It wasn't about the sound. It was about not having a choice.
I bought my first record player in 2019 mostly because a friend was selling one and the price was right. The plan was to use it sometimes, for novelty. What actually happened was that I stopped listening to music on Spotify entirely.
It's not because vinyl sounds better. I can hear the difference, but I wouldn't pretend it justifies the cost or the storage or the fragility. The reason I kept going is more boring: when a record is playing, I can't skip. I can't shuffle. I can't scroll for something else. I have to listen to the album in the order the artist sequenced it, and when it ends I have to get up to flip it.
This sounds annoying. It's the best part. I rediscovered B-sides. I learned to like album tracks I would have skipped on Spotify within ten seconds. The friction made me a better listener. The same albums I had owned digitally for years suddenly had songs I had never heard.
