Updated Fri. Jul. 11 2008 2:47 PM ET

The Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho -- Travis Dryden spent his childhood listening to his parent's records. And then he left them behind with the other detritus of his pre-college years to be sold for pennies at a yard sale.

Lured by the portability of cassette tapes, the iridescent gleam of compact discs, then the miniaturized wonder of MP3 players -- who needed the fragile, antiquated technology of an LP?

As it turns out, Dryden did.

Now, like thousands of other reborn vinyl addicts, he scours record stores around the country, trying to get those lost records back.

"I abandoned a lot of my collection, unfortunately," Dryden said. "I started at record stores, thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales. When I travel for business I seek out record stores and thrift stores at the cities I visit."

Right now, Dryden said, his collection is small with only about 500 albums. But it might as well be 50,000 -- as co-founder of the Vinyl Preservation Society of Idaho, a rapidly growing group in Boise, Dryden gets the opportunity to listen to selections from thousands of records at the organization's monthly meetings.

The group started last year with a handful of people. They brought CDs, MP3s and records, meeting in each their homes to talk and listen to music. Again and again, Dryden said, the group found themselves choosing the warm hum of the turntable over the cold precision of digital formats.

"We found our love of vinyl overtook the others," he said. "We knew there had to be others like us."

They were right. Word spread about the group that gathered to listen to vinyl, and Dryden and his brother Chad spent three months coming up with the structure that would form the skeleton of the Vinyl Preservation Society. Eight months later, the group has more than 100 members. And Dryden hopes to see chapters spring up around the nation, and eventually the world.

At a recent meeting Dryden said a typical member "is just someone who can embrace a Pink Floyd song followed by Bobby Darin. It's mercurial, it's a big social experiment, and it's probably the only place you can stand up and play a piece of music you had nothing at all to do with creating and people will honestly clap for you."

The Boise group isn't alone in its love of vinyl. Coffee houses and lounges in cities like Portland, Ore., are featuring vinyl record listening sessions. Stores like Urban Outfitters are selling portable record players. Last fall Amazon.com started a vinyl-only section. Vinyl record pressing plants are ramping up production, and some musicians are selling albums primarily on vinyl, including coupons for MP3 downloads of the songs for portability's sake.

Independent record stores are seeing more people turned on to vinyl, said Michael Bunnell with The Record Exchange in Boise. Events like Record Store Day, held annually in April to celebrate independent record stores and the vinyl culture, are gaining popularity, he said.

Still, for vinyl revivalists its more about the ethos than the trend. Proponents applaud the expanse of cover art, so decadent compared to the tiny screen of an iPod. Those with a finely tuned ear laud the warmer sound, compared to digital music's brighter, louder and compressed tones.

And the nostalgia is a draw even to those who weren't around to remember the records the first time they were played.

"I like the sound -- it's intriguing, not so perfect," said Alina Schimpf, 21, who first began listening to records after seeing a turntable and vinyl collection at her 25-year-old boyfriend's apartment. "It's kind of cool, a novelty. I'd really like to get a turntable but it's kind of an investment."

Her boyfriend, Morgan Davis, remembers the thrill of sneaking into his father's vinyl collection.

"It's like a historical document," Davis said. "When I was younger I'd listen to my father's vinyl . . . He'd get mad if I scratched them up, so I'd listen when they were not around."

Boise collector Jim Leonard prefers vinyl for its "warmer sound" and convenient play length -- about 20 minutes to a side.

"I never felt that the introduction of a new format meant you had to abandon the old one," Leonard said. "When you play an acoustic record on a Victrola, it's an indescribable, magical sound."

Listening to a record forces you to listen, said Don Jewell, a 60-year-old member of the group.

"It just seems more human to me, more human and direct. When you're listening to it you need to get up and change the record, flip it over. There's no playing 4,000 songs like in an MP3 player," Jewell said.

The physical involvement somehow makes the medium more precious, said David Hale, who gave a presentation at a Vinyl Preservation Society meeting about his grandfather's role as a promoter for Atlantic Records.

"It's music in the raw: You're pulling the vinyl out of the case, making sure you get that needle in the exact spot, making sure you lift it clean so you don't scratch it," Hale said. "There's definitely more reverence there."


I like vinyl

I kind of agree with this article. For me, there are certain things that sound great on vinyl. My mom's old Nat King Cole records, sound MUCH better on wax than it does on cd. A lot of my dad's jazz collection, Bob James, Grover, just to name a few sound "warm and fuzzy". As a house music DJ, my entire collection is on vinyl and I prefer to still use my old Technics 1200's instead of those CD turntables,(If there is a situation where I cannot use my 1200's, I still have my collection on my Ipod, which have been transfered from the original 12'inch single, so they still have that vinyl sound to them). Still, there are some of today's music that I prefer to hear on CD. Maybe it's due to the fact that no matter how you slice it, today's music still sounds terrible, so hearing it on cd just might help it sound a tad bit better.
[Edited 7/13/08 9:46am]

I'll agree on the whole "cold" feel of digital and that goes from the sound to just the way to obtaining it, downloading. This format will never take over it will just be what the majority has, but as i said before the transition from vinyl and cassettes to cd's was a smoother one for people, now going to just digital will spell the end to alot of music and alot of consumers especially the older ones.

As far as vinyl coming back, well, i dont see it, mainly because the "indie" record stores are in alot of trouble, especially here in NYC which is the capital of the small record shop, well alot of them, that sell imports, vinyl, 12", old and new, are closing. As of right now there are about 2-3 that are hanging by a thread while the others have closed up recently.

I've come full circle. Almost 20 years ago, I was ecstatic to have my own CD player because of the clarity and sharpness of the sound, and because records and cassettes "wore" over time. Now I am building up my LP collection again. Thankfully, I bought and saved most of Prince's 80's work on vinyl. Now I'm buying old titles and new on wax. Listening to CDs and my iPod is routine. Listening to the vinyl is an experience, mainly for nostalgia.

I go on vinyl digs all the time.I enjoy buying old vinyl records more than buying CDs.You can find stuff that is extremely rare at incredibly cheap prices.

SoulAlive said:

I like seeing what i can find too. I wonder how the recpetion of those who have moved on to cd's and such will feel about getting that lp again.the last vynil dig I went on I found some wonderful records from the sugarhill label. ( sugarhill gang, treacherous three and finally funky four plus one.) I am hoping that princes memorabilia and lp's and forty fives will be worth the while. I think those covers were amazing.

I listened to vinyl's for years too. I didn't even buy my first CD and own CD player until 1995, though we had a big 5 disc CD player for the living room for the few exclusive CD's my parents had. I still buy them here and there as well when I go to old record stores.

I'm gonna go on a vinyl dig this weekend

I know quite a few people who got rid of their vinyl
once cd's became the noveltie and now that vinyl has
made somewhat of a comeback i'm glad i kept mine.
There was no way i was going to part with my rare 12 inch
collection or my EWF vinyl.

Make sure you keep your old motown vinyl, as they really cant remaster their shit properly. At least, they never use to.

thesexofit said:

Since Universal bought them out, they have been doing a pretty good job of remastering material as well as reissuing stuff. Especially the stuff from the early 60s. Check out the hip-o select website. Some GOOD stuff has come out.

I read a similar article from Blender not to long ago. People here have said that music won't die as long as real fans are out there and still buying the stuff even to some degree, even used.

I also gotta go on a nice vinyl dig next whole day off I have. Since now very popular bands with an indie tendency like Radiohead are making that effort to get their new (and old) stuff out there on vinyl and promoting it to some extent, I wouldn't doubt if it is a good part of the music buying future.

wow many going on vinyl digs. I did for a minute, then stopped for like years because I was running out of space. I started back up again and heck I can't stop. (vinyl instead of vynil)