Comments on: Shocking News: Record Stores Keep Closing

By: Cannot Find Server

Cannot Find Server — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:48:06 +0000

@Tippy and Bad Girl: Othermusic.com is my first stop online. Their selection's not as extensive as iTunes, almost by design (if it's even slightly successful in the mainstream, they don't have it), but it's all DRM-free. Lately they've been undercut by Amazon on price, but I like to support them on principle.

[digital.othermusic.com]

By: Tippy and Bad Girl

Tippy and Bad Girl — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:24:10 +0000

Ugh, my favorite record stores in my hometown and NYC have already closed. Is it that they're just not creative enough about changing their models? I'd feel bad about some of these stores closing, but you'd have to be a doof to base your business around people buying compact discs.

Is there a way for stores to break into the digital downloading market in kinda the same way that used bookstores use Amazon? I mean, if faced w/ buying a $.99 from iTunes or buying it from a record store's website, I know what my choice would be.

By: bcapirigi

bcapirigi — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:26:20 +0000

@Lucas Jensen: two or three mays ago. i also bought my first magnetic fields record there, shortly after they played at brown and made everybody sit on the cold floor.

By: G3K

G3K — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:19:27 +0000

The day I heard Hoodlums burned down was the saddest day of my life.

By: removed from the loop

removed from the loop — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:11:25 +0000

I actually live on top of a record store (which also rents movies) here in Blacksburg. I’ve been told that it wouldn’t be surprising to see it close in the near future.

By: Ned Raggett

Ned Raggett — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:57:12 +0000

@scott pgwp: Here in LA, I've returned to the act of shopping in a record store, thanks to Amoeba. The very act of sifting through bins and taking a chance on something is just an irreplacable feeling.

Amoeba's dollar bins are brilliant for that, for sure. That said I've cut down on that a lot myself just because I'm trying my best to get rid of CDs rather than accumulate them! But that's just a personal decision.

By: Handsome Pete

Handsome Pete — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:46:52 +0000

The record store in the Schine Student Center didn't even make it to the mp3 era.

However. Its going out of business sale netted me a few dozen compact discs. And the bulk of my Morrissey and Pizzicato Five collections.

I'd like to see record stores make it. But if they aren't going to. I'd like to benefit.

By: revmatty

revmatty — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:59:50 +0000

For at least the next decade there will remain a niche market for physical record stores. Zappa proposed a digital music delivery system back in 1990 that looks remarkably like Rhaphsody or Yahoo Music (technical details like ISDN lines aside).

He concluded that there would remain a strong enough demand for physical stores to support the indie stores because people like to fondle product and frankly you can't flip through the bins on a computer and come across something totally new and unexpected. Like finding a misfiled out of print Sonny Rollins for a steal of a price.

By: Cannot Find Server

Cannot Find Server — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:08:53 +0000

Wow. All I knew of record stores was mall stores until I visited Franklin Street when I was 14. Going from store to store opened my eyes. I still vividly remember the anti-Jesse Helms pamphlet that I picked up alongside the zines. I buy almost everything digitally now, but this really drives home what we’ve lost in the process.

By: Lucas Jensen

Lucas Jensen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 02:54:46 +0000

@bcapirigi: Wait, when did In Your Ear close? I bought my first Magnetic Fields record there.