In a world where iPods and CDs are the most common way to listen to music, some are looking to the past for more creative ways to hear their music. Brett Chloupek, Harvard, Neb., graduate student, is one of several students who don iPods on campus, but his passion for music lies in his vinyl record collection. Vinyl records have grown in popularity in Lawrence over the past few years.

Chloupek, who began collecting vinyl records 10 years ago, has almost 300 records in his collection to date. He said his dad was the person who got him into it.

“He had a really big collection when I was younger, and that got me interested in them,” Chloupek said.

Chloupek said his record collection was influenced heavily by his father.

“I have a very eccentric taste, but older country and classical vinyls are some of my favorites,” he said.

Chloupek said he had a big music collection on his computer, but he said he preferred vinyls to digital music. Chloupek said he visited various record and antique stores on Massachusetts Street, various garage sales and even the small collection at Good Will, located at 2200 W. 31st St.

Joe Fox, Leavenworth sophomore, is also an avid vinyl record collector. He said he began collecting while he was in eighth grade when he bought his first record player for $15. He said he had always shopped for vinyls in smaller thrift stores.

“Thrift stores are where I go just to see what they have,” Fox said. “They really have good stuff there.”

Fox said that he typically found records for as cheap as 50 cents and that he once found the original “Shaft” movie soundtrack for a low price.

Tim Dodd, assistant manager of Half-Price Books, 1519 W. 23rd St., said his store sold vinyl records and that sales had been steady. He said while he thought the popularity of vinyls had never gone away, he believed they were starting to make a bigger jump in popularity over the past five to 10 years because of people’s personal preferences.

“Depends on how you hear things,” Dodd said. “People say records are warmer than CDs that are made of metal. There is a nostalgic sort of feeling about records, similar to old books.”

Ryan Nessmith, Lansing sophomore, began collecting vinyl records four years ago when he learned some of his favorite punk bands had releases available only on vinyls. He said that since he began collecting, he had gained 80 LPs and 50 7-inch records, and that proven durability was the reason he thought many people collected vinyl.

“There are tests proven in the 1980s that vinyl has a far longer sound shelf life than CDs will ever have,” Nessmith said.

He said packaging of a vinyl record were also more appealing to music lovers.

Dodd said there were various kinds of customers who came to the store, including those who browsed for any title and those who are diehard fans looking for specific albums.

Chloupek said he noticed similar people when he went shopping for albums.

“Once, I was in an old thrift shop and this guy kept watching me as I was browsing through an aisle looking for an album,” he said. “He kept staring over at me as I looked, and he finally came up to me after a while and told me he always looked through the section I had been looking at because he bought certain records to re-sell at his own stores.”

Kelly Corcoran, a store clerk at Love Garden Sounds, located at 936 1/2 Massachusetts St., said vinyl buyers could purchase albums for prices between 50 cents and $65. He said that most albums were in the $5 to $6 range, but that once in a while some records could cost up to $1,000. Love Garden Sounds is one of the few stores that specializes in the selling of vinyl records. Corcoran said that they sold well because of what they had to offer.

“It’s just cooler than a CD,” he said. “They offer a better format and more of a format and art. I know I wouldn’t want to have all my music just on my computer. There’s more to it than an MP3.”

Fox said there was something more unique about a vinyl records compared with CDs.

“Vinyls are way more tough when it comes to durability. A CD messes up quicker,” Fox said. “And there is something cool about saying you have that record when you hear it as opposed to a CD.”

— Edited by Kaitlyn Syring