Retro Technology is Making a Comeback.

In a wave that surprised retailers this year, holiday shoppers went for retro technology in a BIG way. While the final figures will not be in until next year, the figures so far have been astonishing startups and veteran merchandisers alike.

For example, according to early Amazon sales statistics, one of the hottest music technology items this December has been record players — the kind that actually play the old LP vinyl records. Several brands of record players, such as Samsung, flew off of Amazon’s shelves so fast that the company could not keep up with demand. The Chinese factory that supplies most of the parts had to put on a third shift at their plant in Shanghai.

This in turn has led to an upsurge in the pressing and reissuing of LP classics by the likes of Nat King Cole, Carly Simon, and Bing Crosby.

Rotary dial phones, extinct since the 1990s, have also roared back into favor with Generation X’ers — who apparently are nostalgic for the chance to exercise their index fingers.

And transistor radios, once as ubiquitous with teenagers as pimples, are making a huge dent in the broadcasting tech market. In some countries, like Japan, they never went out of style, and this year they became once again a staple for stocking stuffers in the United States.