Vinyl
This isn't original or anything, but I collect punk and old skool vinyl. My dad and uncles are prog/metal/rock types and I've inherited their tastes by and large. Some LPs I have been given from them, like Saucerful of Secrets and The Doors, some I've found at charity shops (e.g. Tubular Bells, The Game by Queen, Unknown Pleasures), some I've found at record sales (the kind that used to visit small towns and be held in hotel lounges), like The Beatles 67-70, The Clash's eponymous first LP, Discharge's "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing", and the appalling Sid Sings, and some I've bought from a 2nd-hand record shop in Aberdeen (Metal Box, X-Ray Spex, The Damned's first album, The Stooges, Transformer, and so on.

There's no logic to these purchases really. But there's something great about browsing through charity shops or record sales and finding amidst the utter dross the album which you know was meant for YOU that day. It's like the National Lottery finger pointing at you, a rare conjunction of the elements when everything seems to fit. I also like how these LPs are second-hand - they embody some history, they've been used and played and loved (or, as in the case of Sid Sings, not) and now have come through some unknown journey to land up in my hands. There's just something magical about that.
(McChinaman banned, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 13:29, 7 replies)

I collect vinyl as well
And have a massive, old Technics hi-fi on which to play them. People scoff at the combo, waving their iPods, until I switch it on. The sound quality is incredible, and if I turn the volume above 3 you can feel the kitchen cabinets vibrate from the bass. The vinyl has such a warm richness in the sound, and I also get to be smug when friends try to search out an album on their iWhatever only to discover that it can't be found online and yet there it sits, on the turntable.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 15:19, closed)

Album Art
You could do so much more with an album cover than a cd cover...

My favourite album cover of all time is for Love Missile F1-11 by Sigue Sigue Sputnik!
(Lip Up Fatty Fatty Reggae still loves BBQ food on, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 16:13, closed)

I think cds are in more danger of becoming obsolete.
Vinyl has a specialist market that keeps people buying it. CDs don't.
Most of the people I encounter that aren't necessarily music fans don't care about the format so will download everything these days but all the music nerd types I know still buy vinyl.

I will continue buying vinyl as long as it's available but I can't see people having the same attachment to CD really.
(MyFakeName, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 19:06, closed)

Vinyl
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
( The Lone Groover has mal des nuts., Thu 4 Nov 2010, 20:21, closed)

I have a record cleaning machine
it has a 1000 watt vacuum motor.

Am I normal?
(HamptonSmall ...smoking my pipe since, Thu 4 Nov 2010, 21:19, closed)

Saw some rather sexy vinyl today
7" of Simon and Garfunkel - I Am A Rock which I had just enough for, and a mint condition original pressing of King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson king, which I drooled over for a bit before lack of several hundred pounds drew me away...

I'm not a massive vinyl freak, I buy the odd 7", but most of the albums I'd buy on vinyl are in my dad's collection, which has pretty much defaulted to me, as he hasn't touched them in 10 years or so, and I'm the only one in the house who plays them.
(oneiromancer was rifling through your fridge on, Fri 5 Nov 2010, 1:04, closed)

The other day
I found ELO Greatest Hits (LP), I've Got Your Number by The Undertones (45, picture sleeve) and Top Of The World by The Carpenters (45) in my local Oxfam. £4.75 the lot.

I Love Vinyl.
(pastcaring trembling in a corner....., Mon 8 Nov 2010, 12:38, closed)