The technology behind turntable sound reproduction, analogue, is widely agreed upon among serious sound enthusiasts to provide a warmer, more pleasing listening experience than CDs, which reproduce sound digitally. A cartridge stylus uses the groove ridges and valleys to generate a signal, which is amplified to drive a pair of speakers. Conversely, a CD contains a musical event that has been continually sampled by a computer and turned into streams of bits meant to approximate the constantly changing recorded sound wave. What all this means is that digital technology takes apart the original sound many times and converts it into ones and zeros before reassembling it into electrical signals which reproduce the sound. We have a store in town that sells nothing but used vinyl, and the place is loaded every day with college and even some high school kids.
Price is another factor in vinyl's return.
Many used records can be had for five dollars or less. People are a lot more willing to take a chance on an album or artist they've never heard when the price is low. As well, aficionados appreciate the cover art. Record sleeves have a bigger surface than CDs, and thus much more space for text and images. Anyone used to having to squint to read tiny CD covers is liable to come away amazed at record covers' big, glossy look.