Here is some advice to help save you from giving a gift that will be met with hipster indifference.

A WORD ON COLLECTIBLES Making any gift special means knowing your audience. Why does the recipient like records? Is it for the suitable-for-display cover artwork? That person might like a picture disc, colored vinyl or a gimmicky record jacket. Is the pleasure in playing records at gatherings with friends? That kind of listener might be happy with a standard pressing by a favorite artist. Or is it about serious listening? That person might like a high-fidelity pressing.

In any case, you’ll need to know the recipient’s favorite artist or genre. Or you can always resort to buying an album that was a chart topper on a significant date (note to those born the week of June 29, 1991: you’re getting “Slave to the Grind” by Skid Row).

Finally, there is collecting and there is speculating. If you are buying records as an investment you may be disappointed. “Collectibles in general, you can’t anticipate what will be valuable,” said Terry Stewart, chief executive of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, and owner of “hundreds of thousands of records,” he said. To be valuable, a record must be rare and in demand, which is hard to know in advance. The best bet is to give what someone enjoys, regardless of investment value. At worst, he is stuck with a record he loves.

FOR THE OBJECT COLLECTOR Not everybody collects records for the sound quality, which is often described as richer, smoother and warmer than CDs or digital tracks. Of visitors to the Hall of Fame’s gift shop who buy vinyl, Mr. Stewart said: “Half the kids are buying them to listen to; half are buying them as artifacts.” Artifact collectors might appreciate an album frame for displaying that Captain Beyond 3-D cover on the wall.

Finding picture discs, which have artwork embedded in the disc itself, is easy on Amazon’s new vinyl records department. Scroll down to the Vinyl Search box in the left column and type in “picture disc.” A recent check returned more than 4,300 results, from Cream’s “Disraeli Gears” ($25) to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” ($15).