Karmapolice,
I think Sns' last post accurately describes what a lot of people go through when they decide to try vinyl again. I can see a lot of what I went/am going through in there. I agree with his last paragraph.
The thing which people do not mention is that vinyl takes more "work". CDs are great in that one can buy a CD online, receive it a few days later, dig it out, stick it in the tray, and play. And one can pause if interrupted, easily go back to the beginning of a track and do it all by remote.
With vinyl, I find it a lot more of a DIY process. One reason I buy/play vinyl is to get in touch with all those records I can buy for half the price of the CD (or a lot less), and that takes digging around to find the records. Then one cleans them (once, well, replacing the sleeve, and you are good for lots of plays), and when playing them, the vinyl is a bit more awkward to deal with (sleeve and jacket), clamp/weight on, perhaps a light brushing, and then (assuming all the settings don't change per album or you switch to a mono cart), physically moving tonearm over and cueing down, then getting up at the end of the side, moving tonearm back, removing clamp, flipping side, maybe another brushing, then clamp back on, cueing it back up, and lowering tonearm back down.
Dealing with records is a lot more 'physical', but I bet there are any number of us who don't do things which require just a little bit if manual dexterity enough for our own good (not to mention not enough exercise). I personally find the pleasures I get from listening to interesting records I pick up to be worth the reward. Also, there are so many records out there where I remember the music well, want to hear it again, so spend a dollar on the record and a few minutes cleaning it when I get home, but I would not spend $15-20 and time online trying to find someone who had the CD.
Last but not least, if you decide to get into vinyl, and you buy used off Audiogon, and in 6 months you decide the "hassle" isn't for you, you can sell it all back and you will not be out much more than your time. If you do, I might start with a used cart of good enough quality to match the rest of your set-up. If eventually you find vinyl to your liking, then I might upgrade to the "right" or "better" cart later. You can get quite a lot of a lot of lower-priced cartridges, but in the same way that the step up from a Sony SCD-1 to an EMM set-up was surprising, the step-up in quality from a 'decent' cart to a 'great' cart is similarly revelatory.
I think Sns' last post accurately describes what a lot of people go through when they decide to try vinyl again. I can see a lot of what I went/am going through in there. I agree with his last paragraph.
The thing which people do not mention is that vinyl takes more "work". CDs are great in that one can buy a CD online, receive it a few days later, dig it out, stick it in the tray, and play. And one can pause if interrupted, easily go back to the beginning of a track and do it all by remote.
With vinyl, I find it a lot more of a DIY process. One reason I buy/play vinyl is to get in touch with all those records I can buy for half the price of the CD (or a lot less), and that takes digging around to find the records. Then one cleans them (once, well, replacing the sleeve, and you are good for lots of plays), and when playing them, the vinyl is a bit more awkward to deal with (sleeve and jacket), clamp/weight on, perhaps a light brushing, and then (assuming all the settings don't change per album or you switch to a mono cart), physically moving tonearm over and cueing down, then getting up at the end of the side, moving tonearm back, removing clamp, flipping side, maybe another brushing, then clamp back on, cueing it back up, and lowering tonearm back down.
Dealing with records is a lot more 'physical', but I bet there are any number of us who don't do things which require just a little bit if manual dexterity enough for our own good (not to mention not enough exercise). I personally find the pleasures I get from listening to interesting records I pick up to be worth the reward. Also, there are so many records out there where I remember the music well, want to hear it again, so spend a dollar on the record and a few minutes cleaning it when I get home, but I would not spend $15-20 and time online trying to find someone who had the CD.
Last but not least, if you decide to get into vinyl, and you buy used off Audiogon, and in 6 months you decide the "hassle" isn't for you, you can sell it all back and you will not be out much more than your time. If you do, I might start with a used cart of good enough quality to match the rest of your set-up. If eventually you find vinyl to your liking, then I might upgrade to the "right" or "better" cart later. You can get quite a lot of a lot of lower-priced cartridges, but in the same way that the step up from a Sony SCD-1 to an EMM set-up was surprising, the step-up in quality from a 'decent' cart to a 'great' cart is similarly revelatory.