PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- 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."

© 2008 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I am hoping I see more vinyl too.

I've been saying this shit for years...love the sound of vinyl

My vinyl copy of Madonna's 'Hard Candy' is being shipped today 3-LP set with candy-swirl colored vinyl,huge fold-out photos,a bonus 12" record containing two remixes of "4 Minutes" and if that's not enough,there's even a bonus audio CD of the album!

SoulAlive said:

THATS HHHAAAAWWWWTT!!

Although its missing like 6 more pictures that are in the CD. That is the problem with the Vinyl.

paisleypark4 said:

But look at how big those photos are! They make up for the missing pics.

This is great!

I also think they make better collector's items than cds, with the cover art and photos, posters inside.
[Edited 6/10/08 13:28pm]

I'm so excited to see Vinyl in stores. I'd say again, but I'm not old enough to remember before they were first taken off the shelves.

Vinyl's got this lovely, warm sound to it that just can't be duplicated by any other medium. To hell with MP3's, I'll take these flat, black pizzas, thanks.

Vinyl never really left certain stores. Here in NYC the small shops still carry them but they are a very LTD thing and will cost you, especially imports. But as for "music retailers" there really arent any at this point, The only one for the most part is Best Buy and they will never take on vinyl since they arent a music retailer they are a big box store that is in for making big $$ so they are not interested in the loyal music buyer, outside of them everyone else is gone that would have stocked vinyl in abundance, Sam Goody is gone for the most part, FYE is downsizing there stores all this year, even Best Buy is cutting music selection 40% in their stores, and Virgin Records will be gone soon, they just their lease on one onf their two NYC locations, so vinyl for the most part will still be an underground, small shop, import LTD thing like its been for the last decade or so. This is no different than when Pearl Jam and STP tried to keep vinyl alive by releasing their albums on Vinyl weeks before the cds.

cubic61052 said:

And there you have it.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

The industry wants to work every possible angle to make their money, so while they'll humor some of the music fetishists, they'll also downplay how many of them and regular lovers of good music are running around all while squeezing some of the really twisted ones with the superduperspecialultrararelimitededitionjapaneseswedisheuroextendeddancemix vinyl that some will actually hand over hundreds for just one.

theAudience said:

I miss vinyl.

theAudience said:

The same reason I am not into downloading....in order to appreciate the work, I need some background information....and hopefully an artist's explanation/description/influence of their work.

I'd love to see vinyl come back. CDs were never a better replacement. They are great for transferring tracks into a computer and CDs are much better than cassette tapes when it comes to "music to go". But vinyl not only lasts longer but sounds better too.

Great article Charlotte! I got a record player for my birthday back in March and have been amassing a nice little collection of vinyl. It's a lot more fun to buy, cheaper, not to mention you can find stuff that's out of print! I found this Secret Policeman's Other Ball which was a live Amnesty International gig that features guys like Sting, Clapton, Beck, Phil Collins doing tunes, and then having a big ol' jam at the end! YOu can't get stuff like that on CD!