Seruiusly, the thing that got me into audio as a kid was watching that little needle follow the grooves on records and being amazed at the fact that sound came out. Its still amazing to me that the sound can be as good as it is given the task at hand.
Digital has it easier though, doesn't it? Al that's involved in good playback is to retrieve all the bits available, and transport them intact to a device that can accurately reproduce the waveform. Its all electronic. No physical rollercoaster rides involved!
You also have to hope that the producer of the digital source material gave you a set of good bits to start with, but that's out of your control as is how well the record is produced. Nowadays, 9 times out of ten, they do at least a decent job of capturing those bits accurately, I find.