Subject title probably made no sense so I'll give a quick explanation.

I prefer vinyl, but I still buy CD's aswell, but I was wondering if anyone else had this sort of problem and what there sort of gap was.

For example, going down the most acclaimed albums of all time list, the first one I don't have is "Marvin Gaye - What's Going On". It seems the local record stores never stock it, so I was wondering how far people went down the acclaimed albums list before they just decided to get it on CD?

tl;dr What's Going On is ranked 8th, so how much farther should I go down the list before I get it on CD? I was thinking maybe 6, 10 or 20 or so but can't decide.

Use Ebay and buy in bulk (multiple things from the same seller) to save on shipping if you are in the US. If you are in a metro area search Craigslist for people selling 100-150 albums for 75 bucks or whatever. You'll find it's pretty easy to fill in the gaps if you have the cash.

Any of the most acclaimed albums I could get in both CD or vinyl fairly easily on realgroovy - there's no record stores around here - I've hardly ever been in a real record store...The only album ever I wanted that I couldn't find available was 'Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' by Spiritualized

:/ Thanks for those posts but neither really helped probably my fault for not being specific enough.

There's one record store that I buy from because the rest are hours from it. Also I don't buy online because the past two orders of vinyl records were smashed in the mail. Ok so the record store never seems to have Marvin Gaye - What's Going On, so I was wondering how far down I should go down the acclaimed albums list before just getting it on CD? Someone I asked said to wait one hundred past (too long) and someone said 3 (too short). Just wondering if anyone else did this

I guess I don't understand why you need somebody to tell you how/what to buy. Do what you want to do and judge for yourself what's best for you. I prefer classic albums on vinyl, and I don't have any desire to buy 1/3 of the albums in the top 100 on CD or vinyl. That's my personal preference though and I wouldn't expect you to have the same opinion. Make your collection your own!

I don't do that. I wouldn't actually buy an album just because it's rated high on this list. Out of the top 10 albums I actually only own two (Pet Sounds, and Velvet Underground & Nico). Both on CD. You should try that too. It makes more sense buying the music you want to listen to, instead of buying what some critics like.

(I don't really care about the format. I like those LPs, but the CDs are equally enjoyable once played.)