[gmku]

I tend to think of the LP as the mainstream of formats, and everything else, from 8 tracks to CDs, has merely been a branch off that stream. It always comes back to the LP.

But it's all a matter of personal preference. LPs do require more care. You can leave your CDs scattered around the room out their cases because their indestructible, right? At least that's what they told us in the 80s.

Personally my ears can't tell the difference. It has a lot to do with the equipment you play it back on, of course. CDs played on shit equipment are going to sound like shit, as will LPs. For me, a lot of the appeal of LPs is the visual aesthetic, the packaging being larger and all that. And vinyl just smells so good!

I've just got it in my head that vinyl is the cooler format, so for me, the LP is the format of choice. I'll buy a CD if the release is something I'm craving and it's either unavailable on LP or very hard to find or expensive. But that's happening less and less, because almost everything is being simultaneously released on vinyl and CD these days, and almost everything has been reissued on LP, or will be.