He says music tastes are changing, as shown by a decline in CD sales and a resurgence in vinyl.

“Last year CD sales declined by 18 per cent and vinyl sales rose by 32 per cent,” he said.

Hoping to capture the turn-around in tastes, Sack Music yesterday launched a vinyl section at the Keppel Street store.

Mr McDowell, who admits he is of the generation where “we expect digital music for free”, said lower quality digital recordings should be free so people can sample the music before purchasing it on vinyl.

He said the sound quality is vastly superior on vinyl.

“New vinyl sounds different to 20 years ago.

“Soundwaves are analogue and vinyl is the only form where you get analogue and it doesn’t compress like digital.”

Mr McDowell said artists were aware their music was often downloaded illegally and they are hoping to capture the true music lover by also releasing a vinyl recording of their album.

“With vinyl you take the time to take in the whole tactile experience of getting it out and putting it on the player,” he said.

“You tend to listen to vinyl on a good system with good speakers, not on a laptop. It’s potentially the saviour of the music industry.”

Mr McDowell said most vinyl records include a free MP3 download of the same album so users can listen to the music on a portable device.

He said listening to an album in its entirety on vinyl also benefits musicians as users hear the whole range of songs.

“With MP3s you tend to skip tracks and shuffle a lot and kids these days often don’t know who they are listening to,” he said. 

Mr McDowell said they plan to expand their vinyl section in the future and hope to help local musicians produce their own album.

“In the future we’re looking at recording and pressing records for local artists.”