The cost of LP's and CD's - an observation

I will never clean, demagnetize or re-sleeve another record not will I clean another stylus. With the right equipment CDs sound amazing, they are easy to store, and require little maintenance..

johnspain, +1
That said, I ruined plenty of CD's by playing them in my car and abusing them back in the days when cars had CD players. No more thankfully. 
Yes, CD's can sound very good with the right gear.

I've been told, here at Audiogon, that vinyl is THE superior format as long as you're willing to go down that long expensive rabbit hole required to play it properly. I have no reason to doubt that but at the same time I have no intention of going down it. I don't need that expense or complication.

I have a modest turntable, a decent cartridge a cheap phonostage and a few albums. I occasionally buy an album on a whim. Rarely listen to them.


I get CD's on eBay. Usually between $3 and $8. I research them on the dynamic range database and buy the best recordings I can find.


These days I mostly stream high res. Easy. Convenient.

But when I hear something really good I find the best CD recording of it that I can find and buy it, rip it and keep the CD. I do the same with books. If its good and worth having I get it in hardback and put it on a shelf. If nothing else I'll leave quite the museum when I'm gone.

As it is, I can access my ripped CD's, Amazon Music and Sonos from my chair with the push of a button.

First CD's I bought in 1984 were $22 each.  I bought 10, plus my first CD player, a Sony CDP-200 for $450.  I was severely price-gouged but was in hog heaven and I didn't care, and I never looked back.  I have zero desire to pay $20-50 for new LP's.  I prefer owning music I love rather than renting it, so streaming remains little more than the new FM for me.

The easy answer is that LPs have become a status product. Status products cost more. CDs are not status products.

I'm glad there are people who still prefer the constraints of LPs and CDs. I sold off most of my CDs and recently found 40+ LPs in the basement I didn't know I still had that according to Discogs look to be worth at least $250 (using the lowest prices) wholesale in bulk. So now I can take those to my local vinyl store and get rid of them. Next step is to get rid of my old turntables that are wasting space. I was amazed to see that my first real turntable is selling for twice what I paid for it decades ago. Twenty years ago I thought I'd just wind up taking it to the dump. Meanwhile, my former CD and Bandcamp collection now resides on one 512GB flash drive and I have millions of albums to stream for ~ $150/yr.