The photos are grainy and often out of focus. The colors look faded. You can’t zoom and you can’t make extra prints without scanning. And the film is expensive.

Digital, the new instant photography, does it all better, faster and cheaper.

So why won’t Polaroid, which filed for bankruptcy in 2001, just go away?

One reason is that people love its imperfect look. Photographer Larry Fink says, “The color combines with soft focus to create images existing in the suspended time of a dream. The everyday appears to us as if from a great distance.”

At Fink’s blog, photographer Annalisa Gonnella says, “(Through) this faded, dull tone, you are instantly presented with the reverse of your vision, that is, with a memory.”

In fact, the Polaroid look is so popular it has inspired digital impersonators, such as the apps Polarize, Polarock and ShakeIt for smartphones, which allow users to give photos a similar retro look.

Plus, there is something about the Polaroid picture-taking experience. The camera ejecting the print. The image slowly and magically emerging before your eyes. Your hands cradling a just-happened moment in time. Polaroid, with all of its imperfections, provides a palpable experience that digital doesn’t.

Failure to address the impact of digital technology led to Polaroid’s bankruptcy. The company’s successors stopped making cameras in 2007 and film in 2009. Spurred on by nostalgic fans all over the world, The Impossible Project saved the last Polaroid film plant and restarted production. In early 2010, it announced the availability of a new analog instant film, saving millions of perfectly functioning Polaroid cameras from going obsolete. (Take a Polaroid snaps tour of The Impossible Project plant in the Netherlands here or buy film here.)

At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, Polaroid announced Lady Gaga will serve as special projects creative director, a move consistent with its history of featuring professional artists in its campaigns. She said, “I’m interested in bringing (Polaroid) back … (and) combining it with the digital era and making something new.”

So why is this analog dinosaur back from the dead?

First, it is one of the most recognized brands in the world. Second, its hopelessly square and muted look induces nostalgia. In these times, its familiarity is comforting. Third, it’s instant fun. At a party, you can hand people prints on the spot.

Fourth and most important, it has cracked the branding code. It is not the tangibles of the product — it is the intangibles of the experience.