There are so many posts here, alluding to the 'merits' of vinyl having non CD qualities and aesthetics, but not much solid and reliable information to promote LPs as giving anything near CD SOUND quality. It suggests to me that I was right all along. Many people love vinyl for all the wrong reasons and none of them have much to do with reproducing music in an authentic way. CD sounds incredible and why would you care if you get a few scratches on your jewel case? Why is trawling through shelves full of 2nd hand smelly LPs any better, or more worthwhile, than doing the same in a shop, or car boot sale full of CDs? We have a vinyl revival and it all seems to be a nostalgic look back towards the past and a rose tinted and strangley romantic view of an old music format. I remember owning the same album on LP and cassette tape, in the mid to late 80s and I always thought my tapes sounded much better, perhaps with the Dolby B enabled. Tapes sound better than LPs and are far more portable and practical. I think the reason people are getting into vinyl, is because it takes some effort and is a real faff. The ritual of vinyl is making people think this effort is somehow worthwhile and has some tangible and perceived benefit to the outcome of the sound. The current trend and momentum of vinyl sales will fade eventually and I see it as nothing more than fashion. It's caught on because people wrongly think it sounds better and it can be regarded as a misguided backlash against anything new and modern, for some weird reason. Even if CD is 41 years old, many regard this shiny digital format as something to be wary of and not trust it, even though it is a technical marvel and hugely capable. I think this attitude shows how many people can be so easily distracted by such trivial and superficial things like this. It's bizarre. CD was an advancement of the Laserdisc format, in the late 70s and all the companies involved in these optical formats must have been ecstatic, inventing such a durable and great sounding technology, without all the still obvious limitations of vinyl. The fact people are so dismissive of CD and still yearn for the ancient LPs is so irrational and isn't much more than a rebellious 2 fingers up to an established and proven optical format. I worshipped CD for decades, until something better came along. You can now get CD quality, or even closer to recording studio quality, via online platforms. Another improvement in sound quality and you don't need any physical disc at all. That's progress to me, a bit like the online version of WHF. I'd never buy a paper version again.