While the CD bows out to digital music in terms of convenience, vinyl records are making a comeback nationwide with listeners who want more than a sound file.
Local vinyl vendors are seeing the national trend show up in their shops as well.
Ted Sharpe, who designed jazz and western vinyl covers in the '60s and now owns Sharpe's Music on West University Avenue, noticed a steady increase several years ago.
"I've always been told 'get out of vinyl, it's dead,'" he said.
He now sells about 10 records for every CD, with classic rock such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and jazz selling the best.
With the increase of online music sales, Sharpe believes that some listeners have begun to crave something they can hold.
"The record has so much more personality," Sharpe said. "Each one is a little piece of history.,"
Sharpe believes that records sound better than digital files, a sentiment echoed by fellow vinyl lovers but hotly contested by many fans of MP3s and similar formats.
But Tony Wienbender, spokesman for No Idea records, believes the local folk-punk label has found a solution to the disagreement: provide a digital download code with every vinyl record.
No Idea presses vinyl records for all of the bands they sign. Hot Water Music and Against Me! sell the best.
Sometimes, the label will offer several versions of art with each album release, replacing the standard black vinyl with swirled colors and having multiple versions of cover art. Diehard collectors will often purchase four copies of the same album to collect the different art versions.
Records have been the traditional medium for punk music, and some other labels have embraced the resurgence so whole heartedly that they've stopped selling CDs.
But Wienbender feels that goes too far.
"It's a knee-jerk reaction, and that's kinda stupid," he said.
