Why Do You Still Have Vinyl if You Don't Play it?

Like many here, I've gone back and forth with this very experience. I had a collection of 1,000+ back in the late 80's that I sold off in bulk when CDs overtook my musical life. My regret was not hanging on to some of my favorites and collectibles.

On three separate occasions I've done the same thing with my CD collection - only hanging on to a handful of favorites and/or collectibles. Most recently, I've dumped my favorite CDs since I have them all ripped to FLAC on multiple hard drives (which is how I predominantly listen to music now anyway) and kept only the collectibles. They are stored in a box and will get sold off when the economy is better and people are willing to buy such things again.

All this said, I bought a turntable a few years ago and picked up some old favorites cheap and have fallen in love all over again. Mostly, it is acoustic jazz where vinyl just does it for me - even more so than my high resolution digital versions.

So my advice is; Get rid of the bulk and listening to what is convenient and makes you happy (I do file based network audio). BUT hold on to your favorites and collectibles - even if it means boxing them up and putting them in a closet for now. In ten or twenty years you will likely cherish the memories and the experience again.

I have about 1000 Lp's...I thinned them down from 5000 around 8 years ago...The sonic refinement of CD's and associated playback equipment seems to have improved greatly in the past few years.
Because of the comparable simplicity and ease of using CD's I find myself growing more and more lazy...I used to find the "ritual" of selecting an Lp...removing the jacket from its vinyl sleeve..removing the LP from it's inner sleeve..setting it on the platter..setting the pressure clamp..using the static gun & using the dust brush well worth it because of vastly superior sonics. Now all that occurs to me is that I have to put it all back when it's finished.
I've got some really great stuff..(I'm an acoustic jazz lover)..I've decided to put some time into making high quality CD's from the probably 100 or so LP's that have both performance and sonic worthiness..The third requirement
will be a quiet surface...There's no fast way to do this.
I have a product called a "Super Scope"..I believe it was designed by Marantz..It is a studio grade pro-gear CD recorder and the quality of reproduction is truly excellent.
I don't know if I'll be able to part with my hard won and precious vinyl..but at least this way I'm going to listen to all the wonderful music.

I think it comes down to nostalgia. LPs sound different, there is no getting around that (I said different, not better) But there are clear advantages to digital, especially hi-res. I think there is no coincidence that almost all my LPs are from the 70s and 80s (I am 37, see where I am going with this?). The sounds takes us back. Flipping records takes us back. There is a reason I also have a modest collection of CEDs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance_Electronic_Disc.

With CEDs, Blu-ray is FAR superior in every way (heck, even LaserDisc is superior!) but it looks the way video did as a kid, just as vinyl sounds like music did.

I would guess when you do listen to vinyl, you are in that kind of mood. Pare down your collection, but keep the music that is imprinted on times of your past.

Macdadtexas, thank you for your suggestions. I am a computer geek who has been lucky enough to sell my ideas for substantial profit and I will check out the Drobo.

Sold my vinyl and all my film cameras, luckly before hey lost too much value. Then late one night with too much timeon my hands I fell victim to the need to figit and tinker. The very next morning I went straight to the pound and bought two friskey new puppies. Youll get over it honest. Once you question it, its done. Youre in denial