Vinyl vs. MP3 and Piano Snobbery

It's amazing... I never thought I'd really be able to tell such a difference. Background After buying my first turntable (Thorens TD-125 MKII) about a month ago now, then picking up some audiophile-ish speakers (Dynaco A-40XL) (I like to call em "speaks"), I've indulged in to the world of the plastic-y, music-y stuff. More on this in another post... Anyway, I just popped on the Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Dave Digs Disney" album (ripped as 160Kbps mp3's) and was amazed at how digital the piano sounded in the intro. I've listened to this album probably 30 times and I'd never noticed this before. I mean, it always just sounded like a piano--this sounds aaalmost like a modern electronic stage piano. It seems that listening to the vinyl goodness at home has effected my music listening. Piano Snobbery I'll openly admit that I'm a piano tone snob. I have a great piano at home (although a tad out of tune), but I won't play it because the tone bores me. And for anything that claims "piano", the further you get away from real piano sounds, the greater my emotions heighten towards detesting the sounds being made from that instrument. It generally causes me to turn the music off. Of course there are exceptions though. But hearing this recording after being battered by mp3 compression almost makes me want to turn it off. Weird. Maybe it's time to jump on the bandwagon and use AAC instead of MP3... or buy an external HDD and rip everything as FLAC...? I really hope that listening to vinyl won't taint my life with music like learning Music Theory in college did (fat chance though, it seems). I don't regret, by any means, taking those Theory classes (kinda had to since they were required for the major, but still), but they changed every music listening experience I've had since; sometimes I'm happy for that, and sometimes it frustrates the crap out of me. (Once again, ignorance really is bliss, I suppose) In any case, here's that Brubeck tune: "Alice In Wonderland", Dave Brubeck Quartet, Dave Digs Disney