Why vinyl?


I understand the thoughts of a lot of you that digital is harsh and bright and has an edge. I know that analog has a warmer fuller sound, otherwise why would so many people put up with the inconvenience of records, cartridges, cleaners, tone-arm adjustments, etc. I used to be there. Of course all I had was a Garrard direct drive turntable. If the idea is to get as close as possible to the original source, why has not open-reel tape made a huge comeback. After all that's how most of the stuff was recorded in the first place. Very few were direct to disk recordings. Why would dragging a stylus through a groove be better than the original? There used to be a company out there called In-Synch that used the original masters and sold cassettes of them, dubbed at 1:1 ratio. I was the happiest person in the world when CD's came out and I could throw out my disk-washer and everything else that went with it, including the surface noise and the TICKS and POPS. Just something I've wondered about.
elmuncy
I have just begun a rexamination of my life (which of course means a return to vinyl!) and I am finding that while I still love my CD's, I now am able to over look the surface noise on LP's and just enjoy the music.

Most of the time (recording dependent), they sound fantastic even through the ticks and pops. However,I am not in love with all the work involved, or the (at times)bad distortion from LP's that were mistracked many moons ago.

I'm never going to quit CD and I will likely purchase most new music on that format for the forseeable future. That said, I can go down to my local vinyl store and buy lots of great old music for $2 to $5 bucks a piece! My spousal unit hates seeing them again, but that is a whole different problem... :?)

gb
I also miss album covers. I was talking to a friend the other day after getting an email about the "Best Concerts" thread. I had been going through my LPs and album covers evoke a feeling that I have never felt looking through my CDs. A lot like the feeling I got thinking about favorite concerts.
I hate jewel cases, they are too small for the wonderful art of the LP cover, they break all the time and its a big pain to remove the tape on the edge. CDs should come in album covers! Somehow I find room for my albums. And they do sound better.

By the way, has anyone experienced LP quality sound from reel to reel? Never sounded that good to me, what ever the cause.
Viridian,
The studio mastering speed is 15ips.
At speed of 30ips you will finish 2km tape in 15 min which is not suitable to record a long pieces longer than 15 min.
Actually it's not bad if you can walk or run 30ips everytime:)
The thickness of the tape and so the tracks matters for the best channel clarity. I used to have played with Otari MX5050 B2 that plays 1/2" tape with two 1/4" tracks. In order to record a stereo you can only use one side of an open reel.

Please note that among the three sources LP, CD and open reel tape, the tape has the smallest dynamic range and has to be more compressed depending on the type but still never greater than LP or CD. The dynamic range cannot be altered with spead and solely depends on tape design and physical/chemical structure.

As to CD vs. LP I don't mind VTA, cleaning and caring for my records. I don't even mind some clicks and pops.
I only mind about Click-free... Pop-free... Life-free...
I've tweaked my CD-based system to where (to my ear) there is a rich and warm midrange with no harshness or glare (so long as I don't do a direct comparison to vinyl). Like Kthomas, I ride the happiness of listening to the music and have let go of the temptation to create dissatisfaction with what I have. Owning a turntable would only create frustration since I know that I want the convenience and selection available with CDs.