Best Buy to stop selling CDs July 1st (1 Viewer)

[Traveling Matt]

And Target is pressuring suppliers to move to what is essentially a consignment model for both music and video. Courtesy Film Score Monthly.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/...get-threatens-to-pay-labels-for-cds-only-when

 

[EricSchulz]

Can't believe it. Although CD sales are definitely down everywhere, it seems like the US is hell bent on destroying the format.

 

[TravisR]

Due to their CD section being so small now (not mention unbelievably poorly maintained at my local store), I haven't bought a CD at Best Buy in at least a year. Specialty labels, Amazon and periodically Target get my business for CDs.

All that being said, I do have fond memories of being in high school and making the long drive with friends to the far distant Best Buy to buy CDs because they were cheaper than the MSRP that you'd pay at Sam Goody or The Wall. That was so long ago that I think that was the only BB even remotely close to me and now there's at least six.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Holy crap.

 

[Osato]

And Target is pressuring suppliers to move to what is essentially a consignment model for both music and video. Courtesy Film Score Monthly.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/...get-threatens-to-pay-labels-for-cds-only-when

Wow!!

 

[jcroy]

IIRC, there's already a precedent for something like this.

Isn't the offline book business done on a consignment model already?

 

[jcroy]

Perhaps there was some foreshadowing earlier last month.


Earlier in January, Warner Music Group offered a "buyout" (ie. probably early retirement) to 130 employees dealing with physical media.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/...g-buyouts-cd-sales-decline-warner-music-group

Also Sony is closing down their own cd/dvd/bluray manufacturing lines at their large Terre Haute Indiana disc manufacturing plant, and outsourcing their current clients to Technicolor (dvd/bluray) and Sonopress (cd).

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/37288821/sony-dadc-to-lay-off-hundreds-in-terre-haute

Technicolor is closing down their cd/dvd/bluray manufacturing plant in Olyphant, Pennsylvania. (IIRC, Universal Music Group use to manufacturing their cd discs at this plant).

https://americaclosed.com/technicol...pact-160-employees-olyphant-pa-netflix-blame/


Perhaps BestBuy and Target told them last month or late last year of their plans, with Warner, Technicolor and Sony using this opportunity to downsize and/or close down underutilized facilities.

 

[Phil A]

I agree with the above statements. The (Best Buy) selection has been so small for so long that I can't remember the last time I bought a CD there (many years). The section was never great and has shrunk to the point of nothing. At this point I still buy CDs (online) but buy more hi-rez discs or downloads vs. CDs. Unless someone comes over, I never play a disc and in one secondary system I've taken out a transport all together (I have one I could shove in there but the system has limited room and it is fine for me). I do miss the old days with stores like Tower. When Tower stores were gone, I'd buy sometimes in Borders but then their selection shrunk too and then Borders was gone.

 

[Traveling Matt]

It's interesting Sony will no longer be manufacturing their own disc format.

 

[Osato]

It will be interesting if Target gets what they want on cds and dvd’s.

I think there’s still room for physical media at Target. If not I’ll be bummed because I do enjoy looking at titles there.
It’s been nice to see them stocking more UHd titles as well.

I’m starting to think tahat physical formats will have a higher price point all around.
It seems like all entertainment prices have increased dramatically over the past few years.

I watched ant man on blu ray last night. Great to watch a disc vs streaming. Our internet isn’t the greatest so streaming is very problematic at times.

 

[jcroy]

It's interesting Sony will no longer be manufacturing their own disc format.

In the second link, in the article there is an additional link to a leaked document outlining some of Sony's downsizing plans, which suggests the Terre Haute Indiana plant will still be manufacturing Playstation discs, and possibly 4Kbluray discs (for now).

http://media.heartlandtv.com/documents/Dadc.pdf


It appears the "mature" optical discs technology (cd/dvd/bluray) is what Sony is not manufacturing anymore themselves.

 

[GlennF]

Buying cds in Toronto has become a real problem. HMV is gone as well as smaller chains like Sunrise. Best Buy no longer carries them and in fact one of the few places that have any left is Walmart. When I went to see The Greatest Showman at Yonge and Dundas (the busiest shopping intersection in the city) I went to buy the CD, but literally could not find a place that carried it. I had to order online from Amazon and wait two weeks, as it was out of stock. Yes, they are doing their best to kill physical media. What ends up getting lost is the sort of impromptu buying I would doing when I wandered into a store, browsed and picked up cds or blu-rays. Sad days for me.

 

[jcroy]

What ends up getting lost is the sort of impromptu buying I would doing when I wandered into a store, browsed and picked up cds or blu-rays. Sad days for me.

This is the primary reason why I don't drive into town anymore for any shopping nowadays. The type of places I use to shop at (ie. record stores, indie bookstores, etc ...), don't really exist anymore.

 

[jcroy]

Buying cds in Toronto has become a real problem. HMV is gone as well as smaller chains like Sunrise.

Didn't Sunrise under new management, open up shop in some of the shuttered HMV locations?

 

[GlennF]

I remember that at the time as well, but If they have I don't know where they are. They were supposed to go in the central location downtown, but that is still empty with a "for lease": sign on the door.

 

[John Dirk]

I can understand why this would happen. Until recently I was part of the problem. Like so many, I was lured into inferior quality MP3's in exchange for smaller file sizes and portability. When I got a nice enough system I began to notice how "hollow" some of my music sounded. I signed up for HDTracks and was amazed at the difference. I then went to my CD collection and began ripping FLAC's of my favorite tracks in place of the previous MP3's.

The industry at large has to appeal to the masses and they simply don't know any better. Kind of a bummer for the rest of us. While I rarely go into Best Buy for any reason, I also know they won't be the only retailer taking this stance in the near future.

 

[Phil A]

I use a thumb drive in the vehicle which will read MP3s (or WMA) and primarily use JRiver to convert whatever files I want to MP3s (probably have 7,500 files, give or take, on the thumb drive). At one point, many moons ago, CD changers were in my cars and I have a bunch of CD-Rs I made to play in the car (and not have to worry about how hot or cold it was). The only place I use a CD-R now (and that isn't tons) is in my golf cart (don't golf though) which has a radio with a CD player.

It just seems that file playback, whether it is hi-rez or compressed seems to be the norm. I did many of the files on MP3s I have for an old Zune player or iPod which I used in vehicles at one point. The first so-called music server I bought was a WD player which said it was WMA compatible, which was misleading. It gave one conversion software to convert it to MP3s. While it would take 320kbps MP3s, it would only play them back at 128 (which on my main system sounded awful). I ended up giving the WD player away after using it for parts of two songs (took about a year many years back to get around to converting about 4,500 songs to 320kbps MP3s) in my main system. The MP3s came in handy a few years later when that became to the norm in my vehicles.

 

[Malcolm R]

I don't buy too many CD's these days. Mostly just a few deluxe re-issues by favorite artists, usually imported from the UK. I did buy a couple of Christmas CD's when shopping at Target last November, but by and large I'm strictly digital for most new music (of which I don't buy a lot).

But it's always disappointing to see further evidence of the decline of physical media. I recall my college years when I'd make weekly trips to the nearby malls in New Jersey to shop at the several music shops in each, such as Alwilk Records, Sam Goody, Wall-to-Wall Sound & Video, Musicland, Record Town, Coconuts, etc., then making my way back to campus to open and listen to my new acquisitions.

 

[Mike Frezon]

This is the primary reason why I don't drive into town anymore for any shopping nowadays. The type of places I use to shop at (ie. record stores, indie bookstores, etc ...), don't really exist anymore.

This. Outside of a Barnes & Noble and an FYE (whose media section is shrinking fast!) I don't have very many places to browse (kill time) while my wife shops in other stores.

===============

What "gets me" about all this is that if Best Buy isn't going to sell CDs...who is?

Sure, we can say Amazon will be available to sell CDs. But, for how long?

 

[Malcolm R]

This is the primary reason why I don't drive into town anymore for any shopping nowadays. The type of places I use to shop at (ie. record stores, indie bookstores, etc ...), don't really exist anymore.

That's the reason I don't really go to malls any more. My main interest was music, video, and book stores. Now that they've mostly disappeared, there's little reason to enter a mall.