I saw this on the news a couple of days ago.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jun09/0,4670,VinylRetailers,00.html

PORTLAND, Ore. — It was a fortuitous typo for the Fred Meyer retail chain.

This spring, an employee intending to order a special CD-DVD edition of R.E.M.'s latest release "Accelerate" inadvertently entered the "LP" code instead. Soon boxes of the big, vinyl discs showed up at several stores.

Some sent them back. But a handful put them on the shelves, and 20 LPs sold the first day.

The Portland-based company, owned by The Kroger Co., realized the error might not be so bad after all. Fred Meyer is now testing vinyl sales at 60 of its stores in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The company says, based on the response so far, it plans to roll out vinyl in July in all its stores that sell music.

Other mainstream retailers are giving vinyl a spin too. Best Buy is testing sales at some stores. And online music giant Amazon.com, which has sold vinyl for most of the 13 years it has been in business online, created a special vinyl-only section last fall.

The best-seller so far at Fred Meyer is The Beatles album "Abbey Road." But musicians from the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters to Metallica and Pink Floyd are selling well, the company says.

"It's not just a nostalgia thing," said Melinda Merrill, spokeswoman for Fred Meyer. "The response from customers has just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better sound."

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, manufacturers' shipments of LPs jumped more than 36 percent from 2006 to 2007 to more than 1.3 million. Shipments of CDs dropped more than 17 percent during the same period to 511 million, as they lost some ground to digital formats.

The resurgence of vinyl centers on a long-standing debate over analog versus digital sound. Digital recordings capture samples of sound and place them very close together as a complete package that sounds nearly identical to continuous sound to many people.

Analog recordings on most LPs are continuous, which produces a truer sound _ though, paradoxically, some new LP releases are being recorded and mixed digitally but delivered analog.

Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well.

But it's not just about the sound. Audiophiles say they also want the format's overall experience _ the sensory experience of putting the needle on the record, the feeling of side A and side B and the joy of lingering over the liner notes.

"I think music products should be more than just music," said Isaac Hudson, a 28-year-old vinyl fan standing outside one of Portland's larger independent music stores.

The interest seems to be catching on. Turntable sales are picking up and the few remaining record pressers say business is booming.

But the LP isn't going to muscle out CDs or iPod soon.

Nearly 450 million CDs were sold last year, versus just under 1 million LPs, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Based on the first three months of this year, Nielsen says vinyl album sales could reach 1.6 million in 2008.

"I don't think vinyl is for everyone; it's for the die-hard music consumer," said Jay Millar, director of marketing at United Record Pressing, a Nashville based company that is the nation's largest record pressing plant.

Many major artists _ Elvis Costello, the Raconteurs and others _ are issuing LPs and encouraging fans to check out their albums on vinyl. On Amazon.com, one of the best-selling LPs is Madonna's latest album, "Hard Candy".

Some artists package vinyl and digital versions of their music together, including offers for free digital downloads along with the record.

"We've definitely had some talks with the major retailers about exclusives on the manufacturing end," Millar said of United Record Pressing, which focuses primarily on independent recordings.

An avid music fan himself, Millar says he has moved to vinyl in recent years.

"Once I got my first iPod ... I'm looking at my wall of CDs and trying to justify it," Millar said. "The things I like _ the artwork, the liner notes, the sound quality _ it dawns on me, those are things I like better on vinyl." He welcomed back the pops and clicks, even some of the scratches.

"I like that fact that it's imperfect in a lot of ways, live music is imperfect too," Millar said.

Independent music stores, which have been the primary source of LPs in recent years, say many fans never left the medium.

"People have been buying vinyl all along," said Cathy Hagen, manager at 2nd Avenue Records in Portland. "There was a fairly good supply from independent labels on vinyl all these years. As far as a resurgence, the major labels are just pressing more now."

In this game, big retailers aren't necessarily competing head to head with independent sellers' regular clientele of nostalgic baby boomers, independent label fans and turntable DJs.

"I cannot see that Best Buy or Fred Meyer would order the same things we would," Hagen said. "They aren't going to be ordering the reggae, funk, punk or industrial music."

This just makes me happy.

IMHO, there is nothing better than a well mastered piece of 12" vinyl.

"IMHO, there is nothing better than a well mastered piece of 12" vinyl."

Damned straight.

I am delighted too.

Funny thing, with all that corporate research and righteous navel gazing, you would think this would have been sussed already. No, it takes a mistake to discover a ready market for a product.

So, I am happy and laughing at the irony.

Everyday Music has lots of NEW Vinyls, still in the package. I picked up a copy of Weezer's new album on Vinyl. The only problem is I don't have a record player or turntables but I like to collect records. I spend a lot of money on music, and I would love to walk into a Fred Meyers and buy some new Vinyl.

Do what it takes to get one. It's probably one of the top new music experiences, especially if you can share it with a friend or two.

And the cover art! YES!! That's probably my biggest bitch about CD's, processing wars aside. A well mastered CD really does the job. No worries on that score. The differences are minor enough to not even seriously impact the whole thing.

But, missing the liner goodies really sucks.

Im going to get some turntables. I love the crisp warm sound of Vinyl it sounds sooooo Good!
Speaking of Vinyl, Ive noticed that H-hits is bringing back their vinyl feature. Its called one 45 at 45.
Id love to get some old Motown on Vinyl like some Smokey Robinson ect.

I've a couple and I like them a lot. And you are right on about warm sounds. Some of it's the processing. I'm convinced that imaging though is an artifact of just being analog.

At least maybe we won't yet have a generation that points at the turntable and makes those vinyl lovers among us look and feel older than we need to.

Vinyl records?? You guys aren't on board with the "digital installation plan."

I am a bit surprised that over a million records are sold each year because most people that I know got rid of their turntables years ago. A former manager was once surprised that a "young guy" like myself would own records and a turntable. Most of the records that I own were inherited or bought second-hand. I have been telling myself that I should buy an extra cartridge and/or needle, as these items are going to get more and more difficult to find as time goes on.

If you think that kids these days are not buying Turn tables or Vinyl's, you are sadly mistaken.
I can think of 12-15 of my friends who buy vinyl or who own turntables.

What used to be "THE" market is now a "niche" one. But it can survive as long as those selling the product have the demand for it.

I'm loving this too. My dad has an old turntable looking for a home and it will probably end up in mine. All I will do is buy a new stylus and share with my "tech'd out" kids the way I grew up listening to music.

Our 15 yr old daughter prefers the music I grew up on over the current stuff today. And she is not alone.

I love the crisp warm sound of Vinyl it sounds sooooo Good!

Yeah, played through a tube amp with a tube preamp!

AHHHH
Vinyl makes me happy! The sound is so warm and inviting.....

I guess my family is "cutting edge", as we have 5 turntables in our house right now. And a couple thousand LP's.

Wow Warner, that's cool.

I spotted at Costco a couple weeks back a turntable that has a USB port that plugs into your computer, you can spin your vinyl and download it to your computer .. it has the editing software with it as well. It's only like $125, I'm seriously considering picking it up for my mother as she has a HUGE vinyl collection as well.

You mean literally "cutting edge," as in record cutting! Ha Ha Ha!

I thought about getting the USB cassette version for all of my old cassettes. But due to age and heat in storage they all sound like a 78 on 33.

Are you sure it's due to heat? Sometimes tape deterioration is actually from moisture, and baking the tapes can correct the problem. I know this to be true with reels- don't know about cassettes, but I'd imagine the principle is the same.

They were in a storage room that is very hot in the summer and moist in the winter, my barn! On some if a put a screwdriver in the wheel to turn it they drag really bad. They wont even rewind in the two players I tried. I think they are toast. I did however find my old box of records that were thankfully stored flat and stacked on one another in sleeves. They appear to be fine but I need a new drive belt for my old Pioneer turntable in order to check. It's on Ebay for $2.00. Just do it Ebay!

http://wendycarlos.com/newsold.html#baketape
http://www.tangible-technology.com/tape/baking1.html

These two articles have helped save my ass more than a few times!

Hint: Use a Ronco convection food dehydrator instead (the "Beef Jerkey Machine", ya know, the big round multi-tiered thing that was popular for a while in the 90's) because I have noticed they are far easier to find than the American Harvest model the articles suggest.

I haven't tried it with cassettes tho, but I had a few old 4-track tapes (yes, as in the "8 track before there was 8 track") of my Grampa's that turned to PTS in the player due to poor storage conditions over the past 40-some years. Sure enough it works......

Don't toss them for poor turning. It's not all that difficult to move the tape to a new case, and that sometimes can make a really big difference.

One source of inexpensive cases is your local thrifty. All of the "save your life", or "find Jesus", or "get rich" in three easy steps tapes are there for small amounts of money. I used to get these 10 at a time, for just this reason.

Look for the ones with the little screws and that turn well. The plain old white cases are often the best.

All you do, is crack the case on the one you are trying to play. Sealed or not, it will crack, even if it takes twisting the thing.

From there, lift the tape out, and set it into the waiting case, you have ready prior to this point.

Set it in there, screw the corners down and give it a go.

If you can, take nothing from the old case, but the tape and the wheels it's on.

My old Kenwood turntable works great, and I just got a decent preamp, but now the needle is trashed (I think from kids oblivious to the entire turntable concept). I've looked around a bit on the web and they're pricey and hard to find, unless you guys can tell me your secret source...

Motozak has shared the holy grail of tape baking information. The only thing I would add is this fine article from my friend Steve at Sonicraft.

Edselehr, try Vintage Electronics for your stylus. Darktemper, you can get a belt from Vintage Electronics too. My turntable runs so nice at such a fair price, I had to plug these fine folks twice.

Missing, that is very sound advice -- pun intended -- on cassettes. I would only add that one should always make sure there is a good pad in the cassette too. Y'know, the felt thingy that pushes the tape against the heads.

It's funny, I was just talking to my pal Jake about the backlog at mastering houses and pressing plants. Some places haven't been this busy in 30 years. Of course, for vinyl fiends -- like myself, Warner, Alfredo and others -- the news could not be better!

Skybill is being pornographic and turning us on with the audio pillow talk when he says, "played through a tube amp with a tube preamp!" We might be living next door to a registered audiophile!

Tube amp and tube preamp:

Nothing sexier than that!

Where's my McIntosh?

unless you guys can tell me your secret source.

Fred's House of Sound on Hawthorne!

The House of Sound was on Williams Avenue. I think you mean Fred's Sound of Music. Really cool place to browse and sometimes drool. I remember Hawthorne Audio Exchange (next door to Fred's) fondly because the Pioneer PL-12D they sold me back in 1986 is still going strong.

Yeah, that's what I meant!

Great place and knowledgeable people too!

I'm printing out this thread to show the Mrs.

Just last night, she was pressuring me to get rid of my LP's. She thinks I'm weird because I still play "records".