Why Do You Still Have Vinyl if You Don't Play it?

Mitch, thanks for starting this thread. It's a topic so many of us think about, so it's refreshing to read everyone's slant on the issue. They are many, and they each make sense -- to someone -- sort of -- which is why I think it remains such a 'sticky' problem.

And though 'what to do' with large vinyl collections represent the most widespread concern, it's not really just a 'vinyl' issue is it? I mean, think of those 'digital only' folks who are currently wrestling with: Should I just put all my CD's on a server and get rid of the software, etc? And it's the same I expect for those in to 78's, mono LP's, R2R, cassettes, and (who knows?!) even 8-track!

Recently, about to enter my eigth decade. I thought, maybe there's another way to define this 'problem'. What if I say, as a personal policy, there are no "old formats"? What if instead, I take the position that; "the music (or performance) is where I find it, or have it, in MY collection", no matter in what format it happens to be?

Suddenly the choice/decision is what it always has been for me, namely; "What music or/performnce do I feel like hearing right now?" I don't expect everyone to see it this way, but it works for me and has eliminated much of the anxiety about what to keep and what to pitch without feeling bad about it, regardless of format..

BTW, I have nothing against background music or shuffle-play (I call it "chewing gum for the ears") but if that's all I need at the moment, I (still) have radio; and now internet streaming, XM, and of course making one's own mixes -- whether on a CD, iPod, server, or (God forbid!) a cassette ;--)
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RE: "Chewing Gum for the Ears"
Is my audiophile homage to the great Frank Lloyd Wright, who absolutely HATED wall paper! And used to refer to it as "Chewing gum for the eyes." ;--)
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Mitch -- I agree, this shouldn't be a discussion about formats. Which is why I proposed the idea that there are no "old formats". I realize now that 'old' was a poor choice of words; by 'old' I didn't mean a format's chronological age. so much as a format's viability as a storage medium for MUSIC. In other words, I believe ALL formats are viable means for storing music.

So, assuming the MUSIC is the issue, and not the records per se, when you say "I think it's time for me to let go." I take it to mean that you are OK with letting go of the MUSIC on those LP's, and with it, the LP's themselves. And that's a perfectly legitimate position; especially if you've taken the time to transfer ALL that music to another (more convenient) format. Why not? You can have your cake and eat it too ;--)

For me, there are additional reasons why I would hang on to the LP's themselves (rather than transfer their contents to CD's, tape, or a hard drive.) So, assuming I have room for them, here are some of those 'other' reasons I keep my LP's:
1.) I'm lazy: I don't want to lose any of the music, but don't want to take the time to transfer it.
2.) I'm cheap: I don't want to buy the hardware necessary to do the transferring properly.
3.) Even if 1 and 2 were not factors, I'd still worry about losing the transferred content -- both physically, and/or to some as-yet-unrecognized form of 'digital' deterioration'.
4.) And, as others have mentioned, my not wanting to give up (or have to transfer) that (sometimes great) cover art and liner notes -- which I still enjoy reading or re-reading.

And Mitch, despite the wording of your title, even YOU admit to playing your vinyl SOMETIMES ;--) You've bought the gear; you have the room (I assume); so why pitch it? You'll never get the money out. Are you worried about what happens when you croak?!

Don't!
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Mitch, it occured to me that perhaps this last part of your OP is the 'real' question:

I don't know what it's going to take for me to let go.

My own answer would be that whatever 'it' is (that it would take for me to let go) it would be outside of any 'audio considerations'. It would be something more 'life affecting' like: a fire, or an illness, or a physical move to smaller accomodations; something like that.

In his preceeding post, Minorl again recounts a (purely anecdotal) experience many/most of us have had: comparing the same piece of music in different formats. But for me, and for many people (including Minorl, I bet ;--) the likelyhood of having a given piece of music in multiple formats is nil. Which is why, earlier in this thread, it suggested that when viewed through the lens of "the music", the idea of completely abandoning a particular format sort of goes out the window ;--) And as a matter of fact (coming back to Minorl's experience) one evening a friend and I assembled all the music we could find between both our collections which we had in two or more formats. This included not only LP's and CD's, but reel-to-reel and cassette. We even had a few selections in all four formats! And the startling and unexpected outcome, was that there was no clear winner or loser!

At one point not long ago, I had considered doing some serious culling (of all my 'formats'.) Then I remembered that years and years ago, I had done just that -- and lived to regret it. So once again I say, "if you hang on to the music, you'll never have reason to regret it."
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