I must saw I am mystified by this - I grew up with LPs, singles and cassettes in the 70s and 80s and I can't say I miss them.
I grew up with CD's. The vinyl primarily just feels like a collectible to me--something I can look at, turn over, read the liner notes while listening to the music, etc. I don't even really listen to the vinyl's I have, I use the digital rips instead.
If it comes with a free download then vinyl is pretty much the perfect box to sell downloads at a brick and mortor. Thin but wide so you can't steal it easy. Lots of room for pretty artwork and extras. And nostalgia, something the cd/cassette anti-theft box didn't have. Well, The extra large cd boxes did at first but then they quit making those.
Given the high price of most brand new vinyl I'd be highly surprised if this was true. I do think you're on to something though. I will listen to the digital/streaming version of a record I have much, much more often than the vinyl copy. Usually if it's a new release I'll buy the vinyl, sit down and enjoy it start to finish, and then the only time I'll play it after that is the odd evening/weekend when I want to sit down and do nothing but listen to some music. It's kind of something you'll put aside time for (like watching a movie) but at the same time you'll still be streaming in the background all day at work.
Huh...I don't perceive things that way, but this is probably due to my social biases and the fact that i buy and listen to vinyl all the time.
There seems to have been an explosion in cheap, toy-grade turntables of various brands coming out of a couple factories (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=crosley&t=h_&iar=images&dbexp=a&ia...).
Audiophile bickering aside, the vinyl version may very well be cut from a different master. That's a very real difference (of course it could also be worse/the same).
Opening the sleeve?
Reading the jacket?
Hearing the mechanical sounds of the turntable moving, the arm lifting, the hissing and popping?
Maybe people don't just want music? Maybe there's more to it than just the sounds of the musicians? Physical book sales are up as well compared to ebooks. I get it. I love my bookshelf. I never read an ebook these days (except for reference).
Mind you - my personal view. I had some nice kit (e.g. Rega Planar 3) and loads of LPs but the convenience and consistent quality of digital completely won me over.
I don't use floppies for storage anymore either even though I found my first use of a 5.25" floppy in an Apple 2 quite exciting at the time.
Much more of pain than just playing a spotify playlist, but I understand why people still get into it!
Definitively not. When I first encountered them I found them a nice historical curiosity, like wax tablets, nothing more.
Some people, sure, but it's far from an universal experience.
That's like the classic of saying "no offense" after you realise it was actually a obviously offensive thing to say. It doesn't change anything and is a semantically meaningless statement, and you still were offensive.
I dislike how HN'ers attach meaningless disclaimers like these at the end of every sentence they make because they're so afraid of getting downvoted. It just goes to show how much damage over-moderation, echo-chambers, and such things make to honest and legitimate discourse.
If you want to make a statement at least own it.
I dislike how people project into comments they read. For example YOU have projected that I am not confident in the comments I make because of how I suffix them. That's distasteful and if you want to experience the wrath of my will then you're more than welcome to a personal meet up. So, case in point: If I don't add disclaimers at the end people read their own meanings into what I say and people get mad at me even though I never meant what they thought I meant.
Disclaimers are a product of the universal effect of the internet where the reader could be almost anyone in the world. If I'm talking to people I can see the facial expressions of I do not add these disclaimers.