While the niche may still be small measured against overall sales of recorded music, the surge of interest in vinyl -- and, particularly, its rising cachet among young listeners -- is providing a rare glimmer of hope in a hemorrhaging industry. "Even if the industry doesn't do all that well going forward, we could really carve this out to be a nice profitable niche," said Bill Gagnon, a senior vice president at EMI Catalog Marketing, who is in charge of vinyl releases. He said that people who buy vinyl nowadays are charmed by the format's earthy authenticity. "It's almost a back-to-nature approach," Mr. Gagnon said. "It's the difference between growing your own vegetables and purchasing them frozen in the supermarket."

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Vinyl is suddenly chic, he said, even among people too young to have grown up with the familiar crackle of a needle carving through the grooves of an album. "I have friends who have younger kids -- 13, 15 years old, even 10 -- and all those kids want turntables," he said. "Their parents are like: Wait a minute. What are you talking about?"

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This year Capitol/EMI is in the process of reissuing its first substantial vinyl catalog in decades. Some of those albums, like "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys, are classic rock leviathans aimed at nostalgic baby boomers. But many are albums by contemporary artists, like Radiohead and Coldplay, who appeal to young music buyers, Mr. Gagnon said. Most are pressed on acoustically superior 180-gram vinyl, and many are packaged in gatefold jackets, so they can serve as collectors' items for young fans who might also have the music in its digital form.