“There’s still a hardcore of vinyl fans, drawn mainly from the ranks of 'fifty-quid bloke', who was part of the baby-boomer generation that grew up with the 7" single and LPs, that keep sales of the format ticking along,” says HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo. "Following the rise of indie bands such as The Strokes, White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys and the Killers during the early part of the decade we've also seen a younger audience, more often than not students, become attracted to the 7" single. Chances are that many of them don't even have the decks to play them on, but they simply like the idea of owning and collecting particular releases. While older customers have an enduring emotional connection to vinyl, younger fans, who grew up with CDs and cassettes, see it as ultra cool and part of the mythology of rock 'n' roll.

"For the bands themselves, releasing a single or an album on vinyl is a bit of a 'badge of honour' for them. It's all very well being downloaded or making 'friends' on MySpace, but nothing beats the feeling of knowing that your latest release is out on 7" or LP format in a record store somewhere.

"All this interest in recent years has helped to revive sales of vinyl recordings, albeit from a relatively low. It's fair to say that the format enjoys pretty healthy niche status. Sadly, it will never become a mainstream format again, but its enduring appeal has prompted HMV to give it more floorspace in quite a few of its larger stores. In fact most of the vinyl sold in Ireland is through HMV – over half of all 7" singles are now bought through our stores. You can't help feeling that, in years to come, when the CD is consigned to history, vinyl will still be around in some form."