Lets get some opinions from music lovers/collectors.

I collect old (and new) vinyl as a hobby and I can't help but feel that people just don't appreciate music like they use to. Storing all their music as an mp3 on itunes is just so depressing. Thoughts?

Well of course a physical vinyl is a lot better than MP3.

However, why compare to MP3? Why not lossless FLAC?

Digital files will never have the collectability of physical, though vinyl of all things will never be as convenient as digital. It's a trade off. If I had to choose though, I'd pick physical. I remember liking music a lot more back when I used to buy a CD, put it in and listen to the whole thing. Also, having the artwork adds to the experience, at least for me.

As for Vinyl, I've never owned any, it seems so big and fragile, I'd be a little afraid to start collecting it.

going electronic is the only way for me. less hassle, less space taken.

I honestly have never really heard the point in FLAC. For someone who's lugs have been damaged so much from attending live shows or playing drums I cannot hear a difference. Plus most downloaders give albums in mp3... from what I have seen atleast.

Got me this little high tech beauty. :D

Less space taken - Well that depends what format you like your music in and how much you have. It can take up a lot of room on a HDD.

Less hassle... I bet I can equip and play a record quicker than you can file through your iphone and find the album you want. :P Not too different to what I grew up with lol.

It's higher bitrate, isn't that sort of the point of collecting Vinyl over CD?... Most people who use FLAC rip their own boughten CDs into the format.

I was just kidding around lol. I collect vinyl because it looks cooler, feels nicer and older records have quite a nice smell to them. They don't necessarily sound better on vinyl than cd.

I'm 42 years old, and grew up around audio cassettes, vinyl records, and a few 8 track cartridges during my childhood. I've migrated most of my 80s collection (mostly heavy metal) of cassettes and records to compact disc, but these days when buying music I prefer digital downloads (Amazon's MP3 store is my favorite such vendor). I like to think that I still appreciate music as much now as I did during my adolescence, but the ritual of gazing upon the lp's cover or reading through the cd booklet as I listen to the music is long extinct for me, as I'd rather be doing other things (like driving or playing computer games) while listening to music.

^ This. I lost a ton of my LP's when I moved several years back, but I still listen to the ones I have quite often. I don't buy vinyl or physical CD's all that often anymore, but I certainly prefer physical media, especially LP's, not just for the sound, but also for the artwork, sometimes-included goodies and such.

As far as digital music goes, I used to be fine with MP3's, but now that I have some decent audio equipment, they sound pretty bad compared to FLAC or other lossless music files.

It is true that most online music download sites only deal in MP3's, but hdtracks.com is a great place to find lossless digital albums.

I don't care about music nearly enough to still be buying CDs, let alone Vinyls. Maybe that makes me an asshole, I dunno.

Don't worry, that's not why you're an asshole. :D

Beat me to it! :P

Oh I see, cool. :)

Though I'm curious, what are your most prized LPs?

I buy mostly CD's, but the occasional vinyl too.
I personally can only hear the difference between versions when I have my headphones on, but I like having the booklets, and the physical object to look at.
It also helps that at the moment CD's and mp3 downloads can be bought for practally the same ammount so it really does not matter which you buy.

I also enjoy buying "collectors" editions (especially numbered ones) then opening them. That goes for everything, CD's, vinyl, games, books, DVD's.