Ever since the dawn of the MP3 and the increasing prominence of the Internet in our daily lives, there has been a schism in how we as music consumers interact with the ease that these new technologies have presented to us.

Typically, the college demographic could be seen as part of the camp that embraces file sharing and the MP3 format, but that could be changing soon due to the resurgence of vinyl records in today’s music market.

Recent Nielsen Soundscan reports show that vinyl sales have increased 85.8 percent between 2006 and 2007 and 80 percent between 2007 and 2008, and 2009 proves to be a benchmark year in sales as well with vinyl sales already topping 1 million so far.

In fact, Soundscan predicts vinyl sales will reach 2.8 million units in 2009, twice that of sales in 2008. Part of vinyl’s resurrection undoubtedly owes itself to the fact that most of its consumers nowadays haven’t grown up listening to records, but rather discovered them as they got older.

The mysterious pull vinyl records have on recent converts is something altogether new for most listeners. The experience of listening to your favorite music on wax creates an undeniably palpable feeling of nostalgia. Just ask University student Steven Grade.

“The sound is one of the first things you notice, you can hear a warmth, but its also a depth, everything comes through that much clearer,” Grade said. “I think that vinyl is how things were intended to be listened.”

He’s right. Digital recordings are far less accurate than vinyl.

The sample rate in digital recording can only accurately capture the sound of a recording within a certain range. That’s why most vinyl listeners claim the sound is warmer — the grooves carved into the rerecord perfectly mirror the original sound’s waveform without any inconsistencies.

Peeved that the new “re-mastered” Pink Floyd CD is too expensive? Just buy an already perfectly mastered record instead.

According to Wuxtry Records employee Robert Brown, vinyl has been selling just as well if not better than CDs recently.

“Within the last 10 or 11 months vinyl’s really been ramped up in terms of sales,” he said. “In fact, I’d say [vinyl] moves faster than CDs nowadays.”

New music is increasingly released on vinyl, often with a download card redeemable for the album tracks as MP3s online.

Releasing seven-inch records is a fairly affordable recording and distribution method for bands.

Vinyl’s comeback isn’t just eminent, it’s already here. This can only be a positive thing for a generation of music listeners that have been more or less spoon fed with MP3 file dumps in which you can reduce the entire discography of a band with one mouse click and completely strip away any context or significance to the recordings as albums or works of art.

Whether you consider vinyl a fad or an earnest preference of audiophiles, the fact remains that vinyl is back.

And it’s just as good, if not better, than it’s always been.