When and how did you, if at all, realize vinyl is better?

I believe we're entering a world where it all will exist at the same time - LP's, CD's, SACD's etc. I've been a die-hard vinyl enthusiast for 50+ years but, I do believe CD's are not dead. Rather they'll continue to carry on albeit in diminished numbers. There may even be a renaissance in it's future.

Yes Ralph, but she did sell her turntable and vinyl. Is she planning on buying an even better table and more vinyl?

It sounds like she's considering it!

I agree that a lot of cheap turntables (and poorly designed phono preamps) did the LP a major disservice during the 1980s. As a result there are a lot of people that think that tick and pops as well as distortion are the norm!

After hours and hours of listening I find that it is much more expensive to make a vinyl system sound better than digital. Its worth it though. As I get older its easier no read liner notes off an LP than a CD.

For dedicated focused listening I prefer vinyl 90% of the time compared to CD/digital.   My vinyl setup is over 3X the cost of the digital equipment although my player and DAC are no slouches either- e.g. Marantz SA8005 player.    
I just don't believe throwing money at digital will make it sound that much better. 
Even though the predominant impact on sound quality is the recording/  mastering as some have mentioned, it is still easy to pick out the tendencies in the sound that digital and vinyl playback exhibit.  I prefer vinyl.