"Iain Churches" wrote

I was amazed when David L said that he had no local record shop.
I have a dozen within 20 minutes of here,

Well let me see. 10 mins in one direction there's a small co-op, a post
office, a newsagents and a teashop. The post office does sell a few cheap
DVDs, but no audio. 10 minutes in the opposite direction there's a
post-office cum general store. 20 minutes away in yet another direction
there's a nice little town with a decent-sized co-op, a very good bookshop,
several charity shops, several banks, even two funeral directors, but no
record shops. Or 30 minutes away there's a bigger town, with expensive
parking. It's got a Maplins, several video-game shops and a whole street
full of mobile phone shops. It *did* have a very nice specialist classical
record shop, but that lost business to the on-line retailers and had to
close. There was also a Virgin Megastore (though I hardly ever went in, I
couldn't stand the place), I don't know what's happened to that. They may be
other record shops in back streets, I don't claim to know the town that
intimately, but certainly nothing in the town centre. Of course the big
out-of town supermarkets sell CDs now, there are a couple of those within 30
mins of me, but they only sell "chart" titles and I certainly don't regard
them as "record shops".

and CDON the online
supplier delivers in 24hrs,

It's years since I've bought any CDs other than from on-line retailers,
except for a few "small-label" CDs bought from stalls at shows.

There are already signs that the trend
will be towards specialised shops, selling only jazz. or classical
music. People seem to attach considerable importance
to "record shop browsing" Both Helsinki and Stockholm have
vinyl only shops, which seem to be doing well.

Both Helsinki and Stockholm are, so I'm lead to understand, quite large
cities. What may work in such places need not necessarily work in less
intensely populated areas.

David.

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote

I was amazed when David L said that he had no local record shop.
I have a dozen within 20 minutes of here,

Well let me see. 10 mins in one direction there's a small co-op, a post
office, a newsagents and a teashop. The post office does sell a few cheap
DVDs, but no audio. 10 minutes in the opposite direction there's a
post-office cum general store. 20 minutes away in yet another direction
there's a nice little town with a decent-sized co-op, a very good
bookshop,
several charity shops, several banks, even two funeral directors, but no
record shops. Or 30 minutes away there's a bigger town, with expensive
parking. It's got a Maplins, several video-game shops and a whole street
full of mobile phone shops. It *did* have a very nice specialist classical
record shop, but that lost business to the on-line retailers and had to
close. There was also a Virgin Megastore (though I hardly ever went in, I
couldn't stand the place), I don't know what's happened to that. They may
be
other record shops in back streets, I don't claim to know the town that
intimately, but certainly nothing in the town centre. Of course the big
out-of town supermarkets sell CDs now, there are a couple of those within
30
mins of me, but they only sell "chart" titles and I certainly don't regard
them as "record shops".

and CDON the online
supplier delivers in 24hrs,

It's years since I've bought any CDs other than from on-line retailers,
except for a few "small-label" CDs bought from stalls at shows.

There are already signs that the trend
will be towards specialised shops, selling only jazz. or classical
music. People seem to attach considerable importance
to "record shop browsing" Both Helsinki and Stockholm have
vinyl only shops, which seem to be doing well.

Both Helsinki and Stockholm are, so I'm lead to understand, quite large
cities. What may work in such places need not necessarily work in less
intensely populated areas.

David.

That's pretty much my experience too. London has several specialist record
(both CD and LP) shops, but once you get into the provinces, that's much
less frequent.

20 years ago, my local town in rural Suffolk had one specialist record shop,
one shop selling used LPs and a few CDs, and two stalls on the midweek and
Saturday markets selling a wide range of CDs. In addition there was a
monthly Record Fair in one of the small halls. This is in addition to Boots
and W H Smiths that had reasonable CD racks, mostly chart stuff but also
some jazz and classical, and the out-of-town supermarkets.

Now we have only Boots and Smiths with chart-only CDs, one music shop that
has a rack of Naxos CDs, a brand new HMV that has chart only CDs in a dark
corner, everything else is games or DVDs and several charity shops that have
endless copies of Leo Sayer and David Essex LPs, although occasionally I
find an LP worth buying.

Cambridge is 35 miles away, but they too have lost two decent record shops
in recent years, and anyway, parking there is a nightmare so I rarely go
into the town. Consequently I buy virtually every CD now on-line.

S.

In article , Serge
Auckland
wrote:


That's pretty much my experience too. London has several specialist
record (both CD and LP) shops, but once you get into the provinces,
that's much less frequent.

There are some specialists - like Bath CDs - but for obvious reasons they
tend to survive because they also sell via mail.


Now we have only Boots and Smiths with chart-only CDs, one music shop
that has a rack of Naxos CDs, a brand new HMV that has chart only CDs
in a dark corner,

Ah, yes, I was forgetting that our Smugs does have some 'chart' CDs. Not
sure if Boots have anything. Can't recall noticing. Not exactly 'music
shops' in a sense I'd find useful, though.

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

I think HMV still hangs on in a few shopping centres and the like, some
specialist shops exist in places like Greenwich and Brighton, but Virgin
sold up to a company nobody ever heard of, lasted a couple of years and then
went belly up.

They only have themselves to blame though. People would go into these
stores, and the spotty youth in charge, no matter what the question said,
don't mate, have a look over there and went on texting his mates and
laughing at his own text jokes.

They had the stock but it was badly presented, and no staff knew the
correct way to file things in any case, so eventually they died out.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote

I was amazed when David L said that he had no local record shop.
I have a dozen within 20 minutes of here,

Well let me see. 10 mins in one direction there's a small co-op, a post
office, a newsagents and a teashop. The post office does sell a few cheap
DVDs, but no audio. 10 minutes in the opposite direction there's a
post-office cum general store. 20 minutes away in yet another direction
there's a nice little town with a decent-sized co-op, a very good
bookshop,
several charity shops, several banks, even two funeral directors, but no
record shops. Or 30 minutes away there's a bigger town, with expensive
parking. It's got a Maplins, several video-game shops and a whole street
full of mobile phone shops. It *did* have a very nice specialist classical
record shop, but that lost business to the on-line retailers and had to
close. There was also a Virgin Megastore (though I hardly ever went in, I
couldn't stand the place), I don't know what's happened to that. They may
be
other record shops in back streets, I don't claim to know the town that
intimately, but certainly nothing in the town centre. Of course the big
out-of town supermarkets sell CDs now, there are a couple of those within
30
mins of me, but they only sell "chart" titles and I certainly don't regard
them as "record shops".

and CDON the online
supplier delivers in 24hrs,

It's years since I've bought any CDs other than from on-line retailers,
except for a few "small-label" CDs bought from stalls at shows.

There are already signs that the trend
will be towards specialised shops, selling only jazz. or classical
music. People seem to attach considerable importance
to "record shop browsing" Both Helsinki and Stockholm have
vinyl only shops, which seem to be doing well.

Both Helsinki and Stockholm are, so I'm lead to understand, quite large
cities. What may work in such places need not necessarily work in less
intensely populated areas.

David.

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
m...

I think HMV still hangs on in a few shopping centres and the like, some
specialist shops exist in places like Greenwich and Brighton, but Virgin
sold up to a company nobody ever heard of, lasted a couple of years and
then went belly up.

Yup, I remember it being on the news. As I said there was one in the town
near me, I've no idea who has that site now or what they sell. I only ever
went in, once, to buy a carbon fibre record brush which, to be fair, they
did have. But I really disliked that shop: blaring pop music, 'moody'
lighting and screens everywhere with 'pop videos' on them.

Thinking about it I know of plenty of shops that sell a few CDs, but none
that I would call a "record shop". The "New Age" shop sells CDs of "New Age"
music, along with the clothes, incense burners and books on the Occult.
National Trust shops sell CDs of music recorded on National Trust
properties. Craft fairs often have a stall selling CDs by local musicians
and at the end of concerts there is often a stall selling CDs by the same
performers. Come to think of it, though, the only places I know where vinyl
records are sold are the charity shops selling second-hand records. When I'm
in such shops I usually flick through them to see if there is anything
interesting. There rarely is (except, possibly, to a Val Doonican fan!).

Along with the supermarkets and the significant growth of on-line sales,
both of physical CDs and downloads all that makes running a specialist
record shop pretty difficult these days I'd have thought except in the big
cities.

David.

"Iain Churches" wrote

One sees that cheaper labels often have their own stand in the corner of
the shop, which they seem to service themselves.

"One" may see that, but I haven't seen it in decades.

Budget labels.
Pickwick/Hallmark/Allegro, and others were doing this with vinyl in
the1960s.


Indeed they were, but ISTM that the 1960s were their heyday. Who are the
"budget labels" today? What I *do* quite often see (and sometimes buy) are
"no label" CDs from independant producers. The producers may well be the
musicians themselves who write, perform, record and distribute their own
work. But no way are these "budget" CDs, they sell for the same sort of
prices as chart CDs do.

David.

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote

One sees that cheaper labels often have their own stand in the corner of
the shop, which they seem to service themselves.

"One" may see that, but I haven't seen it in decades.

Budget labels.
Pickwick/Hallmark/Allegro, and others were doing this with vinyl in
the1960s.


Indeed they were, but ISTM that the 1960s were their heyday. Who are the
"budget labels" today?

Naxos is the first that comes to mind.

Most classical companies have budget issues, and so if you are
not insistent upon the "latest" recording, some gems can
be found at low cost.

Iain

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
m...
I think HMV still hangs on in a few shopping centres and the like, some
specialist shops exist in places like Greenwich and Brighton, but Virgin
sold up to a company nobody ever heard of, lasted a couple of years and
then went belly up.

They only have themselves to blame though. People would go into these
stores, and the spotty youth in charge, no matter what the question said,
don't mate, have a look over there and went on texting his mates and
laughing at his own text jokes.

They had the stock but it was badly presented, and no staff knew the
correct way to file things in any case, so eventually they died out.
Brian



Same sort of thing in MVC (?) St Ives, Cambs - I asked the two (female)
assistants doing *not a lot* behind the counter if they had any SACDs a year
or two back and got blank looks from both of them. (No wonder SACDs didn't
take off!!)

Anyway I got one to try one (stole it from Shiny Nigel) and, having just
topped my stack off only yesterday with my Pioneer DV-575A which plays
SACDs, I popped it in (the only SACD I'm ever likely to own), found Miles
Davis' 'So What' and ended up making this comparison out of curiosity:

SACD:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat01.mp3

Vinyl (no declicking):

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat02.mp3

Vinyl (declicked with Izotope, believe it or not)

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat03.mp3


Enjoy!

@:-)

Keith G wrote:

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
m...
I think HMV still hangs on in a few shopping centres and the like,
some specialist shops exist in places like Greenwich and Brighton, but
Virgin sold up to a company nobody ever heard of, lasted a couple of
years and then went belly up.

They only have themselves to blame though. People would go into these
stores, and the spotty youth in charge, no matter what the question
said, don't mate, have a look over there and went on texting his mates
and laughing at his own text jokes.

They had the stock but it was badly presented, and no staff knew the
correct way to file things in any case, so eventually they died out.
Brian



Same sort of thing in MVC (?) St Ives, Cambs - I asked the two (female)
assistants doing *not a lot* behind the counter if they had any SACDs a
year or two back and got blank looks from both of them. (No wonder SACDs
didn't take off!!)

Anyway I got one to try one (stole it from Shiny Nigel) and, having just
topped my stack off only yesterday with my Pioneer DV-575A which plays
SACDs, I popped it in (the only SACD I'm ever likely to own), found
Miles Davis' 'So What' and ended up making this comparison out of
curiosity:

SACD:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat01.mp3

Vinyl (no declicking):

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat02.mp3

Vinyl (declicked with Izotope, believe it or not)

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat03.mp3

Is that the SACD with this written on the back?
" ... this reissue was remixed on an all-tube three-track machine,
an old Presto much like the one used for the original recordings."


--
Eiron.

"Eiron" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

Same sort of thing in MVC (?) St Ives, Cambs - I asked the two (female)
assistants doing *not a lot* behind the counter if they had any SACDs a
year or two back and got blank looks from both of them. (No wonder SACDs
didn't take off!!)

Anyway I got one to try one (stole it from Shiny Nigel) and, having just
topped my stack off only yesterday with my Pioneer DV-575A which plays
SACDs, I popped it in (the only SACD I'm ever likely to own), found Miles
Davis' 'So What' and ended up making this comparison out of curiosity:

SACD:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat01.mp3

Vinyl (no declicking):

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat02.mp3

Vinyl (declicked with Izotope, believe it or not)

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SoWhat03.mp3

Is that the SACD with this written on the back?
" ... this reissue was remixed on an all-tube three-track machine,
an old Presto much like the one used for the original recordings."



No, it says 'for promotional use only' on the back:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SACD01.jpg

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/SACD02.jpg

I told you - I nicked it off Shiny Nigel who works in the one and only 'hifi
shop' here and they never even missed it!!

@:-))