I know the main reason CD sales are slumping is a general switch to downloading however cant help thinking the industry isnt exactly helping itself by the following.

1. the majority of the recent CD's ive bought recently have had broken cases where the central flower is meant to grip the CD, it seems that theyve changed the material to something more brittle (cheaper?) so the individual teeth just snap at the 1st sign of any stress. The last 3 out of 4 CD's ive bought have been broken on opening for the 1st time.

2. Whilst HMV etc are happy to sell the latest media proteges and mass market crap for £7-8 the majority of decent stuff that middle age customers who are more likley to buy CD's like is often still priced at 12.99 and frequently even 14.99. (I'm on about the sort of stuff youd hear on shows like Bob Harris country or sat night)

3. Once upon a time the major shops all had well maintained listening posts were you could sample new stuff you hadnt heard including the aformentioned non pop/xfactor twaddle. They seem to have scrapped that now, the closest you get is quick samples of mp3 on amazon but this isnt always available on non mainstream stuff.

Cant help feeling the massive downward spiral of cds has been rapidly accellerated by the fact the industy has so obviously given up on the whole market.

I agree: HMV could do a deal with Spotify to get listening stations in all their stores: then you'd be able to access just about anything the store had to sell. I doubt either party would be interested though. HMV will follow the 'live music' avenue (very profitable), possibly with music sales via downloads only, and the physical media all but disappearing. Bet it happens quicker than we think too...

Buy from Amazon shops, and don't worry about 2nd hand there are plenty of bargains to be had.

I buy almost all my CD's on Amazon now, rarely pay more than £6-£7 even for "proper" music, often considerably less. Usually cheaper than downloading, plus it's CD quality obviously :D

I to buy mostly from Amazon. I can't complain about my local record store as there isn't one any more.

JohanR

Whilst HMV etc are happy to sell the latest media proteges and mass market crap for £7-8 the majority of decent stuff that middle age customers who are more likley to buy CD's like is often still priced at 12.99 and frequently even 14.99. (I'm on about the sort of stuff youd hear on shows like Bob Harris country or sat night).

HMV and the other major chains are shooting themselves in the bank balance. They've been doing it for years.

I should imagine this is one of the main reasons that the Zavvi shops went under.

Jack

Zavvi went under because their main supplier went down with Woolworths, IIRC

Ahhhh, that's why.

Mind you their CD's were still bloody expensive.

Jack

Chains like HMV/Virgin (Zavvi) ceased being relevant to serious music buyers like me at least 10 years ago. Almost overnight they seemed to stop stocking any back catalogue - so for a band like The Who, they might have a greatest hits and maybe Who's Next? Their business model shifted to selling a gazillion copies of What's The Story (Morning Glory) and assuming there would be another biggie (Travis > Coldplay > Keane) along in three months when that market was saturated. In one stroke it ended my curiosity driven, weekend 'impulse purchase' music buying. Then came amazon. Then came the on-line specialists like Boomkat and Norman who stocked all of the albums I would have wanted but would never have been able to find outside of London or Manchester. It's easy to mourn the demise of the high street record shop but as long ago as the early 1990s the reality outside of the major metropolitan centres was usually pretty dreadful unless you had mainstream tastes.

Broad Street Jazz in Bath have excellent deal for CDs until end of Aug, various atlantic and warner jazz classics currently £5 each, 5 for £20, 6 or more £4 each. Free postage

<http://www.sandybrownjazz.co.uk/broadstreetjazz.html>

I remember when I was buying everything on LP.
The first play wouldn't be listening to the music, but listening for crackles and pops and deciding whether to take it back or not.
Then there were the covers where the seams would come apart, and it was out with the Pritt Stick, or as some of my friends would do, Sellotape, which would of course eventually go brittle, discolour to a lovely nicotine colour, and ultimately look really shabby.
The worst would be when we would have a freak of nature and have a hot sunny day, and something left out would warp.
I won't even mention cassette tapes.

Maybe the central grips of CDs fall out, but on the whole I think we have it okay these days.

yeah, I mainly buy cds from the amazon marketplace...circa 5 quid a go... :)

Have brought a bit from HMV online, even though I work 5 min from the huge Oxford Street store. Online they're consistently a good few quid cheaper than in store, plus free postage. Can make a big difference, especially with BluRay.

But got to admit, most of my purchases are second hand off ebay. The trick is to find someone with a few discs you want, than clump them together for cheaper postage.

I'd also second Boomkat and a similar US site called Forced Exposure. All sorts of weird and wonderful things for sale on there!