In some cases, the sound quality *is* better on a vinyl record. When an old recording is reissued on a digital medium, it's typically digitized from the analog master tape that was used to produce the vinyl record in the first place. This tape, which saw heavy use when the record was first released and was usually neglected afterwards, deteriorates much quicker than a nicely kept vinyl record. Old vinyl records can therefore often sound crisper than a digital rerelease.
@thor Question: do different frequencies deteriorate (i.e go to zero or randomly change) more quickly than others on vinyl? It would be interesting to be able to "carbon date" a disc with the Fourier transform for example!