Hi All,
I've read this morning on another forum that MDT Classics has gone into receivership. Very sad news.
Not sure where the best place for this posting is so if it is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it!
That's sad. I used to but a lot of CDs through them. Very reliable.
The web site is certainly down. What a shame. Just shows the pressures that there are on CD retailers these days, although I was reading only the other day that "classical music sales" (whatever that may mean) were substantially up last year.
Yeah, even though I'm in the US they were often the cheapest when making larger orders. All that's left now is ImportCDs really.
Man I long for the days of AllBooks (I think it was called)....heh.
I had noticed that the website had been down for the last week..too bad, I was about to make a rather substantial order, my last before Brexit...
I had assumed it was just a website problem, but their phone's been unavailable too. Of course, there's always Europadisc...
Here's confirmation of MDT's demise:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3193757 (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3193757)
What does receivership mean? The same as bankruptcy? I've a pending order with them...
I'm sorry to hear that. Does this help?>>
https://www.realbusinessrescue.co.uk/articles/business-insolvency/administration-and-receivership (https://www.realbusinessrescue.co.uk/articles/business-insolvency/administration-and-receivership)
Presto Classical also offer CDs (and downloads) at competitive prices (similar to Amazon) and I believe our dear friends at MusicWeb are also into the business of supplying CDs too. Not trying to start a list here of CD suppliers, just to broaden out a bit from Alan's comment.
Sad as it is to see them go (I too have bought quite a few from them in the past), we still have a lively market (for now anyway) to choose from.
Cheers
Richard
Presto are too pricey, in my experience. Europadisc are more competitive in general. I rarely buy from Amazon themselves - marketplace sellers are cheaper.
Does anyone have any idea how to retrieve wish lists that were on the site? I had them email my old one (going back 10 years with roughly 100 items on it) several months ago when the site changed, but trashed the email when I reentered all the things on the list. Now I have no idea how to get the wishlist from the old MDT site, or from gmail? Any ideas? Thanks.
The web site seems to permanently down, the company seems to have ceased trading and be in liquidation. Sorry, but I'd say that your chances are very slim unless the business is rescued, which looks unlikely. It might be worth contacting the liquidator (see this: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3193757 (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3193757)), but I doubt that they'd give it any priority as they're generally only interested in financial matters.
Quote from: StCheryl on Tuesday 29 January 2019, 04:42
Does anyone have any idea how to retrieve wish lists that were on the site? I had them email my old one (going back 10 years with roughly 100 items on it) several months ago when the site changed, but trashed the email when I reentered all the things on the list. Now I have no idea how to get the wishlist from the old MDT site, or from gmail? Any ideas? Thanks.
Defunct websites are archived from time to time. You can try accessing snapshots of the pages via archive.org and see if it's possible to find your list there (if it's through a customer account page this likely won't work). See the link:
https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.mdt.co.uk/ (https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.mdt.co.uk/)
Thanks for your help with this. I will try the archived website idea. And maybe if I contact the liquidator and cry I can get 1 minute of access to the site... :D
Alan,
Tks for the update that Europadisc are probably cheaper - worth knowing for any future purchases.
Cheers
Richard
I use many different sites in countries to purchase CDs. I'm so sad about MDT, which was a great one in the UK, and I also have lost a wish list of about 100 items. I have been adding to it for so long, and assumed it would stay, as the MDT website was just changed. UGH!
The lesson is: write everything down on paper. I've learned this from bitter experience too.
I used MDT not to buy CDs but to track upcoming new recordings not out yet, especially of all sorts of unusual classical (of course, if I'd bought a CD or two from them they might have lasted longer, moreso if more people who think and act as I do did...) Fortunately for me selfishly there are other sites similar to MDT that still provide this service, it seems.
I bought the vast majority of the CDs I wanted from them; their prices were competitive and service excellent. Still, for us in the UK, at least there's Europadisc and Presto...
In five years' time, will Amazon have the monopoly, though?
No idea. Personally I suspect most of the predictions I made about 2019 in 2014 were extremely wrong, so I won't try to guess.
Well to me it seems that the huge push toward large box sets (be they be for composers, orchestras, conductors or performers) in the past few years far beyond those that have been in previous years is a clear sign they are aiming to, as it were, close the book on releasing (past?) stuff on CD. Just my own gut feeling, especially since apparently a lot of the CD pressing plants have shut down recently.
Oh, I'm sure it'll be a download-only industry in a few years' time. Mind you, sales of e-readers seem to have slowed, with people continuing to prefer actual, physical books, so who knows...
You're right, I'm sure, although UK classical CD sales rose by 10% last year (https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/uk-classical-recordings-saw-10-per-cent-rise-in-sales-last-year). Unfortunately CD sales generally have plummeted across the world, so the end is undoubtedly nigh.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Monday 25 February 2019, 10:27
Oh, I'm sure it'll be a download-only industry in a few years' time. Mind you, sales of e-readers seem to have slowed, with people continuing to prefer actual, physical books, so who knows...
The relation between book and e-book sales has always been less than straightforward, and e-book sales are still on the rise. The decline in sales of specialized e-readers is real, but this doesn't appear to apply to high-end devices so much as to entry-level readers. Rather than to a newfound fondness for paper books, this is probably more due to the use of ever larger smartphone screens, with screen sizes approaching and sometimes surpassing those of smaller and cheaper e-readers.Bit of a nitpick, sorry. On with music.