Farewell to HMV

[Rich]

10 hours ago, blisters on my fingers said:

Am I right in thinking that HMV saved Fopp a while back ?

I always though 'fopp' was the noise the sht made when it hit the fan?

[Rich]

10 hours ago, Normski said:

I actually work for HMV in the Preston store. Enough said!!!

Damn. Got all fingers and toes crossed for you.

[PaulWarning]

there is still a place for the smallish record shop, Rough Trade are doing ok, I think, it's gone full circle really, places like HMV killed off the independents with aggressive pricing, but now volume of sales can't support that.

  

[mingsta]

Yup sad times, but as others have said, times have changed. I remember as a teenager in the 90s going up town to browse CDs with my mates and make one or two prized purchases. Music was a more valuable commodity back in those days, you'd read all the album reviews (Metal Hammer, Kerrang!!!) and chose carefully. Albums were listened to from start to finish and you'd pore over every detail in the sleeve. 

Its got to the point where I'm considering getting rid of my 300+ collection of CDs. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing. Having instant access to pretty much a worlds worth of recorded music is awesome, but on the other hand it's made it a bit more like fast food where you just play the things that give instant satisfaction rather than working through a whole album and appreciating the whole piece. 

[casapete]

1 minute ago, mingsta said:

Yup sad times, but as others have said, times have changed. I remember as a teenager in the 90s going up town to browse CDs with my mates and make one or two prized purchases. Music was a more valuable commodity back in those days, you'd read all the album reviews (Metal Hammer, Kerrang!!!) and chose carefully. Albums were listened to from start to finish and you'd pore over every detail in the sleeve. 

Its got to the point where I'm considering getting rid of my 300+ collection of CDs. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing. Having instant access to pretty much a worlds worth of recorded music is awesome, but on the other hand it's made it a bit more like fast food where you just play the things that give instant satisfaction rather than working through a whole album and appreciating the whole piece. 

Again, at the risk of sounding like the old phart I am, this is so true - patience and taking time to find the best outcome are becoming lost practices with the now generation. Having a world of music available both old and new is a wonderful resource, but causes people to click impatiently after a few seconds without exploring properly. I remember when it was all fields etc.....

[kevvo66]

It is indeed a sad day ,everyone likes a bargain unfortunately it killing the high street ,where I grew up the town is a ghost town all the shop have closed it does make me feel sad ,I'm as guilty for buying online we have no record shops left now and one music shop it used to be a vibrant town ,the death of my little town Crewe in Cheshire 😥

[Woodinblack]

It is a shame really as a lot of the tracks I like on favourite albums would not be the instantly accessible ones, they would be the ones that grew on you after listening to the album, the ones that you only really listened to because they were there and you were playing them in order. Although I now listen to my entire collection on shuffle so I do hear some of the odd tracks, I do occasionally listen to an album from start to finish.

[PaulWarning]

4 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

It is a shame really as a lot of the tracks I like on favourite albums would not be the instantly accessible ones, they would be the ones that grew on you after listening to the album, the ones that you only really listened to because they were there and you were playing them in order. Although I now listen to my entire collection on shuffle so I do hear some of the odd tracks, I do occasionally listen to an album from start to finish.

which is one of the advantages of Vinyl Records , the vast majority of turntables don't have a remote so you actually listen to the whole of one side without skipping tracks 

[tauzero]

11 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Isn't "record" just an abbreviation of "recording"?

No. It's the word for "record". https://www.dictionary.com/browse/record

Reading the news reports (the record of these days), HMV's share of the market grew last year but the market itself is shrinking. I suppose it's like trying to run up a landslide. Haven't been in one for a few years, but then again most of the CDs and DVDs that I've bought in the last few years have been second-hand off Ebay.

[kevvo66]

I'm now remembering with fondness some my old haunts with my mates as teenagers we would go down our local record shop ,spin in ,pete who was the owner new his stuff bands were formed on these premises why listening to the clash ,joy Division ,and lots of other stuff ,we formed some pretty decent bands in our youth in this Aladdin's cave of treasures ,sorry I'm rambling now🤔

[casapete]

Just now, kevvo66 said:

I'm now remembering with fondness some my old haunts with my mates as teenagers we would go down our local record shop ,spin in ,pete who was the owner new his stuff bands were formed on these premises why listening to the clash ,joy Division ,and lots of other stuff ,we formed some pretty decent bands in our youth in this Aladdin's cave of treasures ,sorry I'm rambling now🤔

Record shops ( and instrument shops too of course ) must have started so many bands. We used to have Roland Gift in every Saturday when he was putting together his formative band pre Fine Young Cannibals. Also so many up and coming acts used to visit record stores to promote their stuff. I remember meeting Chris Rea and John Mellencamp amongst many others when they were trying to get their debut albums noticed. Didn’t do any harm that our shop was a chart return one of course 😄

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, visog said:

This situation was always a matter of when not if... top-notch pricing for obsolete media is not a sustainable business model.

Seems to be working for vinyl records. Perhaps CDs will stage a comeback in 30 years.

[Al Krow]

17 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said:

Bit naughty that they drove it through the Christmas period -

goodness knows how many £sssss of gift vouchers they sold,

most of which now aren't worth diddly.............

😎

They've announced that they will honour gift vouchers whilst the stores remain trading.

[taunton-hobbit]

6 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

whilst the stores remain trading.

😎

[The59Sound]

Buying physical music will never go away. I have kept all my albums I've burnt onto my iPhone. Why? If my hard drive goes t!ts up, I have a backup.

Streaming as well. I hate streaming. When you lose signal out and about, no music. When you lose wi-fi connection, no music. When you can't afford £9.99 every month, no music.

Burning all my albums onto my iPhone negates all these issues. It's my music, that I own and can listen to no matter where I am. 

[Daz39]

45 minutes ago, The59Sound said:

Buying physical music will never go away. I have kept all my albums I've burnt onto my iPhone. Why? If my hard drive goes t!ts up, I have a backup.

Streaming as well. I hate streaming. When you lose signal out and about, no music. When you lose wi-fi connection, no music. When you can't afford £9.99 every month, no music.

Burning all my albums onto my iPhone negates all these issues. It's my music, that I own and can listen to no matter where I am. 

Just alternate the albums, playlists and podcasts you download to your phone. Plus, free wi-fi all over the place to swop about the music saved.

[The59Sound]

No thank you. Try free wi-fi in the countryside. 

[Woodinblack]

I only buy CDs, but I rip them as soon as I get them and put the CD in a box, for when then next thing is out.

[Barking Spiders]

IMO online shopping isn't all it's cracked up to be. Firstly you don't get the enjoyment from perusing in-store whether it's clothing, books, music or whatever floats your boat. Secondly, buying online can be very much a hit and miss affair. Purchases often goes missing in the post, or you don't get what you were expecting, whether something's the wrong model, size etc. Often something looks good online but when you get it the quality of manufacture can be shoddy. Also, the faff of having to wait in all day to receive something is far more hassle than having to drive into town and walk around a few stores. As for streaming, I don't quite get why there's so much faith in this technology. Often there are buffering issues or routers 'freezing up'.  Sure I can get my obscure Norwegian ambient electronica albums through Discogs but if it's a new, relatively  more mainstream release I don't object to the £9.99 charge for a CD in HMV. I'll be sad to see it disappear from Cheltenham town centre in the wake of several others, leaving only Badlands.

[DJpullchord]

They never really had one in rural Wales. No loss I’m afraid.

[casapete]

1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said:

IMO online shopping isn't all it's cracked up to be. Firstly you don't get the enjoyment from perusing in-store whether it's clothing, books, music or whatever floats your boat. Secondly, buying online can be very much a hit and miss affair. Purchases often goes missing in the post, or you don't get what you were expecting, whether something's the wrong model, size etc. Often something looks good online but when you get it the quality of manufacture can be shoddy. Also, the faff of having to wait in all day to receive something is far more hassle than having to drive into town and walk around a few stores. As for streaming, I don't quite get why there's so much faith in this technology. Often there are buffering issues or routers 'freezing up'.  Sure I can get my obscure Norwegian ambient electronica albums through Discogs but if it's a new, relatively  more mainstream release I don't object to the £9.99 charge for a CD in HMV. I'll be sad to see it disappear from Cheltenham town centre in the wake of several others, leaving only Badlands.

Absolutely. Also people never take into account the environmental issues - vans making so many individual delivery drops, then more of the same journeys when the item is returned as unsuitable / doesn't fit / changed your mind etc etc. Obviously there are similar factors to be taken into account by using shops, but would be interesting to see how the two different methods compare?

Certain things I'd never buy unseen - shoes and some clothing (due to fit and quality), expensive large household items such as suites (can't check comfort / quality) and even some musical stuff (especially expensive guitars) unless I knew exactly what to expect as they are such a personal thing that can only be decided by trying out first. Anything s/h is especially difficult, unless on BC of course 😉

[Al Krow]

11 minutes ago, casapete said:

Absolutely. Also people never take into account the environmental issues - vans making so many individual delivery drops, then more of the same journeys when the item is returned as unsuitable / doesn't fit / changed your mind etc etc. Obviously there are similar factors to be taken into account by using shops, but would be interesting to see how the two different methods compare?

That's something I'm still trying to get my head around.

Does online shopping lead to more or less congestion and pollution or makes no difference? Westfield car parks are pretty full but there are also a whole bunch of folk who take public transport. Going to get your weekly food shop at Tesco = 1 return journey per family, versus 1 long round trip for a Tesco van doing multiple home deliveries.

We were all fine with having a milkman doing deliveries back in the day and interestingly they were all electric long before global warming was a "thing"!

[The59Sound]

I'm not worried about global warming. China isn't either. Yet our government still slaps these eco taxes on us. Until China gets serious about cutting down, nothing will change. 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, The59Sound said:

I'm not worried about global warming. China isn't either. Yet our government still slaps these eco taxes on us. Until China gets serious about cutting down, nothing will change. 

Yeh, thats why I don't worry about stabbing people in the street here. Compared to the amount of people murdered in China and the US, its just a drop in the ocean. 

[Al Krow]

22 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Yeh, thats why I don't worry about stabbing people in the street here. Compared to the amount of people murdered in China and the US, its just a drop in the ocean. 

^^ loved that riposte  

[ Btw - and I know it's a complete thread side-track (hence the brackets) but another thing I've not got my head around is whether global warming is actually going to be a good thing?! After all far more old folk die of hypothermia in the UK than do of heat-stroke. Vast swathes of tundra around the world will suddenly become more productive: Siberia and Greenland together are the is the size of Western Europe + India. I'd love to read a balanced argument about the pros and cons; at the moment unless you can faithfully spout just the cons you're classed as a heretic. Hmmm...sounds like a good subject for an Off Topic thread!]

Edited December 29, 2018 by Al Krow