In an age of miniscule music players, devices like iPods, earbuds and MP3s reign supreme in the average young person’s search for musical amusement.But many listeners are turning the clock backward and turning to turntables to satisfy their aural senses.In 2007, 1.3 million new vinyl records were sold in the U.S. — a 36.6 percent jump from the previous year, according to the Recording Industry of America. And that number doesn’t include independent record shops or used vinyl traded through sites like Ebay and Amazon.com.But the trend isn’t just national. Worldwide sales of LP records doubled in 2007 from 3 million to 6 million, according to IFPI, the International Recording Industry Trade Association. Stories of this sonic trend have been covered by The Wall Street Journal, CBS Evening New and countless other media outlets. The resurgence of vinyl consumers is even present in Baton Rouge’s local record store.Walk into The Compact Disc Store on Jefferson Highway and be immediately greeted by the unfamiliar ambience of an independently owned music store.A guy with an old T-shirt and unkempt beard nods a welcome while the resident spaniel-mix nudges hello. Posters and stickers cover every available surface, and music you’ve probably never heard before blares from the sound system.There’s definitely no sparkle and sheen of a Best Buy or FYE here, no employee uniforms or advertisements. And that’s just how store owner Brad Pope likes it. Pope first opened the store in the mid-‘80s when compact discs were just creeping into music stores. After working at two record stores on Chimes Street while attending the University, Pope later visited a friend who worked at a local music store. Pope said he and his friend used the store’s sound system to switch between records and CDs of the same albums to see if they could tell the difference.”Not only could I tell the difference, but the difference was just huge,” Pope said. “It was just remarkable, the clarity. Everything about the compact disc was in every way just vastly superior.” That listening session inspired Pope to open up his own CD store, and ironically, a major part of his business is now record sales.Pope doesn’t really understand the new hype over LPs, but luckily his music buyer and longtime employee Taylor Sullivan does. He convinced Pope to start selling vinyl two years ago, and as of October 20, record sales were 12 percent of the month’s total sales.Since Sullivan started introduced vinyl to the store’s selection, Pope said they have been seeing more new customers. “Within the last six or eight months it really has just grown by leaps and bounds,” Pope said of new vinyl sales. “Very often LP sales make the difference between a not so great day and a pretty good day. To put it bluntly, LPs might be saving our ass,” he laughed. Sullivan is a longtime collector of vinyl, as is Pope, but unlike his employer, he never stopped listening to the vintage format.”I wake up in the morning and start playing records at 6 o’clock,” he said. Sullivan said he prefers the sound of vinyl to compact discs. “There’s something physical about it. There’s friction [of the needle to the grooves]. It lends a different element to the sound,” Sullivan said.Proponents of vinyl say there is a warmth to the sound of records, and heavily compressed digital files often sound tinny or unauthentic.”Vinyl has a warmer sound than that of digital music,” said University graduate student Martin Maxwell. “I don’t believe the technology can capture certain nuances of the music in the same way that vinyl does.”Jade Benoit, English senior, has been listening to vinyl since she started college. Both Benoit and Maxwell said they prefer vinyl because older music, which was recorded using analog tapes, can be heard in its original form and is not digitally remastered.”There’s more of an experience when you listen to records on vinyl,” she said. “You feel as if you are a part of something important when you listen to it, as if you are blasted back into the ‘60s.”The Compact Disc Store has a rack specifically for local music. Although the albums are CDs, the store also sells local vinyl when available. Thou is an underground metal band in Baton Rouge that has sold vinyl albums at the store. They have released two full-length LPs, one EP and two 7 inch EPs as well as CDs and free online downloads.Bryan Funck, the band’s vocalist, said in general, the band’s vinyl albums sell better. He said it is important to the band that they release their albums on vinyl because they have more options for packaging and cover art.”It just seems like people who get CDs nowadays rip them to their computer or MP3 player and are done with them, whereas people who buy vinyl are looking for the whole package,” he said.Local bands Justinbailey, We are the Living and We Need To Talk also released music on vinyl.Miguel Milano is an employee at The Compact Disc Store and the bassist for We Need To Talk. He said whenever the store has local vinyl in stock, it usually sells out very quickly.When the store opened, because compact discs were so expensive and rare, the customer base was mostly middle-aged people. Though it always had a broad spectrum of customers, Pope said most of the new vinyl customers are young men in their 20s. As technology progresses and he gets older, Pope says the store needs new blood. That’s why he has decided to sell the store. Instead of closing it, though, Pope wants to see the store live on without him. He is currently looking for a buyer for the city’s most prominent independent music store.”We’ve always managed to survive,” he said. “Business is pretty good right now, oddly enough. Even with the economy tanking like it is, we’re having a pretty good month.”- – – -Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]