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Smoking a cigarette/cigar/pipe vs. slapping on a nicotine patch.

People enjoy smoking because of many other elements besides the nicotine fix.

With records versus streaming it’s interesting because the experience during the “main event” is nearly identical. Certainly closer than a book versus an e-reader or a cigar versus nicotine. It’s the entry and exit that’s different.

The auditory input is the same…pretty much. Most other aspects of the experience are different.

The fact it's a record and you can't pause/rewind keeps you less distracted. It really is a different experience even if you "simulated it" and had the machine play the right digital file once you loaded a particular record.

It also completely gets rid of skips and shuffle-play. And a song can't "grow on you" if you always skip it.

There is literally nothing stopping you from pausing/rewinding/fast fowarding/shuffling a record.

You have to get up and move the stylus; I’ve never seen a record player that could shuffle on its own.

Especially a pipe...scraping out the bowl, cleaning the pipe's stem with a pipe cleaner, tamping in the new tobacco.

Some small rituals can be calming and centering.

Similarly manual shaving vs electric.

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