Q1: Let’s talk about vinyl records, something close to a radio broadcaster’s heart.

The reason I wanted to talk about them it that though sales of  CD’s and DVD’s have been dropping, sales of vinyl records have risen. We are not talking about anything meteoric that could save the industry, but rising a tiny bit.

Q2:  Who’s buying the records?

There has been a re-discovery of vinyl by the 15-30 year-old generation and sales to the 45-65 year-olds too. They are all interested in 70’s rock: Led Zepplin , Pink Floyd, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young.  That interest is now spilling in to a wave of 80’s music and even 90’s.

Q3: What is driving this mini resurgence?

Let’s face it, music still sounds better on vinyl  99% of the time – it has more life to it, not a flat electronic sound. Music lovers are realizing that. New music by performers such as Lady Gaga or Arcade Fire have come out on vinyl.

Sales are being driven in a few different ways. Some producers in the alternative music industry are offering,  with the purchase of vinyl album, a certificate to later legally download a copy. So you get the great sound on the vinyl and then you don’t’ have to do conversion to CD if you want to listen to it electronically.

Daniel Hadley owner of the Death of Vinyl store was mentioning that CD manufacturing plants keep closing as CD’s are probably on their way out. So in the future, if you want a physical copy of the music, you’ll be buying vinyl and then you’ll have an electronic version..

Q4: That generation is so plugged in to their iPods or computers, how can they enjoy the music if they can only listen to it on a turntable?

Well they can buy USB turntables which make it easy to plug into a computer to play the music on their computer or play it on an iPod, They can make a copy and to listen to all of it or just  save  favorite tracks.  However these turntables will not last the way the old ones did, so if you have an old turntable around, you can still do this but you need a pre-amp to do it.

Q5: Are there many stores still selling vinyl records in the city?

Yes, we never lost them.

Death of Vinyl is a gold mine for both used records and liquidated vinyl from other dealers as the owner was a record distributor for 11 years. Of the 60,000 records stocked here, expect prices to be $1, $2.99 or $4.99. If those weren’t low enough, they have sales around  3 times a year:  Back to School, Xmas and in the Spring. All kinds of music abounds – world, Francophone, jazz, rock, disco, punk, Broadway, dance, etc. They buy all kinds of records.

Location: 6307 boul. St-Laurent
corner: Beaubien
Tel: 514-495-2786
Hours: Mon-Wed 10-6, Thurs & Fri 10-9, Sat & Sun 12-5
www.deathofvinyl.com

On the West Island, Musiquest has been in the business for 15 years, so this choc-a-bloc vinyl record shop has perhaps 85,000 33 1/3 LP’s, 100,000 45’s and 7,000 78’s to offer you. Wander around to find the rock & pop, disco, Motown, folk, country, blues, easy listening, children, organ, chorale, classical, gospel and even banjo. There are about 200 audio cassettes, 350 DVD’s and 5,000 CD’s.

Location: 63E Donegani, Pointe Claire
corner: Valois
Tel: 514-426-0876
Hours: Tues-Sun 10-5

Disques Beatnick Records has a combination of old and new music in vinyl. To tell them apart, the red or pink stickers indicate the used items and the green means it’s new. Sections for rock, jazz, reggae, soul 60’s, etc. have bins and there are walls of vinyl; don’t miss the little back room.

Location: 3770 St-Denis
corner: des Pins
Tel: 514-842-0664
Hours: Mon-Wed 11-7, Thurs & Fri 11-9, Sat & Sun 11-6
www.beatnickmusic.com

Aux 33 1/3 is a store which specializes in new and used (60% of stock) vinyl records: jazz, rock, country, classical music or hip-hop. For those of you who don’t know, the 33 1/3  in their name refers to the speed of vinyl records -33 1/3 revolutions per minute. They have 45,000 LP’s and about 10,000 used CDs in stock and you can listen to the ones you’re thinking of buying on the 2 turntables.

1379 Mont-Royal est
corner: Garnier
Tel:514-524-7397
Hours: Mon-Wed 10-7, Thurs & Fri 10-9, Sat 10-5, Sun 11-5
www.aux33tours.com