record stores where Art thou?

CryojenX

The sound shop in our local mall is closing down for business. Ordinarily this probably wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that it is literally the last record store in my entire city. I mean it's not even a good one, but still the fact has me seriously bummed and I'm not really sure why. I absolutely hate purchasing downloads online because it doesn't matter whether it's MP3 or MP4 files, they still sound like garbage compared to the CD.

This leaves me with the only option being purchasing online from places like Amazon.com and CD baby, then I have to pay for shipping and still wait several days to even get to listen to it. Not only that but the local music community is now a little bit smaller. It makes me feel old, and I'm only 33. Does anybody else feel like this?

mookeywrench

nope....thankfully

Fred Mosquito

Absolutely... its not too bad here in the uk but we are rapidly loosing all the cool indipendent record stores, you know the ones where you get to know the staff & they are people who are really into music. I'm quite lucky, my local town still has an amazing record store that has pleenty of vinyl & sells tickets to all gigs in the surrounding area, its my number one place to hang out when I go into town shopping.

Dont know about where you are (guess your in US due to your use of the word mall) but I do use amazon for some stuff & they deliver quick & for free on any order over £5.

CryojenX

I live in one of the cities with that was obliterated by hurricane Katrina, our local economy never had a chance to recover before the recession hit.

Attaway77

I'm one year younger then you and I tell you what I have dropped endless amounts of money on cd's in my life (cd's were what ruled the world) but now it's digital and downloads etc... And I'm glad it is. I much prefer to spend a few dollars for some songs off an album then purchase the whole damn thing.... Sucks your local shop is going away but it won't be the last.. You gotta get in the digital world for your music, but always keep the love for vinyl.... That's what makes a local music store fun... AND RELAX, YOUR 33.. THAT'S A GREAT NUMBER TO BE IN LIFE...

toodee

In Australia, we aren't losing record stores, but we are losing record store chains. In the 1990s, every city had four or five record store chains within its boundaries. However, over the past 10 years, this has shrunk to two; Sanity and JB Hi Fi.

I live in North Queensland and my only choice is one of these two McMusic stores (no cool independent stores here dammit ), whereas ten years ago, I had a choice of four chain stores.

By the way, If you think 33 is old, Jesus Christ was 33 when he died

Digital Twilight

Absolutley. In my town there is only 1 HMV and thats it and the prices they sometime charge is rediculous. £16 for Ben Harper and the Relentless 7? Its just a bog standard cd but at that price its not hard to figure out why people are downloading is it?

We used to have a great independent vinyl store in the market but that didn't last long. I remeber they had Vitalogy on Vinyl but i didnt get chance to get it.

dottles

We've not got anywhere which sells music in my town other thanthe top 20 albums in supermarkets in my town. In Truro, 11 miles away there is a HMV but thats about your lot in the county really, other than a second hand shop which sells some old vinyl but mainly CDs, DVDs and games.

Digital Twilight

Internet is so much cheaper and amazon marketplace is a great place to get cheap cds and they do downloads for about £4 an album so its not really worth shopping in store anymore.

Fred Mosquito

We've not got anywhere which sells music in my town other thanthe top 20 albums in supermarkets in my town. In Truro, 11 miles away there is a HMV but thats about your lot in the county really, other than a second hand shop which sells some old vinyl but mainly CDs, DVDs and games.

Fair trade for living in one of the most beautiful places in the country though, I love Cornwall.

dpmay

Digital Twilight wrote:

Internet is so much cheaper and amazon marketplace is a great place to get cheap cds and they do downloads for about £4 an album so its not really worth shopping in store anymore.

i dunno man, i think we all lose a little something when there isn't a cool local place to pick up music, meet people, talk about music - FACE TO FACE. the boards are great and all, but...

also, there's nothing like heading to the record shop and not knowing what you'll come home with. when you're shopping online, you're pretty much always looking for something specific...

Got a hard hard head

Attaway77 wrote:

I'm one year younger then you and I tell you what I have dropped endless amounts of money on cd's in my life (cd's were what ruled the world) but now it's digital and downloads etc... And I'm glad it is. I much prefer to spend a few dollars for some songs off an album then purchase the whole damn thing.... Sucks your local shop is going away but it won't be the last.. You gotta get in the digital world for your music

Although it's a case of having to, I'm not a fan of the digital music scene. I think albums being released on download takes away all the anticipation and excitement of album releases, especially as most people will already have heard the album via leaks months beforehand.

nuffingman

We used to have 4 places to buy CDs in our town but now have just one supermarket that sells top 20. This is fine if you have the musical taste of a newt. We have an HMV about 15 miles away in a large town but that's it. I think a lot of the not so hi profile bands will suffer as a lot of my collection has been built while browsing in shops, hearing stuff playing (which was how I became a PJ fan) and talking to the staff.

I don't want to download mp3s or browse the likes of Amazon. It's not the same.

red mos

It really does kind of suck that the indie shops are becoming few and far between. I love the atmosphere that they have. The vintage band t shirts, the incense smell (alot of them do), the posters and the obscure record find here and there. I got "Mirrorball" at one of these shops- couldn't find it elsewhere at the time, same with Mad season.

I had a feeling though with the invention of the cd burner, and the birth of digital downloads for Ipods, I knew it was only a matter of time before the indie shops were going to be hard to find. They closed the cd wharehouse on our college campus about a year and a half ago. The lady that ran it had some bad ass stuff there too, and got me into some great local bands- another reason indie shops are cool.

Sadly, the internet and online purchases and digital downloads have become the present music purchasing trend.

I like it too, though cause it is easily accessible. I mean you hear about a song on here for example; want to check it out, and buy it on itunes for a dollar.

Digital Twilight

dpmay wrote:

Digital Twilight wrote:

Internet is so much cheaper and amazon marketplace is a great place to get cheap cds and they do downloads for about £4 an album so its not really worth shopping in store anymore.

i dunno man, i think we all lose a little something when there isn't a cool local place to pick up music, meet people, talk about music - FACE TO FACE. the boards are great and all, but...

also, there's nothing like heading to the record shop and not knowing what you'll come home with. when you're shopping online, you're pretty much always looking for something specific...

I do agree with you but there aint anything like that here. And even if tere was if its £4 on internet and £15 in store im going with the internet.

dcfaithful

Record stores are always one of the places I go when visiting new cities. We just lost a good one here in SLC though :(...R.I.P. The Record Collector.

Some of the better ones I've been to:

Charlamagne - Brimingham, AL
Easy Street - Seattle, WA
Wuxtry Records - Athens, GA
Randy's Records - SLC, UT

Pepe Silvia

for online stores i think two if by sea, insound and aural exploits are really good, easy street records online is pretty decent, too.

for used and some new musicstack and discogs .com have sellers from all over the world, i've gotten some great stuff for pretty cheap from those 2 sites

luckily i have 3 record stores in my town, 2 have a great selection, the other not so much unless you like metal (though i did get some Laura Nyro albums in their $1 bin). 1 of them helps put on a lot of shows and had a 3 day music festival with Kurt Vile & the Violators, Akron/Family, Bonnie Prince Billy, the War on Drugs....