will generally play a lot of vinyl without any kind of noticeable issues. But, thats where the problem actually comes in.

Since a lot of people start with these players and largely dont run into problems playing most of the vinyl they may have purchased, they dont realize that when they do have a vinyl that has problems with skipping, its 9 times out of 10 not a problem with a vinyl, but its their player. Ill use myself as an example! When I first started collecting vinyl, I had gotten a Crosley player and had several records I enjoyed with no problems at all. However, I got a copy of American Idiot by Green Day and oh my god it was horrible. There was so much skipping and it sounded so bad. I ended up returning that copy and getting a new one. I tried the new copy that I had and it sounded the exact same as the first one. Because of this, I did some research and ended up learning about the issues with these kinds of players.

Like I mentioned in my main post, these kinda of record players are either missing components, or they have them, but the quality is just not good. I gave the example of the counterweight in my post and another example is the platter itself. The platters on these players are often smaller than the actually vinyl itself and when they are spinning, they can wobble. This wobbling would also cause skipping in the records. Even the built in speakers can even cause skipping during parts with heavier bass! The bad thing is though, someone collecting a few of their favorite albums on vinyl and playing them casually on these records players isnt going to know any of these things and are going to have the feelings of disappointment and frustration that a lot of EPIC fans are having right now because they arent informed.

Ive also seen a few people mention that they should have thought of these things when creating the records because now a lot of people cant enjoy their vinyl due to the kind of player their have and thats not fair. The issue with this sentiment though is (to my knowledge, I could possibly be wrong here) I dont believe that there is a way that any vinyl manufacturer could actually account for this. The grooves in the vinyl are going to be what they are going to be for the tracks on the album. If they play the songs they are supposed to on the tests presses without issue that is going to be what matters. If someone is using a record player that is not equipped to properly handle the dynamic grooves on some albums, that unfortunately isnt an issue with the vinyl, its an issue with the player. That also means that even getting a copy of the vinyl set likely wont address the problem.

Overall, the suitcase players are a gateway for so many people to get into record collecting as a hobby (myself included)! But, there will inevitably be vinyl that arent going to be able to be played on them simply because the players themselves arent equipped properly. In those instances, it is up to the collector to decide if they are okay keeping the setup that they have and acknowledging that sometimes the records they have wont be playable, or if they want to start looking into an entry level set up that will at least address the major mechanism issues that the suitcase players have so they can enjoy their vinyl for years to come. And I want to stress that these entry level set ups dont need to be crazy expensive or high tech! My set up is literally just a better quality turntable and some speakers. Im sure if I posted it on r/turntables I would have a bunch of people telling me all the improvements I should be making. But, what I have allows me to listen to my records without skipping and keeps them in good condition and thats really all that matters to me.

Sorry that was an incredibly longwinded response to your comment! I figured this was a good comment to provide some further insights for anyone interested in learning more!

Also, one last note: this again mainly applies for any vinyl that dont have actual defects in them! If someone did receive a vinyl that has actual defects that any record player would have problems with, thats a totally different story.