Retail

[giles.enders]

For me, there is nothing as good as browsing in record stores, new or second hand and finding something that I have missed or it could be an impulse buy and going home and playing it.  I get a real buzz from that. 

[Alan Howe]

For me that particular buzz disappeared when I saw what I would have to pay (i.e. in comparison to online prices); the only pleasure now derives from finding a true bargain at one of these stores. But then, I haven't lived within easy reach of a decent large retailer for thirty years...

[TerraEpon]

Yeah, once online shopping became easier, I mainly only bought at sales (like Borders common buy 3 get one free types)....I would often like the BROWSING factor though, especially in the case to see what pakaging looks like in some cases, of all thing....

[oldman]

Online purchases are especially compelling pricewise if you are just doing mp3 downloads. For instance I just paid $7.99 US for the downloads of the two Henk Badings symphonies CD's on CPO. The cheapest I can find the physical CD's for is $16.98 US.

I used to wax nostalgic about browsing for music, but the reality is that I'm getting older and the schlep over to the last record store left in the area where I work (Academy Records in NYC) is too far to be worth the possiility of coming back empty handed.

 

[febnyc]

Online purchases are especially compelling pricewise if you are just doing mp3 downloads. For instance I just paid $7.99 US for the downloads of the two Henk Badings symphonies CD's on CPO. The cheapest I can find the physical CD's for is $16.98 US.

The site www.importcds.com has the Badings discs for about $11.00 each.

http://www.importcds.com/Search/Results?type=18&searchtext=henk+badings

I used to wax nostalgic about browsing for music, but the reality is that I'm getting older and the schlep over to the last record store left in the area where I work (Academy Records in NYC) is too far to be worth the possiility of coming back empty handed.

Ain't it the truth?  Unrewarded steps become too valuable to waste at a certain time of life - even to search through the (diminishing) stock at Academy.

[TerraEpon]

Well $11 plus shipping of course.

I miss Alldirect.com, had most $18 discs for under $12 and free shipping for over $99.

[sdtom]

I received a digital download of Baddings 4th and 5th symphonies. I realize that Henk doesn't really fall into our respite but I'm trying to obtain a little more information about this Dutch composer who what little I did read about was in sympathy with the Nazis and his music was banned in the Netherlands. Of course when you get a download now from Naxos only the tracklisting and cover art are included.
Tom

[jdperdrix]

Of course when you get a download now from Naxos only the tracklisting and cover art are included.

I've not checked all Naxos CDs, but, even if you don't download them, you have access to the more-or-less extended leaflet on naxos.com. Check the "About this recording" link on the individual CD page.

[sdtom]

will give it a try but this is a CPO not a Naxos recording

[mjkFendrich]

will give it a try but this is a CPO not a Naxos recording

CPO digital downloads are often available from eclassical, including booklets in PDF, as is the case with the new Badings release:

http://www.eclassical.com/shop/17115/art20/4970720-88dc8d-761203766925.pdf

[sdtom]

This worked fine and I'll keep this site for future reference.

[Santo Neuenwelt]

It is not only London. It is everywhere---Vienna, New York, Chicago. The world is changing and the internet has killed many things besides brick and mortar CD shops. For example, how many people use travel agents to book flights, how many people use hard copy encyclopaedias versus Wikipedia etc, etc...

To give you some idea of music store changes, we used to search for sheet music in London. At that time, there was something called the 'Map of the Music Shops in the West End of London'. Look on this list and weep, only a few are still with us:

Boosey & Hawkes on Regent St, Chappells on Bond St, Schott on Marlborough, Universal Editions on Marlborough St, Edition Peters on Marlborough, Chester, Novello & Schirmer on Frith St, Lewington on Shaftsbury, Zwemmers on Litchfield, Howarths on Chiltern St, Chimes on several streets, Bosworths on Heddon St, Travis & Emerry on Cecil Court, Footes on Golden Sq, United Music Publishers on Rivington St, Folke on Regent St, Early Music Shop on Manningham Lane, Colliseum on St Martin's Lane, St Cecilia on Eversholt St, Parker on Chiltern St and Foyles copious selection.

In Vienna, it is the same. Doblinger's is still there but their wonderful Catacombs are gone. So are Robaschek and several other small shops. Doblinger's selection is limited compared to the past but at least they let you browse now rather than sending some poor soul in the back to find what you want. CD shops and selections are down. There is still Gramola am Graben and one or two others that are limping along. Prague is doing slightly better. In New York, Schirmers several shops and Padelsons are gone. In Chicago no more Lyon & Healy and Carl Fischer only one shop left, as for CDs almost all the superstores are gone. I could go on and on.

One can only hope that the internet will continue to preserve what limited opportunities we classical music afficionados have. It is our duty to support them or they too will disappear.

As for knowledgeable sales assistants, they haven't existed almost anywhere for a long time. Whether it is computers, restaurants, clothes etc, the buyer must come armed with the requisite knowledge of the products for which he or she searches because odds are, you will not get it from your sales assistant (one wonders what kind of assistance is on offer)

[MartinH]

I am very grateful that I lived during a time when there were real record stores that you could go in and browse, read jackets, even listen. And there were regular customers that you got to know and could talk about new recordings with. Buying from Records International, Amazon, JPC are all fine and good (the selection is amazing) but it's just not the same. Recently a young colleague came to the house to borrow some music. He had never seen the cd library - all 12000 or so. He spent hours going through seeing things he never knew existed. A lot of composers he had never heard of, unsurprisingly. He had to admit that using Pandora has left a huge hole in his background. Hang on to your CDs and LPs - take the monastic option. They will be valuable to someone, someday. I just hope they don't stop making cd players!

[sdtom]

They stopped making vhs players/recorders. Right now they are selling for under $10.00 at the thrift store were I work and I'm throwing away 10-15 a week. It doesn't pay to fix one and that being said extremely difficult to repair unless one wants to lose money at it. If your going to continue with CD's even after production stops I'd be prepared. I don't think it will have the same fate as vinyl as the downloads are far too similar to cd's.
Tom

[Alan Howe]

You can always play your CDs on a DVD player...