World-class rock 'n' roll memorabilia collector Tom Fontaine, 49, shows off part of his collection. (Michelle Pemberton for The Star)

Bands break up, solo careers falter, and some stars die young.

But thanks to audio and video recordings, a musician's moments on top are preserved for decades.

It's never been easier to reconnect with the sounds of yesterday, with options ranging from cost-free browsing at YouTube.com to spending thousands of dollars on rare memorabilia.

"When you love something, you want to know more about it," says Indianapolis-based musician Tim Brickley, who collects 78 rpm recordings, vintage keyboards and guitar amplifiers, as well as long-defunct music magazines.

Rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix died 37 years ago, yet his work is explored and celebrated as if he were a contemporary hit maker:

Visitors to video Web site YouTube can click once to find Hendrix performing "Hey Joe" at the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival.

At Wolfgangsvault.com -- a business that's grown from the archives of late San Francisco concert promoter Bill Graham -- visitors can listen to an entire Hendrix concert from Oct. 11, 1968, and not spend a dime.

"Live at Monterey," the latest official release of Hendrix music, arrived in stores Oct. 16 in CD and DVD format. The DVD's suggested retail price is $13.95.

Rockcycle, a memorabilia store that opened in September at Castleton Square Mall, sells an $89.99 purse made from the cardboard packaging of "Are You Experienced?" -- a 1967 album issued by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

And Indianapolis-based collector Tom Fontaine is seeking a buyer for a 1969 Woodstock festival ticket that Hendrix signed. The ticket's estimated value was $2,500 when placed on auction in 2004.

Missing Link Records clerk Dave Britts says there's a healthy turnover of used vinyl albums at his store, 4905 N. College Ave. In a time when songs are reduced to digital files, people make an effort to buy the 12-inch-diameter LPs of their past.

"Classic rock records come in at the highest volume, and they sell at the highest volume," Britts says. "Punk is a consistent seller and soul is a consistent seller, but it's nothing like you experience with classic rock."

Fontaine, a prominent player in the world of rock 'n' roll collectibles, says he dived into his pastime in 1964 -- when he was 6 years old and a storm scattered Beatles trading cards in his Eastside neighborhood.

After claiming some of the stray cards and letting them dry, Fontaine purchased as many more as he could afford.

"It wasn't nostalgia then," Fontaine says. "For some reason, I liked the music and I followed the trends. People talk to me and say, 'You can't remember Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.' Well, yeah, I can."

An architectural engineer until he quit his day job less than a decade ago, Fontaine collects and sells items related to his favorite musicians.

His Beatles, Elvis Presley and Elton John groupings are extensive. In 2004, he sold for $140,000 a piano that Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin used during songwriting sessions.

One of the rarest items in Fontaine's collection is a sheet of lyrics for a song, "Monetta," that Buddy Holly wrote by hand but didn't record before his death in 1959.

Fontaine is a fan of YouTube, partially because video clips sometimes help authenticate items he's buying or selling.

He has a black beret that John Lennon owned, and anyone with a sturdy Internet connection can see Lennon wearing the beret during the 1975 Grammy Awards ceremony.

But YouTube, essentially a clearinghouse for videos posted by the general public, has become a battleground in the fight to either share or protect intellectual property.

In March, media company Viacom sued Google -- YouTube's parent company -- for copyright infringement tied to posted content taken from networks such as MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

"I hope it sticks around," Fontaine says of YouTube, "but I don't know if it will."

Musician Brickley says it's easy to lose track of time when viewing clips on the site.

"You can bop around, and it's amazing. It's kind of no fun because the footage is lousy quality, but it's nice to see (folk singer) Tim Buckley on European TV from 1967 or '68 with a little jazzy band."

Bob Merlis -- spokesman for Experience Hendrix LLC, the company that oversees day-to-day business involving Jimi Hendrix -- challenges music companies to make authorized products irresistible to consumers.

Merlis touts the remastered sound and storytelling context found on the 40th anniversary "Live at Monterey" DVD.

"People do have alternatives, legitimate or otherwise," Merlis says. "But there's nothing like the real thing. You're doing the Jimi Hendrix legacy and yourself a disservice if you don't see (his work) in an optimal situation."

Rockcycle co-owner Jeff Wagner says he's confident there are no legal questions surrounding what happens in his company: Vinyl albums and their cardboard packaging are modified to become non-audio products such as purses, three-ring binders and coasters.

Wagner likens Rockcycle to a used-record store, with the outgoing merchandise being the difference.

"The only problem we would ever have would be if we reproduced anything," he says.

Wagner and business partner Dan Redmond emphasized recycling in their business plan before opening the Muncie store in 2006.

Waste-management companies gladly round up albums for Rockcycle. There's plenty of vinyl to be reclaimed, according to Wagner, who says the 100 top-selling acts between 1958 and 1992 generated 4.7 billion records.

"People call and say, 'We've had these albums in our basement for years, but we can't bear to throw them away,'" Wagner says. "Rockcycle gives them a good home."

Reborn as bold graphics on purses and binders, once-discarded LPs trigger strong memories, Wagner says. "To many people, album covers are more recognizable than great works of art."

Missing Link clerk Britts says he loves vinyl recordings in their intended form, adding that listening to music on a turntable separates casual listeners from fanatics.

"I think vinyl is indicative of the human condition," Britts says. "Humans, by nature and by decree, are fundamentally flawed. Vinyl is an imperfect medium to begin with."

Missing Link is a haven for hip-hop DJs and producers who crave unusual recordings in various genres to fold into future songs. More than one touring musician has spent nearly $1,000 on used records during a visit to the store.

"Hip-hop is a style of music based on the art of sampling," Britts says. "It places the utmost value on an original -- not a cheap replication, not a bootleg, not a reissue. Hip-hop artists want the original, and they've been very good to us."

The concerts that stream on the Wolfgang's Vault site vary in sonic quality, according to Matt Lundberg, vice president of media and technology for the company that owns master recordings of shows Bill Graham promoted from the 1960s into the '90s.

The sound mix seems to matter less, Lundberg says, when Wolfgang's Vault makes available performances featuring fringe acts such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

"It's clear there are a lot of people for whom music is an intense experience," Lundberg says. "We're fascinated by it, and we're having a lot of fun doing this. There may not be hundreds of thousands of Mahavishnu fans, but the ones who exist are very, very (passionate)."

The site pays royalties to artists when their concerts are selected for streaming, and additional payments are made if visitors purchase digital downloads of shows.

Nevertheless, surviving members of the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, the Doors and Santana filed a complaint in federal court last year against Wolfgang's Vault on the topic of memorabilia sales.

The case has yet to be resolved. The company continues to sell items ranging from posters and photographs to handbills and backstage passes from iconic 1960s and '70s shows presented at the Fillmore West, Winterland, Warfield Theatre and other venues.

Indianapolis-based musician Brickley has his own collection of psychedelic Fillmore West handbills. When he was a youngster and his family lived in San Francisco, his older sister passed on the souvenirs after she attended concerts at the venue.

"It's a bit of a time trip," Brickley says of the items. "I think maybe that's why I love it. It's a literal piece of the past that's made it to the future."