There is an argument that the loss of dynamic range and other factors in the compression required in mp3 or CD recordings make the latter inferior to vinyl. This was a prolonged debate forty years ago
CDs have better quality than vinyl in every way. If you want the sound of a vinyl, apply the modulation and record the result on a CD.
In practise, popular music recorded on CDs often had poor mastering (see "loudness wars") where the dynamic range was reduced to make the recording sound louder.
Dynamic range compression is not "required", it's a choice of the mastering engineer. You can produce MP3 or CD recordings with higher dynamic range than vinyl if you want to.
Dynamic range compression is often used on most mainstream music because said music is rarely listened in perfect conditions in one's living room. They need to sound decent enough in the street, in a car, on a metro/train during rush hours, in the kitchen while cooking, on the beach, from allkinf of devices from crappy smartphone headphones, phones and computers integrated speakers or cheap bluetooth speakers.
Ideally one would own 2 different recording of the songs they like. One for good listening environments and high quality equipment, one for more hostile environments. Or have devices that apply dynamic range compression on the fly when needed.
Chemical degradation of CDs can occur over time even in a relatively stable environment. Flash memory is also known to be volatile and most people aren't storing data on flash memory in a redundant storage system.
>If you're that worried, use ZFS or something similar.
I'm not personally storing stuff on vinyl, nor am I "worried", although I have bought a few vinyl that are over 50 years old that play perfectly.
For me, I choose vinyl because I had to pick one of those and I really enjoy 1.) listening to full albums 2.) Album art and 3.) That act of collecting something physical.
tl;dr version - because i prefer it. doesn’t make it right. doesn’t make it wrong. makes it what it is.
* i prefer the weightiness of vinyl (although it make moving flat a pain in the arse)
* most of the stuff i buy is limited run stuff that wont exist again, each release i buy is its own thing that wont exist again — even later pressing runs can come out different
* a lot of the time, someone putting out a small limited release is a good signal to me they give a shit about what they’re doing, so i pay attention more to what they’ve done, and i enjoy it more as a result
* i like having a wall shelves filled with vinyl in my flat, i like collecting stuff
* i like putting records on and sitting and listening to them and watching them go round and round on my decks, i like interacting with them, i like the feel of them, they feel more intimate than just plugging a USB in and going through a menu
* i’m forced to listen as the artist intended - ain’t no skip or shuffle button!
* beat matching with vinyl is far more of an art form - there ain’t no magic “sync” button when you’re mixing with vinyl
