@inorganic For me, there's more to playing records than the music. I happen to enjoy the inconvenience of having to store, clean, and cue an LP. Lots of cartridge, tables and tonearm offerings to drool over. I love the plethora of accessories available.
I really enjoy hooking my system up to a digitizer and evaluating table and cartridge response with a scope and RTA. I have an extreme technical background. I enjoy messing with the cartridge alignment to see how the system responds. I replace caps on every piece of used gear I get. I use REW to get my system and room optimized. I use traps for room resonance control. And guess what...I rally have improved my system. Not just the numbers, but the sound.
I listen to digital also, but I am quickly bored. There's nothing to get my hands on!
Doing "analog" keeps my mind engaged. And challenged. And my pocketbook empty!
This is the opinion from way out on the fringe.