During my whole life, my mother always criticized me for keeping too much stuff "nobody uses" at home. My videogame magazines from the early-90's, comics from 1986~1994, craploads of old RPG books, old videogame cartridges, VHS tapes containing cartoons, music videos, Formula One races and series from the late 80's (which were only thrown away because they were pretty much destroyed by fungi) and the most criticized section of my "junk" collection: my vinyl records.
Despite the obvious quality and practicity improvement of CDs over LPs, I still listen to them regularly, after having fixed my turntable myself (which is interestingly being sold on auction sites for twice the price I paid for them in 1999 (yeah, 99!)). People often tell me to re-download them on the Internet, but some of the vinyls were never released on CDs, or they're just way too rare or obscure that I could never find them. Not to mention I think LPs are more "interactive", as you have to pick up the record, place the needle on the right position, turn the record to the other side and pick up the needle again when it starts "jumping". There is also the coolness factor: a lot of people have The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but how many people do you know that have the vinyl version that comes with a page of cut-outs including a moustache, stripes, badges and other Sgt. Pepper's related stuff?
Other than that, those records are part of my life, as they were with me practically from the day when I was born. It's my history, the origins of what I am now, everytime I listen to them or even only looking at them triggers some nice memories, such as a 5-year old me asking for James Marshall's LPs at a record store, or playing Genesis' Seconds Out album at 45 rpm and recording it on a cassette tape (yeah, I still have those too).
In an era when CDs are being quickly disappearing and being replaced by songs in "non-physical media", it seems that I'm walking backwards again... yeah, I have Michael Jackson's Bad vinyl too!
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