Archival CDs

I'm saying that for the purposes of argument, my archival CD is functionally equivilant to the LP. It hasn't been either compressed or decompressed and by listening, I can't distinguish one from the other. The homemade CD in the cupboard (my archival copy) is in .cda format (it hasn't been through any compression/decompression) and it would come into play only in SOME disaster recovery scenarios or other unusual circumstances. Barring some remarkable technical advancement in vinyl to digital conversion which causes me to re-do this whole project, I don't plan to ever go back to the LP for the music. I am regarding my (typically unplayed) archival CDs as having a shelf life at least as good as unplayed vinyl. All it has to do is NOT decay. The copy that has been ripped to my PC is the "convenience" copy. It's been compressed but it is easily playable and can be portable by copying it to my iPod.

That being said, for the most part, I plan to keep the albums (for the large format artwork and other information not easily captured or enjoyed digitally but also there is an element of nostalgia with the LPs). Back in the day, Lans financed the purchase of his first cassette deck with the sale of his albums (after he made a tape copy for himself). At the time and to this day, I regard that as a loss of original source material on his part. I'm not sure he ever seriously regretted his strategy but he did eventually get a turntable and start acquiring LPs again. Nevertheless, I didn't and still don't regard having a copy of the LP (on cassette OR CD) as being as good as having the actual LP. Although, I think that it's a lot closer with the CD than it was with the tape. Having both the CD version of the LP AND the original LP is the best of both worlds and either may be regarded as the ideal archival master, depending on the need. If the need is for artwork, go to the LP. If the need is restoring the music back to the PC, go to the CD.

Effectively I have 5 copies of a typical album in the "done" pile.
The original LP
The CD burned from the LP
The mp3 on my PC
Within a full system backup of my PC (there may be several of these)
On my iPod (not EVERYTHING is on my iPod these days)

For me, the larger quandry is this: Suppose I have the commercially produced, remastered, deluxe edition CD of The Allman Brothers Band Live at the Fillmore and it has all the tracks from the LP plus significant bonus tracks and all the original artwork is all reproduced in the CD package (albeit in minature). In that situation is there any long term justification for holding on to the original LP version? This is a question that I have not yet come to grips with. I don't have a huge number of LPs of this nature but is there any reason to have ANY? Ultimately that may come down to a case by case decision. I guess in this case, it comes down to a question of "is the LP form factor, the nostalgic value, and the potential for future appreciation in monetary value more than offset the storage burden?"