would you bother?

It all boils down to software availability and that boils down to several factors...

1. Are you prepared to wait for the few new releases to come out on LP vs. CD?

2. Are you prepared to pay a premium for LP reissues of music you may already have on CD?

3. Do you live in a large urban area with several used records stores?

4. Do you have the time and patience to scrounge around these stores on a regular basis?

5. Are you into 70's-80's rock as opposed to classical and jazz? (There seems to be a lot more competition for the good stuff in the latter genres.)

6. Are you prepared to spend time and resources to rejuvenate your used record store finds?

If you answered "yes" to three or more of these then it is probably worth the plunge.

It costs very little to get into vinyl in comparison to CDs. There was a used LP sale near where I live, this weekend and every LP was $1.00. How much do CDs cost? You don't need deep pocket or a lot of patience, just the maturity of an adult (which some AudiogoNers seem to lack).

Turntables are not extremely expensive or difficult to set up but they sound a lot better than CDs. I have $3500 in both my CDP and my TT and there is little comparison between the two. LPs simply sound better, but it is not nessesary to spend anywhere near that money to get LPs to excede CDs.

For less than $500 you should be able to get a competitive TT setup. Used LPs are easy to find and fairly cheap, unless you buy them on AudiogoN, then you will get gouged.

Even when vinyl was the dominant medium, I would buy something and immediately transfer it to tape.
I couldn't stand geting up every twenty minutes or endure the surface noise and the devil's "pop" at the most intimate part of the music. Seemed like every time you'd play an LP there would be a new crackle.
I think things are better today with premium vinyl formulations and advanced record cleaning machines.
However, with limited resources, I focus on digital or vinyl but not both (if you're after primo sound).

OK, I'm 22, the "digital generation." I grew up with CD, and later MP3. "Perfect Sound Forever!" Three years ago I had nothing but maybe an LP and a couple 45RPMs, and LOTS of CDs. When I heard what vinyl could do, it was a no-brainer. Best part is, the availability of new vinyl is getting better and better. Take a look at my system and see where my priorities fall, vinyl vs. CD ;)

Vinyl is certainly not as convenient as CD and requires some care and attention (though don't even get me started on fussing around the computer for mp3's consistently inconsistent mediocrity)...but if you're looking for the best SOUND...it's vinyl. And no, it's doesn't *have* to take tons of money, either ;)

I guess I would fall into the old geezers group too. After 40 years of playing and collecting vinyl I would be hard pressed to start over again. If I were starting out today I would look at SACD over vinyl. It has been my experience that good SACD has many of the strong points of vinyl without all the fuss. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of vinyl, the big lp covers, the whole vinyl experience but collecting and playing vinyl can become a job. Don't forget the storage issues, lps are big, heavy and take up a lot of space. That said ,if any of you fellows want to give up vinyl, let me know, I would be more than glad to take some of it off your hands.