Dust off that turntable if you're an Elvis Costello fan. His new album comes out Tuesday and you'll be able to get it only on vinyl for two weeks. Then a CD version will hit stores.

The British rock star has always been something of a contrarian, but his vinyl offering isn't a rebellion. It's part of a gradual resurgence of 33 LPs, a product that once seemed to have followed the same path as floppy disks, rotary phones and black-and-white television sets.

First released in the American market in 1983, CDs surpassed vinyl in sales in just four years. While some music lovers steadfastly maintained that vinyl had a richer sound, they found themselves in a dwindling minority.

"Vinyl actually flatlined in the late '80s, I'd say '87 to '90," says Dylan Stanton, owner of Instant Karma Records, a used-record and -CD store in Orleans. "It was, especially in the United States, dead as a doornail. Nobody wanted to be caught dead with vinyl, except us dinosaurs."

But the music industry was startled when the year-end figures came in for 2007. While CD sales had dropped 9.5 percent in a year, vinyl was up 15 percent.

Those numbers don't tell the whole story. Sales of new vinyl records by all artists totaled 990,000 — less than the number of copies sold of Josh Groban's Christmas CD or the "High School Musical 2" soundtrack. Some experts, however, think vinyl grew more than 15 percent; much of it is sold in small, independent stores (like Instant Karma) that aren't included in the weekly national Soundscan tallies.

"I've seen it as kind of a slow, steady growth," says Stanton.

"There is a revival for new and used vinyl," says Cameron Wieden, owner of Spinnaker Records in Hyannis.

"The new stuff, they're making them a lot better than they used to. They're all 180 gram or 200 gram vinyl, so they're much better-sounding.

For people who love the great sound of music, you can buy a record album and it will sound better than the CD for new releases.

"For used records, it's a cheaper way for people to listen to music. You can buy a record for 99 cents or $1.99. For teenagers and young adults, they can burn them onto an iPod. For older people, they're filling out their collection, whether it's a Stones record or a Grateful Dead record for their collection."

New albums by Vampire Weekend, Counting Crows and the B-52s are available on vinyl. Some performers, including Costello, include access to a Web site where vinyl purchasers can download a copy for their iPod.

"If it's a big release, something that's going to be a Top 50 record, there's a good chance it will be on vinyl now," says Wieden.

"We had gotten out of vinyl completely about five years ago and then started slowly carrying some new releases and some punk music and reggae. Now I try to get everything I can on vinyl."

Why is that vinyl just won't die?

For used vinyl, price is the main appeal. For new vinyl, there's a sound difference that appeals to many listeners.

"Warmth is the word a lot of people use, and I would say that's as accurate as a subjective term can be," says vinyl and CD collector Cliff Letsche of Hyannis. "The sound is distinct." He adds that you need high-end stereo equipment and pristine albums to fully appreciate vinyl's advantages.

A rock and jazz musician who plays bass for the Greenheads and the Somers Frost Band, Letsche buys vinyl because much of what he's interested in — pre-World War II calypso, among other things — has never been issued on CD.

"I'm a content guy," he says. "It's all about the music. There are so many records in quarter or dollar bins. I'm not going to buy a Rolling Stones CD because I know I'll run across it cheaply on vinyl."

Because the latest round of LPs is printed in small quantities on better plastic, it's not cheap. Most releases sell for about $20, while CDs usually go for $15 to $18 — and can be found for $9 to $12 during week-of-release sales at chain stores. Even so, Stanton thinks vinyl is superior sonically and as an investment.

"The new vinyl is going up in value much faster than the old vinyl," he says. "A great example is the Cream reunion show in 2005. They did a limited edition of it on vinyl. It was three LPs. I was selling it for $80. I sold what I had. I got one last one and the list price had gone up to $230. It went out of print, and now if you go online and you want a sealed one, you'll pay between $300 and $400."

Wieden and Stanton say vinyl purchasers don't come in any one demographic.

"The college-age ones have discovered their little band that nobody else is really a big fan of — like Sufjan Stevens or Wolf Parade," says Stanton. "They buy the new vinyl because they think that's really cool.

"Then my baby boomer customers, who are the last of the die-hards, have a really good turntable and have never given it up. They're buying original blues and collectible stuff and the new Wilco and Mark Knopfler. ... I have people travel from off-Cape to come see my stuff, where nobody ever really travels for CDs."

Bill O'Neill can be reached at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it