My curiosity a little piqued by happening upon this thread, I did a little internet sleuthing and discovered that creating - often high resolution - digital files from vinyl is quite an accepted practice in the "audiophile" community, where the resulting files are called "needledrops" (google if interested).

Reasons given for creating these files range from portability across different devices, safeguarding the original vinyl so that it is only played once, carefully optimizing the cartridge setup (and vinyl original) to suit the recording (so this step does not have to be repeated every time the music is played), sharing copies with others (probably illegally), as well making new-format versions of the content prior to disposing of the originals (also probably illegal)...

Needless to say, methods employed are a lot more high end than (for example) using a $100 turntable with USB out. But then if the recordings are made in studios where a single microphone can cost $000's and the recording desk tens of the same, maybe that is justified.

On the other end, some wag suggested that just pointing a video camera at the turntable and recording the LP as it plays would suffice... that way you get both audio *and* video. Perhaps I should try it :)

Best - Tony