Record Stores face extinction

[JeanieStar]

Originally Posted by Mouse

gimmie a CD copy anyday over a low quality MP3 that can be deleted with a mouse click

Exactly... The delete button is like the ultimate bargain bin... Buy a song for 79p and then if you don't like it..... delete.

I think it depends on how you've been introduced to the whole listening to music thing. If you were first given vinyl you might feel some sort of attachment to that, same with cds (or even tapes). Today's young music listeners are sooooo clued up that buying music with a click of a mouse is not an alien concept. I'm not saying it is to any of us, I'm just saying that I think it's weird to pay for a whole album that you don't even get to hold it.

It might depend on lifestyle choices though. You know, the convenience of purchasing online or just picking up a copy when you're doing your weekly shop in Asda. I like browsing through cds looking for a bargain or a gem. OneUp and Avalanche are really good for that. And you don't feel pestered or watched on, like in HMV etc.

[Original Spies]

It'd be a grand shame if record stores did lose out to digital releasing. MP3's are so volatile and can easily corrupt or be deleted. How can you pay money for something so disposable? Besides, MP3's are such an inferior quality output and it really renders great production completely redundant. Are bands and artists going to continue to record and produce their records at top quality levels if they are to just be compressed to a scrappy, tinbox treblefest format? Sure, I have an MP3 player for when I'm on the go but it doesn't compare to a CD or a record playing on a Stereo. It has no character or warmth.

Television is striving to make the quality of the picture better and better at a ridiculous pace. Why is audio output going backwards?


But it's not just the quality of the file. You don't get the awesome packaging or the mindless browsing in record shops, or the buying records on a whim because it's on a cool label, or someone from some other band played drums on it, or because the artwork is just fucking great. You get 10 or 12 files in your My Music folder, and your CD rack is empty. You don't get to browse through the inlay on the bus home, or fight with those shitty annoying white things at the top of the jewelcase, tearing it off and sticking it to the unsderside of a bus seat. You just get 80MB less of your hard drive and quality that sounds not dissimilar to the shit those neds play on their phones on the bus.

It's just not the same. It's crappy.

[Inkster]

Originally Posted by Original Spies

It'd be a grand shame if record stores did lose out to digital releasing. MP3's are so volatile and can easily corrupt or be deleted. How can you pay money for something so disposable? Besides, MP3's are such an inferior quality output and it really renders great production completely redundant. Are bands and artists going to continue to record and produce their records at top quality levels if they are to just be compressed to a scrappy, tinbox treblefest format? Sure, I have an MP3 player for when I'm on the go but it doesn't compare to a CD or a record playing on a Stereo. It has no character or warmth.

Television is striving to make the quality of the picture better and better at a ridiculous pace. Why is audio output going backwards?


But it's not just the quality of the file. You don't get the awesome packaging or the mindless browsing in record shops, or the buying records on a whim because it's on a cool label, or someone from some other band played drums on it, or because the artwork is just fucking great. You get 10 or 12 files in your My Music folder, and your CD rack is empty. You don't get to browse through the inlay on the bus home, or fight with those shitty annoying white things at the top of the jewelcase, tearing it off and sticking it to the unsderside of a bus seat. You just get 80MB less of your hard drive and quality that sounds not dissimilar to the shit those neds play on their phones on the bus.

It's just not the same. It's crappy.

Well said

[Lucky Rathen]

How to watch the market:

Rule 1 - If Richard Branson sells all his interest in something, the bottom is about to fall out of it.

"Why hello Mr Zavvi, how would you like to buy all my record shops?"

[CRANIAL_MIND]

i never think my mp3's sound much worse than the proper CD version, really youd have to get pretty anal about it to notice, and if it doesnt sound AS good, at least i dont have to walk about with 150 cd's in my backpack........because its all on my mp3!

[GavH]

Originally Posted by CRANIAL_MIND

i never think my mp3's sound much worse than the proper CD version, really youd have to get pretty anal about it to notice, and if it doesnt sound AS good, at least i dont have to walk about with 150 cd's in my backpack........because its all on my mp3!

im with u on this one.yeah ok mp3 might have a bit of deteroration in quality but its not that bad that it completetly ruins a song.if a band i really like bring out a new album then yeah i like to have it on cd cause its looks good sitting there in the collection will all the others but if iv only heard 1 or 2 tracks of some new band the last thing i want to do is drive through to aberdeen or wait about 5 days for it to arrive through the post just to discover i dont like it so i just download it and then if i do like then i'll think about picking it up the next time im in abdn

[Original Spies]

Ripping your own CD's to MP3 is a completely different kettle of fish to ALL music releases becoming digital only. I'm all for MP3 if it's as a back-up format, to put on your computer or MP3 player ripped directly from your CD's and records, but when it shifts completely to just ONE output, then that's just not right. People who don't have the internet are alienated. The figure of how many people have the internet is staggeringly high, but there are still a shit tonne of people who don't. Are they not allowed to buy music? The people who don't have an MP3 player; are they only allowed to listen to music through their Soundblaster 1.1 and Tinbox speakers?

And I can definitely tell the difference when I plug my MP3 player into my stereo in comparison to playing a CD on it. It clips at higher volumes, as I like it loud! But that's not the point. It's still a deterioation in quality, and a step backwards for technology. It doesn't make sense.

[Alan Cynic]

I think downloading can make for lazy listening, too. With an album, often some songs take a lot of plays before they really sink in. I've seen me coming back to an old album and suddenly 'getting' a song I hadn't give a really careful listen to at first......so, if I was only downloading I wouldn't have picked them in the first place. Plus, really good albums have sequenced the songs so that they fit well alongside the others.

I like a record shop where they have new releases which I really want.....it doesn't happen often in HMV or Zavvi. It still happens sometimes in One-Up, but I've got a wee list to take with me when I visit Monorail on Sunday....hopefully they'll stock some of my 'wants'. The last place I visited which seemed to really cater for me was Alt.Vinyl in Newcastle, which I visited last year.

[Old Gold]

Originally Posted by Original Spies

You just get 80MB less of your hard drive and quality that sounds not dissimilar to the shit those neds play on their phones on the bus.

If that's not total exaggeration, you could probably do with trying a different mp3 downloading thingumy. I download the odd album to play at neighbour-friendly volume and don't notice any real difference.

I think the customer service in good record shops needs to be emphasized. I got some marvelously enthusiastic Stevie Wonder advice yesterday that you just don't get anywhere else.

[Alan Cynic]

Where was Stevie working?