What am I missing?

What are you missing, pmiller115? 

First of all, and as several have already noted here, the quality of the original recording is vastly more important than the playback medium. If you've never heard the SACD versions of Fritz Reiner's 1953 "binaural" recordings (of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"), prepare to be amazed. These "stereo" recordings were made before stereo playback devices had even been invented, much less made widely available to consumers. The detail, accuracy of instrumental timbre, even soundstage spatial specificity, are awesome in those very early recordings; far better than the majority of recordings made in the last ten years.  Bottom line: if the original recording is good, it will sound good on your system, whether you play a vinyl record, a Red Book CD, an SACD, or a high-res stream.

But what about the argument that streaming allows access to tens of thousands of recordings for the price of one CD per month? My most knowledgable audiophile friend (he used to own our best stereo shop, and still writes for Stereophile) ditched his huge CD collection years ago, after ripping them all to a designated server. Last month, he unloaded his similarly huge LP collection, and sold his Oracle TT. Now, it's just streaming on his no-holds-barred audio system. Why not go down that road?

Speaking for myself, physical media for music is a lot like books. I'm a philosopher, and my house is full of books. Yes, I have laptops and tablets, and yes, I do read on those screens. But not only are old fashioned books special for lots of hard to defend reasons (the feel, the smell...), they also represent, in a very tangible way, my life and my mind. There are only so many hours in a day, and so many days in a life. The books I've read, and often re-read, are "me" in a very important sense. And I want to have them at hand—to know where they are in my house, and on their shelves, where they live; to loan them to friends when the occasion arises; to annotate them over the years we've known each other, so that when I take a book off the shelf I last read ten years ago, and first read 40 years ago, I can literally see younger versions of myself in the margins in pencil. Could I do something similar with e-books? I suppose so. But I haven't, because e-books didn't exist when I started reading.

So with music. My life isn't long enough to listen to everything that's out there. Nor do I even want to. I love music not as background, not incidentally, but as something to learn, to get to know over years and decades, to listen to again and again and again. I do still discover music new to me—both new performances of familiar pieces, and new artists, even new genres. But, despite the fact that I play several instruments, and I do have an extremely good musical memory, I need repeated listenings to really get to know a piece that I find rewards my attention. So the undeniable fact that there is a vast number of things available on streaming services is a moot point for me. I can discover new music on Bandcamp or even Youtube, and then seek out CDs on eBay for cheap of the music I want to really get to know by means of repeated listening. In short, my music library is "curated" as is my library of philosophy and literature and history. It's not just "available" in principle by maintaining a subscription, it's "mine" in a very strong sense: it has become part of my personality over a long lifetime. I would not want to surrender that, any more than I would willingly give up my identity.

@clearthinker 

That was just a rhetorical question to cast light on the idea of subscription vs ownership. I don't subscribe to the idea of subscriptions. I like to own land as well. And I'd rather play a record or a CD.

I'm sure in the US there are timeshare scams. But timeshares never appealed to me.

@sandthemall 

Thanks.  I'm right there with you.  I prefer physical media too. And ownership in preference to renting, sharing etc.

Many suggest that the availability of 1,000,000s of recordings is advantageous because you get to hear a lot of different stuff.  I don't really see that; you get to hear mostly stuff that is a waste of your valuable time.  To source music I haven't previously heard I prefer to consult favoured critics and publications whose ears chime with mine.  This filters out a lot of the time-wasting dross (of which there is uncountable quantity today when anyone can record to the internet at nil cost or streaming at close to nil regardless of lack of talent or even anything to say).

I chucked my TV more than 30 years ago because of mainly vaccuous content.  Today we have hundreds of channels (if not thousands) and finding any worthwhile content would take longer than watching it.

Ho hum.  Is the world really a better place now?

Sounds to me like there is a lot of: “we have always done it that way, so I want to keep doing it that way”. Nothing wrong with that. If you are 70 years old like me it makes sense. Although my streaming and vinyl are about the same, a bit better than spinning CDs. If you are 40, getting into physical media is crazy unless you are just into nostalgia.

By my nature and profession (scientist, high tech executive / strategic planner) I am constantly assessing technology… dismissing much of it, but recognizing those that will stick. There are trends that are irreversible driven by technology and social change. The movement from physical medium to virtual is irreversible. It does not mean the physical will go away… I have a library of leather bound books… about 400… but we got rid of the 1,500 other books that we used to have. We now have about a thousand books in Kindle and Audible). We have gotten rid of all out video laser disks, 8 tracks cartridges, Cassette tapes, VCR, BetaMax, DVD, and most recently all my CDs. We still have about 500 blu-ray disks, but haven’t bought one in a couple years… they are next to go. We stream (4K movies, and music) and I listen to vinyl.

So, much of this depends on your time horizon. I enjoy the best of both worlds, i am currently listening to a heavy vinyl, Living Stereo (RCA Victor… 1958 recording) of Prokofieff’s Lieutenant Kije on a fantastic analog rig. It makes sense for an old fart like me. But if I was 40 and not into nostalgia, it would be crazy for me to be investing so much money into past technology for so few incredible moments of music when investing in streaming and the future would get me there so much more quickly and less expensively. Buying CDs… that would be crazy unless you own an ungodly good CD player and don’t have the money to acquire an equally great DAC and streamer. But in a few years you will be getting rid of the CDs and player… of course unless you died of old age. And then, good call.

Point well made, and taken, ghdprentice. But it only makes me wonder why people under 40 embrace vinyl, of all things. Bear with me a moment. My son-in-law is a Brooklyn hipster and guitarist; he and my daughter have decent day jobs, but share a tiny apartment near Prospect Park. Tiny! Half of it is taken up by his guitars.

Oh, and his turntable and vinyl collection. He seeks out, and buys, very expensive 180 gram pressings of new stuff, but listens to them on a Project Debut TT (I had one of those; junk, IMO), and that's the best component in his system. Not to mention: did I say their apartment is TINY? Terrible acoustics, and neighbors that preclude listening loud anyway. 

So here's my bewilderment. Why does he privilege vinyl? Back in the day, when vinyl was supposed to be definitively supplanted by CDs, one could buy used vinyl at almost any "record" store, and for pennies on the dollar. Not anymore! Now, those new deluxe pressings he favors are way more expensive than their digital equivalents (CD or streamed). And way inferior sonically, IMO. He gifted me, for instance, with Tool's "Fear Inoculum" last Christmas: a huge box set, no compromises. But I already loved that album (as he knew), and never play the vinyl because the CD just sounds better: more open, more detailed, not to mention superior track access, no surface noise, etc. etc. And I bought the CD used on eBay for $10. The LP set cost over $100!

So why go there? Especially if your budget is limited, and you're too young for the nostalgia element that ghdprentice notes, why would one not go digital?

To my mind, this is just an irrational fetish, like preferring fixed-gear bicycles, or (for that matter) being kosher. It only "makes sense" given a host of mysterious values that are not rationally defensible. 

Now, I'm all in on irrational, indefensible values! Frankly, I could make an argument (and have, in print) to the effect that ALL "values" are finally "irrational," even the preference for "reason" in science. But be honest, at least. Don't "argue" for your irrational preferences! Live and let live, and eschew forums like this one.

But we're not wired that way, are we? We want to believe that OUR values are "better," and to persuade others of this, we need to marshal arguments.