I'm not an audiophile but even on tracks with 192KBps, I can hear imperfections. It's not as pristine as everyone likes to think. And you know what, neither is vinyl. And when it comes down to convenience and availability, digital music wins hands down. I admit that.
But when it comes to home listening, an above-average sound system with a clean vinyl copy of your favorite album will always sound better than streaming it from iTunes or whatever program. Vinyl is uncompressed, natural sound (not a digital representation of it) and you can't 100% duplicate that with ones and zeros. At best, I'd say it's 98% perfect. For the average listener (myself included, by the way) that's still great. But it's not enough to say vinyl is completely worthless.
Also, CDs, et al can't duplicate some classic vinyl tricks. On certain import copies of Sgt. Pepper's (I'm writing this in the USA, btw), the nonsense at the end of the album continues until you lift the tonearm off the looping exit groove. Rush fans might like to keep their eyes open for a promo 12" called "RUSHan Roulette" that had (i think) 8 parallel groves running in tandem. That means, a random song plays depending on where you drop the tonearm. And c'mon - you mean to tell me those 8X10s of the Beatles packaged with every copy of the white album is as impressive or fun shrunken down to fit inside a standard CD jewel case?
Furthermore, vinyl is highly collectible. Yes, I mentioned you can get a lot of albums really cheap. But on the other end of the spectrum, there are records that could fetch hundreds of dollars (if not a lot more as is the case with Bob Dylan's "Freewheelin'" with an estimated fetching price of $25,000).
Next, downloading MP3s takes away a big part of albums - the artwork. The Rolling Stone's "Sticky Fingers" has not translated well into the digital age because there is no physical zipper on the CD case unlike the vinyl counterpart.
One more example: I like the band XTC. They original pressing of "Skylarking" had a track that was subsequently omitted in future pressings to include a surprise hit single that was originally a B-side ("Dear God"). In my opinion, the original pressing was far superior. But you really couldn't find that track order on CD until recently (and then you're spending like $20 on it when you can find the original album, on vinyl, for under $8).
Every now and then a new technology comes out that's so far more advanced and convenient there's no point in messing with the old stuff.
Once again, I'll point out that you're making that statement on a forum dedicated to embracing "old stuff". Tossing emulation for a minute, many of the best old arcade games can be played on modern systems (the Midway Arcade Collection as an example). Why mess with the "old stuff" then (i.e. arcade cabinets) when you can just get a collection of those games and pop it into your Xbox or download it on Gametap. Because it's more fun to have that retro experience. It's apples and oranges, I know - but worth pointing out nontheless.
FWIW, Dark Side of the Moon has been remastered more than once on CD and sounds -much- better than it ever did on vinyl.
You never heard the vinyl re-releases methinks.
