So after lurking in these boards for the last year I'm finally putting in my 2 cents.

Certain arguments will always rage, including: Digital vs. Analog; signal compression vs. Hi Def; exotic cables vs. home depot cable, the location of the line between high end and hi fi. Hell, I remember years ago when the now defunct Stereo Review ran a cover story of Dolby S vs. Mini Disc, which I think is a good example of how fruitless these sort of arguments are seeing as how both of those mediums are museum pieces.

These arguments always seem to revolve around the technical aspects of sound reproduction. I, however, enjoy vinyl for entirely non-technical reasons. I just wanted to see if anyone else agreed, or for that matter disagreed and thinks I should blow it out my bagpipe.

1. The music industry sucks right now. Good Charlotte?!? What the hell is that? Linday Lohan?!? Really, Lindsay Lohan? She can get a record deal but bands like third eye blind and Better than Ezra (or other innumerable good solid pop rock bands with proven sales) can't even get arrested let alone signed. Label consolidation simply killed artist developement. I'd rather by kick butt old records than new garbage on CD. Back in the seventies bands released records every year, sometimes even two per year. Now the Beastie Boys go five years between records.

2. I dig the vinyl ritual. Vinyl just looks cool, whether black virgin, colored (blue, red, white, clear, ect), or picture disks. I dig full sized sleaves and album inserts. ELO's "Out of the Blue" came with a card board UFO you could assemble, try fitting that in a CD. I dig putting the record on platter, hitting it with the dry brush, putting on the record clamp and letting the arm down. I dig the sound of the groove the right before the first cut, first loud crackle, then quiet, then music. I dig that I can't take it in my car with me. I dig it that if I want to listen, I have to sit down and listen - and that I only get to listen to one at a time. Cameron Crowe got it perfect in "Almost Famous," listening to Quadrophenia with a candle burning is just not the same on CD

3. I am not alone. Within a three mile radius of my house, there is only one dedicated all genre CD store. There is one hip/r&b only shop, too. Most went bankrupt and are gone. If you want to buy CD's its Borders or Wal-Mart, and good luck with that nonsense. Although I do enjoy amazon for the hard to find stuff. On the other hand there are six used record stores all within three miles. That number jumps to dozens if your willing to drive all over town. Factor in monthly record shows and you can't help but trip over some LPs. That fact is, record stores are more numerous than CD stores now.

4. Collecting. Lots of records are out of print and often rare. So... collect away.

I still do buy alot of CDs, but I buy way more records. And, I'm even more likely to buy a concert DVD over a CD, but that is a whole other post. :P But, to answer the original question of this post "Why do my records sound better?" Well, I think my sound better because I have a lot more fun playing them, collecting them, and shopping for them, and certainly not because of someone dropping some science on me.
Anyway enough of my rant.