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In the brave new world of MP3 players,  old-fashioned vinyl records are making a real comeback!

In his Brooklyn, New York, factory, 40-year-old Thomas Bernich churns out vinyls by the tens of thousands, feeding a vinyl revival that has record decks -- and cash tills -- spinning.
Bernich started on a shoestring 10 years ago. Now he has four full-time employees and two part-time, manufacturing a quarter of a million discs a year, with plans to double capacity.
In an age of near-instant music downloads and entire libraries stored in gizmos the size of a cigarette lighter, the arcane process of making records defies convention.
But the market is vibrant.
Alan Bayer, who runs the online record store vinylrevinyl.com, said records refuse to go the way of the crumbling cassette tape or passe CD.
Purists swear that music sounds better from records than from compressed digital files. Collectors love the hunt for rare, scratch-free recordings, not to mention the art-filled sleeves.
Scott Neuman, president of ForeverVinyl.com, an appraisal service and dealer, said sales of newly minted records were for the first time overtaking those of pre-existing records.
Meanwhile, the pre-owned market, he said, "is being flooded" by people emptying out their basements in search of a quick buck.
Retailers will pay about 25 cents for a single, ordinary record or sleeve, then resell for between $1-$5, he said. But more sought-after editions quickly go for $100 or far more.
Neuman said he'd got $10,000 for a rare sleeve to the Rolling Stones' album "Street Fighting Man". The cover, depicting a policeman beating a man, had been withdrawn soon after release because of complaints. Although thousands were made, only a handful survive.
Vinyl fans say there's also something in the physical attractiveness of the record and the ritual of using turntables that the MP3, like the CD, cannot match.
"It's personal. You get to spend more time with the music," said Jeff Ogiba, who opened Black Gold, a Brooklyn records store and coffee shop, 18 months ago.
"The last decade and a half has been an information age, so there are a lot of things that are intangible. People want to go out and have physically tangible things because now you press a button and a package comes to your door," Ogiba said.
At Brooklynphono all of last year's production was made from recycled records -- mountains of Neil Young discs and their ilk pulled from musty old cupboards and shelves, then smashed, melted, and reborn as the very latest releases.
When there are sound quality problems, Bernich will exchange the great, heaving machines of his shop floor for a microscope through which he can examine the music-filled grooves for flaws.
A lifelong mechanic with the heart of an artist, Bernich says record-making makes his world go round. -(AFP) -

Publié le 26.01.2012