Perusing the goods: Justin Wright (left), Seymour, and Jerry Wilmoth, Daleville, looked through some of the thousands of vinyl albums at the Music Collectors' Convention on Sunday at the Ramada Inn on the Northeastside of Indianapolis. (Matt Kryger / Ths Star)

Record collectors look through some of the thousands of vinyl records at the Music Collector's Convention Sunday afternoon at the Ramada Inn. (Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star)

Unlike many members of her generation, 24-year-old Vicki Beall doesn't have an iPod and isn't big on compact discs.

Instead, the Muncie resident buys vinyl albums as a way to find rare, older tunes and resist the digital music movement.

Beall was among about 40 vinyl record enthusiasts perusing boxes of vintage albums on Indianapolis' Northeastside on Sunday at a Music Collectors' Convention sponsored by local record sales company Alpha Records & Music.

She's also part of a movement of young people helping to fuel a comeback in vinyl records.

Record manufacturers and distributors say sales in their small sector of the recorded music industry have seen an upswing in the past two years. The trend, they say, is propelled by a steady pool of loyalists and the addition of young listeners like Beall, who want to buck the iPod culture and crave a better listening experience.

"Most of the music (young people) have been listening to has been coming out of iPod-type devices. It's been a lonely experience," said Don MacInnis, owner of California-based manufacturer Record Technology, whose production was up 20 percent last year over 2006. "Now they're having get-togethers and listening to vinyls in a group and enjoying it."

Conventions like Alpha Music's, held bimonthly in Indianapolis, draw new followers and longtime collectors like Louisville resident Robert Williams, a part-time musician and General Electric assemblyman who owns about 5,000 vinyl albums.

"When you hear these songs, they take you down memory lane," said Williams, 58. "So when you find these original records, it's just something."

Collectors' items were valued at as much as $2,500 at Sunday's show, but many patrons said they were seeking out the $1 to $15 albums with obscure older music.

"A lot of this music you can't even find on the computer," said Indianapolis resident Mike Schulz, 32. "A lot of it is going to be lost eventually."

And the records aren't just a medium for vintage tunes. Industry experts say many new artists today are recording vinyl albums.

Adam Reach, a production director with Chicago-based label and distributor Touch and Go Records, said the vinyl format provides listeners with better sound quality and more collectors' appeal.

"A vinyl is more like a book, a piece of art, rather than just a piece of plastic," Reach said.

- By Francesca Jarosz / Indy Star