Crate

Tonight User Guide

One record on the platter. Not a queue.

Collectors already know the ritual: pick a copy, put it on, stay in the chair. Tonight is that moment online. You do not shuffle twelve albums. You play one, you log it, you read the jacket if you want company.

Tonight page asking what you should play, with Pull a record
Start here. Pull a record, or add the first copy if the shelf is still empty.

Tonight is for you

Not a stream. Not a label. Not an ad.

You already bought the records. The hard part is standing in front of them. Tonight exists so that moment has a reason — one copy, one sentence, then the side starts.

We did not build a machine that guesses your taste. We built a listener’s argument for playing something you own. The anniversary printed on the jacket. A death worth honoring with a spin. Another collector who owns the same album and thinks you should hear it tonight. Records the critics still put near the top of all time. The five-star you keep meaning to play. The artist you have been living with all week, except this one LP that never makes it out. The quiet part of the shelf that has been waiting.

That list took a long time on purpose. Every kind of reason was written for a person in a room with a crate, not for a company that needs you to stay in an app. No feed. No “because you listened to.” No score that pretends a click is a play. If the reason would sound false said out loud next to the turntable, it does not belong here.

What you get is small and useful: permission. One honest why. The same thirty records stop winning by default. The rest of the shelf gets a night. You spend less time deciding and more time listening to copies that are already yours.

Crate will never love this record more than you do. It will only hand you a reason to put it on.

Why it fits vinyl

The word Tonight on a copy means it has not been played in at least ten days. If you spun it this week, that word is gone on purpose. Crate can pick from what has been quiet too long, or never played, or the ones you already love. You still decide. The platter holds one.

Put a copy on

  1. From Crate, tap a cover. That copy lands here. Adding a record to the crate puts it on the shelf, not on the platter.
  2. Or stay on Tonight and tap Pull a record. Pick Any, Neglected, Never played, or Favorites first if you care how it chooses.
Tonight with an album on the platter and Log this spin
A copy is on. Why it came off the shelf sits under the jacket. Log the spin when the side is playing.

While it plays

  1. Read why this copy came off the shelf — an anniversary, a death worth honoring, another listener who owns the same album, critical acclaim, or how long since you last played it.
  2. If someone holds Vouched, you will see Vouched · Name next to the grades. Hover the name for their last recommend, or that they wrote the liner notes.
  3. Open the sides if the tracklist is there. Side A, Side B.
  4. Tap Log this spin. Rating, vinyl grade, sleeve grade, side, mood / situation, a note if you have one.
  5. Open liner notes if you want the jacket talking while the needle is down. That spends a note — see the Liner Notes User Guide.
  6. Members can Recommend this to someone who already owns the copy.
Log this spin dialog with rating, grades, side, mood, and notes
Log this spin. The row stays on the copy and in the journal.

The three numbers

At the bottom: how many copies are in the crate, how many spins you have logged, and the listening streak in days. Streak is nights you actually logged, not nights you only pulled.