would you bother?

It costs very little to get into vinyl in comparison to CDs. There was a used LP sale near where I live, this weekend and every LP was $1.00. How much do CDs cost? You don't need deep pocket or a lot of patience, just the maturity of an adult (which some AudiogoNers seem to lack).

Turntables are not extremely expensive or difficult to set up but they sound a lot better than CDs. I have $3500 in both my CDP and my TT and there is little comparison between the two. LPs simply sound better, but it is not nessesary to spend anywhere near that money to get LPs to excede CDs.

For less than $500 you should be able to get a competitive TT setup. Used LPs are easy to find and fairly cheap, unless you buy them on AudiogoN, then you will get gouged.

Even when vinyl was the dominant medium, I would buy something and immediately transfer it to tape.
I couldn't stand geting up every twenty minutes or endure the surface noise and the devil's "pop" at the most intimate part of the music. Seemed like every time you'd play an LP there would be a new crackle.
I think things are better today with premium vinyl formulations and advanced record cleaning machines.
However, with limited resources, I focus on digital or vinyl but not both (if you're after primo sound).

OK, I'm 22, the "digital generation." I grew up with CD, and later MP3. "Perfect Sound Forever!" Three years ago I had nothing but maybe an LP and a couple 45RPMs, and LOTS of CDs. When I heard what vinyl could do, it was a no-brainer. Best part is, the availability of new vinyl is getting better and better. Take a look at my system and see where my priorities fall, vinyl vs. CD ;)

Vinyl is certainly not as convenient as CD and requires some care and attention (though don't even get me started on fussing around the computer for mp3's consistently inconsistent mediocrity)...but if you're looking for the best SOUND...it's vinyl. And no, it's doesn't *have* to take tons of money, either ;)

I guess I would fall into the old geezers group too. After 40 years of playing and collecting vinyl I would be hard pressed to start over again. If I were starting out today I would look at SACD over vinyl. It has been my experience that good SACD has many of the strong points of vinyl without all the fuss. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of vinyl, the big lp covers, the whole vinyl experience but collecting and playing vinyl can become a job. Don't forget the storage issues, lps are big, heavy and take up a lot of space. That said ,if any of you fellows want to give up vinyl, let me know, I would be more than glad to take some of it off your hands.

What's all this "be prepared to spend a ton of money" crap?!! There is a lot of choice for excellent reproduction at good prices, with 'table, tonearm, cartridge and preamp for a total of under a grand, considering the huge amount of quality used 'tables out there. With good choices, you can assemble something in this price range which will make most digital media sound like the dross it is. The tubed ASL Mini Phono sells for $200 new, there are the lower Regas, used Thorenses, ARs (which musically-speaking can kick the ass of a lot of high-end dross out there), Aristons, the Shure 97, Grados, cheaper Denons, and so forth. Are you after status or are you after music? As to software, apart from the over-priced re-issues, there's vinyl to be found in every Salvation Army, Neighbourhood Services, flea market, garage sale...there's a surplus (thank you "Perfect Sound Forever!). While it's true it is difficult to get good jazz cheaply, it is not impossible, and there absolutely tons of good used classical, if one doesn't religiously follow TAS lists of "finest recordings." The older Deutche Grammophons, Philips, Deccas, RCAs (even Red Seals often show up), Columbia, Turnabouts and more can all be surprisingly good. At 25 cents a pop, you can afford to take a risk. As to needing expensive cleaning machines, yeah, if you're anal-retentive, otherwise use your eyes to see if the album is clean and unmarked by scratches when purchasing, even at 25 cents. Experience will eventually tell you which marks are significant and which aren't. Radio Shack sells an excellent brush - the Discwasher - at $20 with walnut handle for dirtier records, as it has "wet-clean" capabilities. Otherwise a carbon-fibre brush is good for most albums. Relax already, no need to imtimidate our guests! Buy a cartridge - the Shure V15 for instance, that doesn't force you to adjust the VTA for each record, instead maybe once every two years. Sit back and enjoy the music. If you've got a VPI and an Audible Illusions already, you're well ahead of the game: $200 for Shure, $20 for Discwasher, 25 cents to $1 for records. Yeesh. Have fun!