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CD shops are closing

post #1 of 31
6/11/07 at 9:37am
Thread Starter 
Hi All,

I noticed that most of the CD's shops are closing down which I assume is because of online download for music distribution. Is the quality of a CD burned from downloaded music file the same as if I purchased it from a store. Specifically Itunes?

Thanks Bob
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post #2 of 31
6/11/07 at 9:45am

Re: CD shops are closing

Generally, downloaded songs are not the same quality as the sound on a CD. There are some services that offer higher quality downloads, though.
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post #3 of 31
6/11/07 at 11:48am
Thread Starter 

Re: CD shops are closing

Ok, so you audiophile's are still buying CD's or SACD's? Thanks
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post #4 of 31
6/11/07 at 11:56am

Re: CD shops are closing

tower.com still sells cds like crazy
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post #5 of 31
6/11/07 at 1:32pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob_M
Ok, so you audiophile's are still buying CD's or SACD's? Thanks

Absolutely!!!
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post #6 of 31
6/11/07 at 6:22pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob_M
Is the quality of a CD burned from downloaded music file the same as if I purchased it from a store. Specifically Itunes?
No.
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post #7 of 31
6/11/07 at 8:06pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Sam the Record Man (a chain in Canada) is closing it's flagship Toronto store (with only 2 other stores remaining).
It's pretty sad that such a landmark will no longer be there in the heart of downtown Toronto. I hope they keep the neon sign for historical reasons.



I still buy CDs and never have (and never will) purchase music digitally. I spend money to own a physical product I can put on the shelf.
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post #8 of 31
6/11/07 at 9:19pm

Re: CD shops are closing

I can't remember the last time I purchased a CD from a local store, even a Best Buy or Circuit City. All the Musiclands and Sam Goodys have closed around here.

I don't download any music from the internet such as itunes or even non legal avenues.

I buy an occasional used CD at CD Warehouse, but most of my new CD's are purchased at BMG or deepdiscountcd.com

I use XM radio as my tool to discover new music.

Paul
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post #9 of 31
6/12/07 at 4:17am
Thread Starter 

Re: CD shops are closing

I can see where building a digital library has its advantages, i.e music server. If I rip a song from a CD, how can I maintain the quality? Thanks Bob
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post #10 of 31
6/12/07 at 4:40am

Re: CD shops are closing

I can understand how CD stores are closing down.

As for me, I haven't bought a CD in years. Once in a while I'll buy
a DVD-A, but that's the extent of it.

I listen to XM radio, jot down songs I like, and then go to a website
to download the songs in 320kpbs which sounds closer to CD than what
most other online music sites offer.

It's a shame that these stores are closing down (particularly the
beautiful store in Toronto), but it seems that digital downloading
has become a highly popular tool of obtaining music.
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post #11 of 31
6/12/07 at 4:54am

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob_M
Ok, so you audiophile's are still buying CD's or SACD's? Thanks

That makes two of us - absolutely!!!
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post #12 of 31
6/12/07 at 5:20am

Re: CD shops are closing

Just playing devil's advocate here, but what if your hard drive or media server craps out and you haven't sufficiently backed it up (as most people don't)? Then what? You don't have the originals to reload!
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post #13 of 31
6/12/07 at 5:53am

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob_M
I can see where building a digital library has its advantages, i.e music server. If I rip a song from a CD, how can I maintain the quality? Thanks Bob
Just use one of the many 'lossless' codecs for ripping music. Apple's iTunes does have a lossless setting, but iTunes music store doesn't offer lossless music (Which is why I use iTunes but don't buy from them).
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post #14 of 31
6/12/07 at 9:24am

Re: CD shops are closing

I bought a CD from Best Buy on Friday (several, actually). Bought online for in-store pickup. Actually, I do most of my CD shopping with Amazon Sellers. Sometimes I'll order from BMG when they have a good sale going.

The bad news was when I discovered that in BB's beautiful new store (they just moved to a bigger location across the street), they got rid of the hi-res audio section. SACDs and DVD-As are now just mixed in with the regular CDs.
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post #15 of 31
6/12/07 at 10:46am

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Colella
Sam the Record Man (a chain in Canada) is closing it's flagship Toronto store (with only 2 other stores remaining).

Wow, I remember going to that store when I visited the city on a school trip. I'm sorry to see it go.

I'm still a heavy buyer of CDs, since it is the only way to get some music, and it is still probably the best archive medium. Also, it is still a better deal than most downloadable sources.

Jason
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post #16 of 31
6/12/07 at 11:22am

Re: CD shops are closing

My 14 year old daughter likes to download music from iodines, but I don't. I've explained lossy compression to her and she understands it, but likes the convenience. She mostly listens to music with her iodines.

I still buy plenty of CDs and buy mostly from Best Buy. I also buy on-lin from Amazon and Deep Discount. I prefer having a CD and seeing it placed on the shelf.
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post #17 of 31
6/12/07 at 12:13pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Problem is i haven't seen many albums worht buying anymore. Most groups only have a handfull of songs that are worth listing to. i hate when the album is 90% fluff and one token song. I have most of my music in 128, with some of the better quality songs in 320. Mp3s do get damn big when using non loss though, i think like 15megs a file vs. 3
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post #18 of 31
6/12/07 at 12:54pm

Re: CD shops are closing

I have never purchased a song online nor do I care to. I want the album, if even if the album is a cd. I don't want a file. It's fine if it's Tax Cut, not for music.

I can put my own cds on the computer and convert to whatever, but I want to have my collection.

I buy from stores almost weekly and will be headed later today to pick up the Traveling Wilbury's.
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post #19 of 31
6/12/07 at 1:16pm

Re: CD shops are closing

I still buy CDs and like to have a physical product. I will download songs every now and then, though. For example, I have all of the Martin Denny CDs, and his greatest hits had only one or two songs that were not on those discs. Instead of tracking down a set full of duplicates to get a couple of new songs, I downloaded the few unique tracks from iTunes.
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post #20 of 31
6/12/07 at 1:31pm

Re: CD shops are closing

I am really disturbed by the closure of CD shops.

I have never downloaded a song and I doubt I will ever use that form of distribution as my main source of building my music library. Therefore, I am still buying CDs, SACDs, and starting recently, DVD-As at brick-and-mortar stores. Surprisingly, given its low prices, I have rarely purchased more than one CD per month from yourmusic.com.

On top of that, I am a collector of 1st pressing CDs (those from early to mid 80s) and I need to physically inspect the discs before I am paying big bucks for these.

Personally, I enjoy "the hunt" at a brick-and mortar store much more than buying online.
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post #21 of 31
6/12/07 at 3:14pm

Re: CD shops are closing

"I have never downloaded a song and I doubt I will ever use that form of distribution as my main source of building my music library."

Same here.


Theres a mom & pop store here in town that gets lots of rare stuff so I go there.

But I admit its rare I get CDs from stores anymore. It easy to just go to amazon or whatever find anything you want (especially what was considered hard to find years ago)and just click and few buttons. Most CDs I buy in store is more impulse shopping.
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post #22 of 31
6/12/07 at 6:19pm

Re: CD shops are closing

The time now is a beautiful Indian Summer for classical music collectors on CD.

Brilliant Classics Complete Mozart on 170 CD's for $99!

Sony Complete Masterworks of Beethoven on 60 CD's for $65!

And there are many more.
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post #23 of 31
6/12/07 at 7:43pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny Tse
Personally, I enjoy "the hunt" at a brick-and mortar store much more than buying online.
yeah, me too...i really miss that feeling, but i live in a 1br apt and i just don't have the space to buy many more cds. once in a while, i'll buy something at a gig or if it's something i love very much, but i am done buying cds for the most part until i can dedicate more space for them.
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post #24 of 31
6/13/07 at 6:58am

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Colella
Sam the Record Man (a chain in Canada) is closing it's flagship Toronto store (with only 2 other stores remaining).
It's pretty sad that such a landmark will no longer be there in the heart of downtown Toronto.

The news of Sam's closing was definitely sad to hear.....I spent many a study period going through the LP and CD racks during my university years. Also spent a lot of Boxing Day mornings freezing my butt just to get in when it opened it's doors for it's annual sale. I'm going to miss that store a lot.

I was never a fan of downloaded music as I prefer the physical product and the better quality sound on CDs. Should CD shops dissappear altogether in a few years, I'll probably be done with new music purchases....most of today's artists don't interest me much anyway and it won't be a big loss. I'll just go to the used CD stores instead for the classics.
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post #25 of 31
6/13/07 at 7:33am

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman
The bad news was when I discovered that in BB's beautiful new store (they just moved to a bigger location across the street), they got rid of the hi-res audio section. SACDs and DVD-As are now just mixed in with the regular CDs.

When I lived in Miami not too long ago, I remember the BB stores all consolidating their dedicated SACD and DVD-A sections into the regular CD area, which is quite unfortunate because I'd go there once in a while just to pick out something, but never had a specific title in mind. Who would have the patience to go through the entire CD racks to try and find a few hi-res?

As far as my buying habits, I'll occasionally pick up a SACD at Borders since they have a pretty nice selection of classical and jazz, otherwise the only places I buy music are CDs at concerts or used vinyl from record shops/garage sales. I don't really buy anything online at all.
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post #26 of 31
6/13/07 at 9:14am

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis Nicholls
Brilliant Classics Complete Mozart on 170 CD's for $99!

Actually, Amazon marked that down to $91 as of last week.
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post #27 of 31
6/13/07 at 11:52am

Re: CD shops are closing

Still most definitely prefer a physical format for my music. Just don't fully trust the longevity of hard drives and or even flash drives. Plus I like to own the artwork and lyrics and whatever else the artist wants me to have along with their music (and nope, I don't want to download these things and sit around cutting/trimming paper to make my own version).

In fact, just a couple weeks ago I bought the CD+dvd-audio version of David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name, an awesome album musically (dreamy folk rock's version of downtempo/chill music ), with a great surround mix too. Next up: The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld - yes I've got varied musical tastes.

Downloads are fine if I can't get something any other way, like a bunch of remixes and B-sides on 311's website that they offer for free. Or the South By Southwest Festival's 700+ freebie tracks from each (most of them anyway) of the bands that they hosted, most files at 128kbps and many of them at 190 (use greenish genre links on the right of that page to reorganize bands by whatever genre you want). So far I've burned six CD-Rs worth of great music from there.
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post #28 of 31
6/13/07 at 3:35pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Record companies need to lower their prices. $18.99 for a single, non-import CD in a jewel case is ridiculous.
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post #29 of 31
6/13/07 at 3:41pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Who pays retail?
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post #30 of 31
6/13/07 at 8:00pm

Re: CD shops are closing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse Skeen
Record companies need to lower their prices. $18.99 for a single, non-import CD in a jewel case is ridiculous.
Yes. And IMO even $15 is too much. I'm sure the CD replication equipment was paid off a loooooooooong time ago.

The mind sets of the people running the big music labels seem to be stuck in 1975.
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