Vinyl Revival: San Diego's Best Record Stores

It was destined for extinction just as was the eight-track and cassette tape cartridges as an audio format. In fact, to an entire generation of music lovers, records and record players were something that their parents had collecting dust in the garage, if there was any evidence left at all. In fact, many of the boomer generation, in their rush to embrace the CD format, dispensed with their vinyl collections and sold them off or just gave them away.

Well, perhaps we were too hasty to sound the death knell to the beloved vinyl record. Because, despite the predominance of the ubiquitous iPod and digital downloads which have dismantled the music industry's business model, the vinyl format never really went away - it was just waiting for a new generation of music lovers to rediscover the format.

In a recent Union-Tribune article, George Vargas looks at the resurgence of the vinyl album as a desired way to listen to music. Now, the 12-inch long player (LP) may not recapture its standing from CDs - heck, CD sales have plummeted because of digital downloads - a younger generation is discovering the joys of the record album.

According to the article, CD sales in this country last year totalled 511 million, a 17.5 percent decline from 2006 and a whopping 30.5 percent drop from 2005. On the other hand, sales of vinyl albums, which were officially pronounced dead in the mid-1980s after CDs were introduced to the buying public, jumped to 1.3 million last year. That's a 36.6 percent increase from 2006, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, a figure that is deemed dramatically low by some industry experts, who say the figure is closer to 5 million.

Those of us who hung on to their precious record collections, gathering dust in the indignity of a garage (as is mine), can take heart that your stubbornness to hold on and not sell it off at the swap meet is well worth it. Because now, you are considered very cool to have such a collection and you are no longer the old fart who can't let go of the past.

So, dust off those album jackets, buy a new stylus for the record player (What? You sold it years ago?), and savor the warm audio sound of vinyl. If you're new to record collecting - or want to re-build that collection you sold to your local record shop - then read my article about the best record stores in San Diego. You might even want to replace your CD collection that you got rid off with some vintage LPs.

Read the Union-Tribune article about the vinyl resurgence here.