Though I mostly play music thru my Foobar2000 PC based systems, I still have completely analog, turntable setups as well.

I think this gets back to my general belief that there often isn't just one 'answer', or only one way to approach or see things.

So I still listen to vinyl, but sometimes I do look at it as a high maintenance sort of relationship, but I maintain that relationship since when it is good, the positives outweigh the negatives.

When I listen to vinyl, there is just something about its 'clunky', slow interface that makes me slow down and put everything else in life on hold and eventually relax and unwind. Going thru the process of spinning up vinyl is like a ritual of sorts -like a therapeutic meditation...

With digital computer based systems, with search access to thousands of tracks, I can have a tendency to 'channel check' or bounce around, shift my focus...

With vinyl, it's more like I have to have a block of time to sit and enjoy an album in its entirety. I'm not going to go thru the hassle of picking up and setting down a turntable needle to bounce around tracks of an album... I'll accept it on its terms...

I'll sit and listen to an entire album, often just closing my eyes and feeling the music.

I'll commit my focus to just this one thing and nothing else...

I'll play an album from start to finish as the artist originally intended it to be heard, knowing that the artist or artists had taken care and thought in what tracks to place next to each other and how they wanted you to hear the entire album.

That it isn't just about one track but the totality of an album, more like listening to an entire concert versus a single song.

In an era where we are so 'instant' and so much in a hurry and can't focus more than 20 seconds, I find going thru the vinyl ritual, reprograms me to see life differently, to slow down and savor the moments more. It's a little like meeting a good friend for lunch, putting all calls on hold, and giving them your total undivided attention...