HMV Gone, but not forgotten
Really bored of hearing how CD is dying?
Rega are about to release a revised Planet CDP, Naim have just released the updated CD5i - now tell me CD is dying.
Why would I want to download a horrible MP3 or AAC when I can buy the CD, rip it to ALAC then have best of both worlds.
I really think CD is here for a long time to come yet!
Just a shame it hasnt been used to its full potential by mastering engineers apart from a few!
I have some great sounding CDS, they are convenient too.
My whole CD library is on my Hard Drive and streamed to my DAC for convenience, but a lot of time I put a CD in my CDP!
Well said that Man!
Must agree, Tower Records in Picadilly is missed badly. I used to get lost there for hours, walk out to find darkness.
Real shame about HMV, I found some of my favourite bands there. Not knowing, just browsing, buying albums for the covers. Getting a feel of the cd. I remember certain CDs had a distinct smell too. Most of the time I lucked out and got some super suprising cool music.
Generations to come will never be able to do this.... though some may think this may be a good thing.
I was never one of those people who hated shopping for music.
Shopping for it and browsing round the store was part of the experience for me.
Taking it home, unwrapping it, putting it on the TT or CDP for the first time. Brilliant.
Clicking 'Buy Now' and watching it download, losslessly or not, is not the same.
Sorry. I for one will miss physical stores and physical media.
Is it a generation thing? Maybe, maybe not.
I'm as responsible as anyone for the demise of the record store... Now As a visually impaired person, it is great to be able to go onto Amazon, listen to clips, buy and wait for the CD to arrive by post to my door, still enjoying that physical thrill of unwrapping an album.
The problem is, now the competition has gone, watch the online prices rise!
Mac
There are afew record stores left in London, from an article in the evening standard, some vinyl only: Haggle Vinyl, 114 Essex Road, N1. Rough Trade East, 91 Brick Lane, E1, Harold Moores Records, 2 Great Marlborough Str. W1, Flashback Records, 50 Essex Rd, E1, Sister Ray, 34 Berwick Str, W1. Ray's Jazz is still going to.
So Essex Road looks a good place to visit. Then down Brick Lane and have a curry after.
I use HMV fairly regularly and would miss them. I try - like with books - to give the shops a chance first and then use Amazon as a 'fall back' if I can't find what I want.
I have spent £49 since Tuesday in HMV (a bit more than usual) to give a bit of support to our local branch.
I always pop in and look around, bought another G N R rock t-shirt the other day, and did go in this week to buy a Thin Lizzy one too but could not find one!
I worked at Our Price from 1989 - 1995. It finally went bust in 2004, and I have no idea what it was like in the final years, but the rot had already set in by 1995. The hierachy became so obsessed with competing with the supermarkets, that the choice they offered was reduced, it just became almost anti-music. We had to play chart music all day long, with certain cds having to be played at certain times of the day, I hated it at the end.
Went to Tower then, but not in a shop, in an office. Tower was run by music enthusiast, and virtually all of it's staff were obsessed with music, this is why Tower Piccadilly Circus was such a good store for real music fans. Unfortunately, Tower had no business model, no business plan, and no chance of ever surviving.
HMV I think was somewhere inbetween Tower and Our Price, but I think it lost it's way somewhere along the line. I hope it can survive, but I fear it will be bought, asset stripped, and then chucked away, and we the tax payer will end up paying for the staff redundancies a la Comet.
Haven't read the posts on here, just wanted a moan really.
How could you forget HMV when they have been a pillar of maintaining an unacceptably high price on music and visual media. Even when other people saw which way the wind was blowing they still tried to squeeze the last farthing out of everything.
At this moment I don't know if it has been sold, but their reputation has been shot [if it still had a positive rep] by failing to honour gift vouchers. ALL those vouchers purchased in good faith around Xmas time gone down the crapper. It would have been a better bet to put a tenner in a Xmas card and run the gauntlet of the postal system.
Very sad for the staff, but good riddance to HMV.
The High Street is a victim of its own blandness, every high street having exactly the same lot of chain stores. And nothing of any interest. Many more chains are going to go bust, the likes of Argos I would imagine as their business models are out of date.
I buy all my stuff online, I positively hate going shopping, it's so dull. And to be honest the times I have been I haven't been able to find what I want. All so much easier online.
HMV as well as resting on their laurels, and Amazon paying no tax, and Tesco et al, has been blitzed by downloading and Spotify. It's probably a year since I bought a CD and I have a very expensive CDP. I still play them as they sound better than streamed music, but most of my listening these days is internet radio and spotify. This unfortunately will be the case for many people an will only increase as time goes on. I don't think there is a place for HMV any more, certainly not in its current form, maybe as a niche store but I struggle with seeing what that niche may be.
Haven't read the posts on here, just wanted a moan really.
How could you forget HMV when they have been a pillar of maintaining an unacceptably high price on music and visual media. Even when other people saw which way the wind was blowing they still tried to squeeze the last farthing out of everything.
At this moment I don't know if it has been sold, but their reputation has been shot [if it still had a positive rep] by failing to honour gift vouchers. ALL those vouchers purchased in good faith around Xmas time gone down the crapper. It would have been a better bet to put a tenner in a Xmas card and run the gauntlet of the postal system.
Very sad for the staff, but good riddance to HMV.
Oh I dunno, they are selling the Toy Story triple pack for £9 now!
And not allowing people to spend their gift cards is disgusting. Nothing short of stealing, I'm sure Deloitte will be handsomely remunerated.
Illegal downloading has played a major role imo, not just with HMV but Blockbuster as well. No one's mentioned that so far in this thread, so allow me to be the first. Add to that the outdated business-model of both outlets and you have recipe for disaster. Amazon is less hurt by illegal downloading than HMV and Blockbuster because their business model is different. But it hurts them nonthe less. I work in an office of 20 people (mostly females) and actually buying films and music is alien to at least a quarter of them, yet they've all got the latest releases on their devices.
The High Street is a victim of its own blandness, every high street having exactly the same lot of chain stores. And nothing of any interest. Many more chains are going to go bust, the likes of Argos I would imagine as their business models are out of date.
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This article sums it all up for me
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/jan/15/hmv-enters-administration?INTCMP=SRCH
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