Quote Originally Posted by mlsstl
This depends on the person. I listen to far more music these days than when I was spinning LPs or dropping CDs in a tray. Having a music server gives fast access to my 40,000 tune collection in a way that cannot be duplicated when one has to go hunting for a album sitting on a shelf.

I'll admit there is a certain charm to the 12" X 12" album artwork of an LP, but a lot of that was lost with the advent of the CD small jewel case. In any event, once the music starts playing, the only thing that matters to me is what comes out of the speakers.

As far as LP sales, here are the 2008 numbers from Nielsen Soundscan surveys.

There were 1.9 million LPs sold in 2008. This was 0.13% of the total 1.5 billion music units sold (CDs, downloads, etc). CD sales were 363 million units, or 191 times the LP sales.

The biggest selling LP in 2008 was Radiohead's "In Rainbows" which sold 25,800 copies. They sold more tickets for two nights at Hollywood Bowl than LPs.

So, yes, the LP sales gains look impressive when expressed as a percentage against itself, but the real sales winner in this has been the growth of downloaded tracks which broke the one billion mark.
I admit to have a hughe download collection my self but sincie I purchased a new TT, I've been spending much more energy buying albums. For critical listening, I immerse byself into vinyl and enjoy all of its mrerrits. While commuting to work via public transportation, I plug myself into an mp3 player and lsiten there.

I seriously doubt vinyl will make teh resurgance back to its' heyday but I'm certain that it will eventually surplant CDs. As far as going to SACD or DVD-A, studies have been shown that most people cannot tell the difference in sound quality between CD and the high rez audio formats. Thats oneof teh reasons why these two formats never took off.