Let’s get this first part out of the way. For me, it’s not about the analog sound. Yeah there’s that crackly warm fireside quality of the soundwaves preserved in grooves, but streaming is usually good enough quality for me. Then again, it’s possible my brain secretly favors vinyl’s physical sound over digital, the way my brain works differently when I something on paper instead of on a screen.
Definite reasons I like vinyl:
Intentionally selecting and starting (and flipping) an album makes me pay more attention to the awesomeness of the album, which happens less when I’m just streaming random stuff for hours.
I’m not at the mercy of apps. Sometimes apps have outages. Or they’ll cease to exist, as will likely happen to the major players one day. Or Spotify will mysteriously remove an album I like, such as Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Juju (currently M.I.A.), and I’m glad I own my own copy. It’s the same reason I’ve started buying physical copies of movies I love.
I grew up with it; good nostalgia
Big cover art and liner notes
Delight in finding and collecting records, along with the nest-feathering satisfaction of surrounding myself with cherished albums
Musicians earn a better cut of the money than they do on Spotify. I believe in paying for art I like.
Once I own an album (and I’m a choosy buyer), I feel like a pre-internet teen again, when I often gambled on unfamiliar records and really listened close, repeatedly, to get my money’s worth. Often the album sucked, but those were never casual listens. And some albums or songs I otherwise might have dismissed too quickly were given proper attention, allowing me to fall in love with them.
As with books, records are a way better use of my fun money than overpriced drinks, crap I don’t really need, etc.