I actually agree with most of what you're saying, with the exception of the interpreted implication.

I am ~30 years old with the collector's gene. I've always had an interest in collecting things: from backyard rocks to bugs and frogs, to stamps, coins, and books, to videogames, cassette tapes and CDs, and eventually - like you said - MP3s (and TV, movies, and more games).

Getting into vinyl was my escape from the ridiculous cache of music and media I had acquired from the likes of Napster, Kazaa, Soulseek, DirectConnect, and torrent sites like Oink. It was a numb feeling to have all that music and no possible way to really appreciate it all. And even though I frequently attended local acts' shows and some larger concerts, I did feel a bit guilty that I wasn't paying for any significant part of my collection.

In 2006, I was among this new wave of vinyl hipsters. Yes, I had recently learned about the loudness wars, and I had known about the claims of warmth and other less-than-scientific reasons for why 'vinyl is better.' I have always been a skeptic, and although I was curious to see for myself, I never bought into any of that stuff beyond that maybe there were some album releases that had crappy digital mastering for CD but much better vinyl mastering.

I got out my dad's old Pioneer table and whatever good music I could rescue from his collection. I replaced its belt. I was buying used vinyl at the last record store in my area and chatting with the regulars, learning about new bands from personal recommendations rather than a shotgun approach of downloading whatever was in the top 10 for that day on a torrent site.

I liked having big artwork and big liner notes to read.

This new popularity has been great for someone like me who enjoys new music and old. Someone who has a certain affinity to owning stuff. But it also sucks sometimes to preorder a record and then get a flimsy record that sounds terrible. I still maintain my digital collection which is a superset of my vinyl collection, but that doesn't mean I still don't like to listen to my vinyl on the weekends. I buy it because I do like spinning it.

I do have my own opinions about certain new interested parties in the medium. I also realize that this makes me a hipster. I didn't mean to imply that there is no substance behind it, but I can understand that interpretation without the above details. I do, however, agree that there is now a not-insignificant superficial element to this current wave of buyers and I think this is why there are companies out there trying to take advantage of these less-informed buyers.

It is only my opinion, but I think anyone that gets into vinyl because they happened to see it at Urban Outfitters is probably among this uninformed set. I mean, look at this thing[1]. A hardcore music fan would never want to listen to their music on those built in speakers, and an informed shopper would never spend $170 on that garbage, because they would realize that they could get a much better entry level table for near the same price. The people that are buying that gear are doing so because they want to project a cool image. And right now, vinyl is cool.

[1]http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.j...