When digital streaming sounds good, why do we pour money into the vinyl money pit?

[CageyH]

My vinyl set up is half decent, and my digital has cost me much less. However, today if I had to pick one or the other, I think it would be hard to argue that vinyl is worth the investment.

Does anybody else share this view?

I don’t think I could bin vinyl though, as there is something magical about spinning a bit of black plastic. I am just not sure it can go toe to toe with digital for the same expenditure.

[Lawrence001]

I guess I'm lucky I built my vinyl collection over my teens and early 20s when it was becoming eclipsed by CD and bargains were available. Not that it's all mint or quality pressings.

You can still pick them up if you're prepared to trail around charity shops outside the middle class/hipster areas and beat the other vinyl collectors to any decent collections handed in A good TT can still be bought for great prices, Sony DDs, Thorens and Lenco for example.

The convenience of digital can't be beaten but some like putting in the effort to build a nice collection of vinyl. I suspect I could tell you where I got most of my 4-500 odd records from. Not necessarily the exact charity shop in those cases, but rough location, all the record shop/market bought ones I do remember.

[struth]

Inclined to agree, especially with the budgets we mostly have. Im sure vinyl and tape done at somewhere near top end may well be better for some/many, but ate certainly my budget my files system is as good as i need it to be and at a fairly modest cost, as im using cans now(and not silly priced ones either).
That said, if i were a bit fitter i would have kept my TT. As is, I still have the vinyl, or most of it. If i ever find a nice auto that takes little room one day i might go for it. Otherwise the vinyl will eventually be sold.(as macca says, vinyl is still appreciating)

[Pigmy Pony]

I don't think vinyl (with its accompanying effort, storage and running costs) bears close scrutiny. Digital will win every time. I mean, if vinyl had never been invented, it certainly wouldn't happen now - anyone coming up with such a flawed and costly idea would be laughed out of the room.

But it was invented and became our only means of entertainment (no X-Box, no social media, no smartphones, just the telly with Top of the Pops and OGWT).

So our records have become arguably our only tangible link to our past, and it's a hard thing to let go of (not that I want to). It's something we do with our hearts rather than our heads.

That's my theory of why us oldies still stick with our LPs, why youngsters are getting into it I have no idea.

[bumpy]

Same reason they drink designer lagers.

[Pieoftheday]

I havnt used vinyl for a long time and I have never streamed anything, I have had to RIP my CDs to a hard drive due to space constraints and whilst the flac files sound great I'd go back to using physical discs anyday.i just prefer using something I can hold ,so for me I'd def go to the expense of vinyl or CD if I had the space

[Macca]

before streaming if you went to someone's place and they had a collection of recordings, could be LP, CD or cassette tape you could scan through them and get an idea of what they were into and, maybe, some idea of who they were. Size and variance of collection might also tell you how seriously they were into their music.

A large, varied collection of recordings was a thing of awe and respect.

But now anyone has a collection of millions of recordings at the click of the mouse, so all that is gone. For the youthful punter he can no longer define himself via his music collection nor can anyone define him.

So the appeal of anachronistic methods of music delivery. CD looks pretty unspectacular in its little plastic cases and its playback system is straightforward 'plug and play' , but vinyl with the twelve inch artwork and the playback system with lots of fiddly adjustments is appealingly esoteric.

I don't think I would compare to designer lager, more comparable I think to a youngster who owns a classic car, scooter or motorbike. Or maybe similar to dressing in classic vintage clothing (I notice at least some of the youths crate digging in my local record shop wearing vintage jeans and jackets).

[Jimbo]

I love how the vinyl digital debate can be started by couching the question in so many different ways.

[struth]

no doubt vinyl is more satisfying in a touchy, feely way that digital cant match, but in modern world, vinyl takes a lot of room and can cost a lot of money too, even for average equipment and collection. Vinyl also needs much more feedback from the user, which you either love of can be doing without/hate, and may need a knowledge you struggle with. ive well over a thousand recordings on file plus qobuz for new stuff or stuff i may like but eithr cant get or cant afford. Also being disabled it means i can do everything from my seat.

[Lawrence001]

A minority of youngsters are getting into it to be different and it feels more sophisticated. Nothing wrong with wanting either of those I was like that when I was younger. I still like to feel sophisticated now occasionally