Vinyl music is making a comeback these days in Europe and America. Audiophiles are clamoring for those flat discs and their amazing analog sound reproduction quality. While members of the Internet generation still look to the Web for the downloading and acquisition of music, those who aren’t totally unfamiliar with LPs and 7-inch singles are balancing the trend by staying old-fashioned.

What might be the reasons why vinyl music continues to enjoy enthusiastic supporters? “Their sound quality is the best,” says Paul, whose first record was My Ding-A-Ling by Chuck Berry. “I prefer vinyl over audio cassettes and CDs because of its fidelity to the production and because of the warmer sound.”

Also, vinyl music is classic. They not only brought pioneering developments in recording technology, but one’s record collection can be an indication of one’s good taste. From the flipback or laminated sleeves to graffiti jackets, from colored splatter discs to hard-to-find, out-of-print import music albums, vinyl music is simply in a different level of style and sexy from a folder collection of MP3 songs on a laptop. It’s more prestigious, and rarer, than a digital recording that can be copied and reproduced with a single mouse click.

Of course, they’re also a tribute to the musical revolutions in every era: be it in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Remember gramophones? iPods are cool, but let’s not even begin to compare them to record players.