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Retro Record Players Turn The Tables On Fading Into History
				Jefferson Graham USA TODAY McLean, Va.: Jan 28, 2003

Tech Record players, whose sales wound down to a halt almost a decade ago, arecoming around again. No one expects an exodus from the dominant compact disc to the nostalgic format. Nonetheless, sales of turntables and the vinyl LPs played on them are experiencing a resurgence as younger listeners are buying less of today's music and rediscovering relatives' archives. "Records sound so much better than CDs, (which) are harsh and pristine. And the cover art is much better," says Al Shaw of Manhattan Beach, Calif., who at 17 is too young to remember the LP's heyday. But he found Rolling Stones and Beatles albums in his grandparents' attic, and an uncle went on eBay to get him a player, which is front-and-center in his room. "Music in its purest form is on vinyl," says Bo LeMastus, president of Crosley Radio, which makes nostalgic reproductions of 1940s and 1950s record players, items that were promoted heavily in department stores this holiday season. "It captures everything the producer wanted to put in the record. On CD, you lose a certain something." Crosley sold 400,000 record players in 2002, and he predicts greater sales this year. Joe D'Angelo of Teac, which also sells reproductions, says sales tripled last year. He figures 10 billion albums are still sitting on home shelves. With the new units -- Teac's and Crosley's players, with speakers, start at $100 -- "here's a way to play the music again." Even those sales are an asterisk compared with CD players, which sold more than 40 million units. Turntable sales are so small that the Consumer Electronics Association doesn't track them. But turntables have always had a home among DJ and rap fans, who like the scratching sound created by manipulating the needle in the grooves. Among new turntable buyers, "You've got two camps," says Dave Glassman of Restoration Hardware, which has turntables and sampler 45s in heavy rotation at its 105 stores, as well as in its catalog and on its Web site. "Thirty-five years and older, who grew up on LPs and still have them, and their kids, who have found these records in the closet and want to hear them." Teac and Crosley unveiled new models that meld old and new at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, such as Crosley's $229 4 in 1 Entertainment Center, with a CD player, cassette deck, radio and the ability to play vinyl at 33, 45 and 78 rpm. At Amoeba Music stores in Los Angeles, Berkeley and San Francisco, 500,000 new and used albums appeal to both "collectors and hard-core fans," says manager Jim Henderson. "Hopefully sales of these new turntables will convince the chain stores to start stocking vinyl albums again." Not likely, experts say. Sales of vinyl records were up 6.4% last year, even as overall music sales dropped 11%, according to Geoff Mayfield of Billboard magazine. "That's the good news. The bad is, it still accounts for less than 1% of the total business." Though some artists such as Neil Young and Pearl Jam continue to release vinyl albums, Henderson concedes the format's dominance is done. "The conveniences of CD will always outweigh the romantic value of vinyl." [Illustration] PHOTO, B/W; Caption: LPs back: Reproduction models play to nostalgia. Copyright USA Today Information Network Jan 28, 2003
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