Music download sites offering CD quality.
 

In article , Rob
wrote:
Michael Chare wrote:

Where I live, in the local town Smiths no longer sell CDs, Woolies
has closed, so that just leaves the local CD/record shop.

What I would like to know is where all the Smiths customers have gone.
Are they just not buying music and spending their money in other
things, or are they all using downloads?


I'm surprised nobody seems to have looked for an answer to that - must
be worth billions to someone or other.

I have assumed that the trend is for people to buy CDs via the net. I took
to buying that way some years ago. The range 'in stock' is bigger, the
prices tend to be lower. There are also some specialist dealers who can
advise, and give more attentive and knowledgeable service for particular
minority tastes.

I used to buy from a local shop. But that was eventually made impractical
due to the arrogance of the music companies and wholesalers. In particular
their imposing a requirement for a 'minimum order' of many units. If you
ordered 1 CD from the shop they could only get it by buying a batch of many
CDs from the source.

So unless the shop was buying in large numbers from the source that meant
buying a lot of stock on a speculative basis. Then multiply that problem by
the number of small classical/jazz labels...

That might have been OK for bigger shops selling pop music. But for small
classical or jazz shops it became impractical.

I did wonder if the behaviour was an unfair trade practice. But even if
not, it did seem another example of the big music companies treating their
customers arrogantly, and shooting themselves in the foot in the process.
They whined about the net, but were making it harder to buy their CDs.

For a year or two I accepted that the local shop would get things, but that
I might have to wait a month or two until they had collected enough ordered
items for a batch from the relevant wholesaler. But in the end the shop
also said that this was clearly madness and that I might as well buy via
the net. The shop still sells classical CDs and will order - warning you
about the problem. They also now sell art supplies, sheet music, etc. Had
to diversify as selling CDs as the main living became impossible for them
due to the above imposed requirements by wholesalers.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Music download sites offering CD quality.
 

"Michael Chare" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in message
...


Not so sure about the 'handful of record shops' quip though - maybe on
the
streets, but a Google search 'LP Records' yields 35,400,00 results
worldwide
and 1,370,00 UK only. That is no less than 52 pages of UK results and
record
dealers and traders appear to constitute the majority of the entries
returned - all the way through and up to the very last result which is
someone flogging records in Edinburgh:


Where I live, in the local town Smiths no longer sell CDs, Woolies has
closed, so that just leaves the local CD/record shop.



Where I live (St Neots, Cambs) I don't think we have a Smith's, Woolies
closed down and the ratty little CD/record shop all but fell down! So, I'm
not sure there is actually anywhere you can buy CDs, other than the many
(6,7, or even 8?) Charity Shops where, of course, you can also buy LPs at a
quid a pop or cheaper - according to current stock levels and the need to
clear shelf space at any one time!!



What I would like to know is where all the Smiths customers have gone.
Are they just not buying music and spending their money in other things,
or are they all using downloads?


Well, if it's anything like St Neots, I'd say most people actually still
buying CDs do so down the pub of an evening....

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

What I would like to know is where all the Smiths customers have gone.
Are they just not buying music and spending their money in other
things, or are they all using downloads?


Well, if it's anything like St Neots, I'd say most people actually still
buying CDs do so down the pub of an evening....

This is completely irrelevant, but I recently had cause to look at the
cover of my (first) vinyl copy of "Rio", to see when I bought it.

When I was a young teenager, I was in the habit of writing on the sleeve
the date and various other details of the purchase.

So it turns out that according to my 13-year-old-teenager's carefully
inscribed-in-rollerball notes, I bought it on the 20-somethingth (forget
now) of March, 1985, from W.H.Smith, in The Pentagon Centre, in Chatham,
Kent.

It was weird seeing my own writing from when I was about a third of my
current age. It was written there in the hope and anticipation that I
would go back and read it again when I was much older, and so I have.
It was like a message to myself in the distant future!

I doubt that that W.H.Smith shop even still exists as such, now.


Martin

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

"Fleetie" wrote in message
...
What I would like to know is where all the Smiths customers have gone.
Are they just not buying music and spending their money in other
things, or are they all using downloads?


Well, if it's anything like St Neots, I'd say most people actually still
buying CDs do so down the pub of an evening....

This is completely irrelevant, but I recently had cause to look at the
cover of my (first) vinyl copy of "Rio", to see when I bought it.



Why is that 'irrelevant'....??

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Fleetie" wrote in message
...
What I would like to know is where all the Smiths customers have gone.
Are they just not buying music and spending their money in other
things, or are they all using downloads?


Well, if it's anything like St Neots, I'd say most people actually still
buying CDs do so down the pub of an evening....

This is completely irrelevant, but I recently had cause to look at the
cover of my (first) vinyl copy of "Rio", to see when I bought it.



Why is that 'irrelevant'....??


And how about *starting* a thread for a change, instead of hijacking
somebody else's?

(Only just noticed....!!)

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

In article ,
Keith G wrote:
Why is that 'irrelevant'....??


And how about *starting* a thread for a change, instead of hijacking
somebody else's?

(Only just noticed....!!)

Yet another example of how you think you own this group...

--
*If a thing is worth doing, wouldn't it have been done already?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Keith G wrote:
Why is that 'irrelevant'....??


And how about *starting* a thread for a change, instead of hijacking
somebody else's?

(Only just noticed....!!)

Yet another example of how you think you own this group...



Wot a seriously queer little ****er you are!

Tell you what sonny, you have the *power* (I grant it you) - you can tell me
to **** off *right now* and I'll go and you can have the place all to
yourself.

(Last time I threw that wide open the only one to tell me to **** off was a
nonentity who I suspect was Fleetie under an assumed name! :-)

Only say the word, Poochie Poos....

LOL!!




--
*If a thing is worth doing, wouldn't it have been done already?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

Keith G wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Keith G wrote:
Why is that 'irrelevant'....??


And how about *starting* a thread for a change, instead of hijacking
somebody else's?

(Only just noticed....!!)

Yet another example of how you think you own this group...



Wot a seriously queer little ****er you are!

Tell you what sonny, you have the *power* (I grant it you) - you can
tell me to **** off *right now* and I'll go and you can have the place
all to yourself.

(Last time I threw that wide open the only one to tell me to **** off
was a nonentity who I suspect was Fleetie under an assumed name! :-)

Eh what?

Stop throwing my name around.

Now.


Martin

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

In article ,
Keith G wrote:

Tell you what sonny, you have the *power* (I grant it you) - you can
tell me to **** off *right now* and I'll go and you can have the place
all to yourself.

Seriously, Keith, seek treatment.

--
*If you don't pay your exorcist you get repossessed.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Vinyl Memories From W.H.Smith
 

In article ,
Fleetie wrote:
(Last time I threw that wide open the only one to tell me to **** off
was a nonentity who I suspect was Fleetie under an assumed name! :-)

Eh what?

Stop throwing my name around.

Now.

His paranoia gets worse by the minute.

--
*The first rule of holes: If you are in one, stop digging!

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.