Punch K-5 on the jukebox inside Now & Then Music and Movies in Arbutus, and the gears whirl as the record loads. Then a warm voice comes from the speakers, asking over and over again in early '60s-style pop, “Who wrote the book of songs?”

The needle might not line up right at first, but that's OK, because owner Mike Sanford knows how to fix it. Just a few seconds, and Gary Young's voice will ring out from the glowing machine once again.

The sound and the venue were front-and-center as Sanford and other owners of record shops prepared to celebrate International Record Store Day on Saturday. The event, established in 2007, sets aside the third Saturday in April to celebrate record shops and their unique culture, which have been challenged in recent years by the rise of online music and internet downloads.

While their numbers have dwindled markedly, record stores — especially those selling used records — are making a comeback, thanks to a new enthusiasm for the sound quality delivered by a needle tracking grooves on vinyl instead of the sound of digital recording.

Though Sanford doesn't exclusively sell vinyl, his shop on East Drive is filled with record players and records. He's worked in the music business for decades, and first got into records in his younger days with his older brother.

“He'd play them, we'd have a couple beers,” he said.

It's the warm sound of the medium that makes it attractive to people, Sanford said.

In the past he has sold records at shows, and worked as a DJ on occasion. In 2000 he took over Now & Then and made the music a larger component of the business.

At the time, CDs were the top sellers, but things have changed.

“Seems like vinyl is here, and CDs are on the way out,” he said.

According to research firm Nielsen, new vinyl sales were up for the 10th year in a row in 2015. About 12 million records were sold that year, a 30 percent increase over 2014. CD sales declined 10 percent over the same period.

Overall sales of physical music media fell 10 percent in 2015 to about $2 billion of the $7 billion overall music market, according to a report by the Recording Industry Association of America. Digital downloads and streaming meanwhile rose 6.2 percent to nearly $4.8 billion.

But sales of new LPs and EPs — long-play and extended-play records — surged 32 percent to $412 million, the RIAA reported.

Most of what Sanford sells is used, which is not represented in the Neilsen and RIAA reports.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, Ryan Milan of Catonsville stopped by to look at some used speakers. He started flipping through a collection of CDs.

Now & Then isn't just filled with records and CDs, but also memorabilia, instruments, movies and vintage equipment, such as eight-track players, and the jukebox in the back. The shop reminded Milan, who is a DJ, of the music stores he frequented in the 1990s.

“I miss this,” he said.

He would spend hours back in the day talking with people at music stores. Changing times and online music put many of those places out of business, but after 16 years, Sanford's shop remains.

“This stuff brings me right back in,” Milan said, looking around the store.

Record stores throughout Baltimore held events for Record Store Day, from The Sound Garden in Fells Point, which was to host an in-store performance by the band Vandaveer, to celebrated summer records on Falls Road in Hampden, complete with Charmington's coffee and Headbanging Hotdogs's vegan wieners.

These stores hark back to an earlier era of independent stores, before corporate chains took over with mall stores and the market was further diluted by mass merchandisers such as Walmart, not to mention the rise of the internet. Some independents survived, offering patrons diversity and a sense of discovery, as well as the joy of sharing their passion with like-minded people.

That community vibe is part of the appeal at Trax on Wax in Catonsville.

“People just like spending time here and talking about music,” owner Gary Gebler said.

On a recent afternoon, record collector Chris Zenos of Silver Spring came by to look through Trax on Wax's collection of doo-wop records. While she shopped, she chatted with employees.

“I love records,” said Zenos, who has a collection of more than 20,000 albums.

It's the hunt that appeals to her, she said, digging through a crate filled with albums, in search of an elusive gem.

In addition to doo-wop, her favorite genres are R&B and blues.

In explaining the difference between vinyl and digital recordings, Gebler made a comparison to an electrocardiogram — the medical procedure that measures a person's heart rate.

With vinyl, you hear the high highs and the low lows, Gebler said. The sound would be a wave on that machine. Digital sound would be flat.

“A digital recording is like when you're dead,” he said. “It's just a flat line.”

“Day One, I knew that's what I wanted to do with my life,” said Gebler of his chosen career, which extends back more than four decades to his days working at the old Baltimore chain Music Liberated. “It's funny — I'm 58 now, and my day hasn't changed a bit since I was 15.”

Over the years he worked as a manager for companies including Sam Goody and Record & Tape Traders before opening his own shop on Frederick Road in 2009.

Since then, he's tracked the upward trend in vinyl sales.

Classic rock is a big seller, and it remains a topic of conversation among customers in the store.

“The stuff that they remember from high school and middle school,” Gebler said. “It makes them happy; you can see their whole demeanors change from a bad day to a good day.”

The growing popularity of older music on vinyl has translated into increased interest in recordings of new music in that format. And, Gebler said, such sales have picked up in the past year or two.

Record Store Day does a good job bringing attention to small stores, he added. Like other shops, Trax on Wax was to offer some of the limited releases coming out April 16.

The store may be crowded, but the vibe is always good.

“But people are very patient. They're in a party kind of festive mood,” Gebler said. “They have fun while they're waiting in line.”