On-line Stores & Sellers

[Wanderer]

This side of the Atlantic, Melomania in Paris announced that they close both their physical shop on the Blvd. Saint-Germain and there on-line store (although they hint at a reopening of the latter after the summer — let's see).

Melomania specialised in used CDs, but usually in near- mint condition (except, often, the hinges that hold the discs — whoever came up with that design when CDs first appeared should be summarily court-martialed!). Some really rare stuff could sometimes be found on their site.

Seems like the end of an era...

Melomania closing was very sad news. I always counted on browsing their physical shelves at their impeccable location at Boulevard Saint-Germain when in Paris (usually after casually se baladant from Caféothèque across the river) and always had nice finds and discoveries to bring home. 

I only found out about their closing shop a few days before my latest Paris trip in July; I was browsing their website for potential finds to ask for when there - and when in store, I inquired the owner about their plans: that was to be their last opening week, there were no plans to relocate (I was hoping a move perhaps to a less prestigious (=cheaper for them) address), and still unsure what to do with the webshop. There were customers not just browsing but literally raiding the shelves - there was a 50% reduction on the already usually ridiculously tempting prices. I had a few things I wanted to get (depleting their Medtner stock in the process), and then I browsed and got some more; you know how that goes. It was the last day of the Parisian early July heatwave - easily manageable by Greek standards, but with no air-conditioning and just a few fans to make the stuffy interior barely bearable. 

I revisited a couple of days later after visiting the nearby (and superbly restored) Musée de Cluny (medieval art and beautiful premises - their courtyard housing one of my favourite cafés in Paris). What I found impressive (and very practical) is that the moment a CD was purchased and there was no stock left the website was immediately showing the fact - no false hopes in Melomania. There was no more stifling heat, but some customers had pages-long printed lists of what to search for. I thought the sight of such a place of casually browsing and listening to music (there was always something great playing on) plundered in such a manner before imminent closure forlorn and sad. I really hope they will eventually find a way to re-open physical shop somewhere else. There is a website announcement leaving things open for the webstore re-emerging.

As far as I'm concerned, the end of a Parisian era.

[Que]

Melomania closing was very sad news. I always counted on browsing their physical shelves at their impeccable location at Boulevard Saint-Germain when in Paris (usually after casually se baladant from Caféothèque across the river) and always had nice finds and discoveries to bring home.

[...]I really hope they will eventually find a way to re-open physical shop somewhere else. There is a website announcement leaving things open for the webstore re-emerging.

As far as I'm concerned, the end of a Parisian era.

WOW, that is a shocker!   I do hope the webshop re-emerges...

[Spotted Horses]

A warning about Qobuz. I don't stream with them but I occasionally purchase downloads from them. Supposedly when you purchase a download from Qobuz you are free to download the content as often as necessary, for instance to replace tracks that were lost in a disk failure, etc. I looked at my purchase history page and a large number of my purchases (at least a third) are listed as "unavailable." When you click through the notice it says this may be due to a variety of causes, such as change in the license agreement for the recording.

Beware! You can't depend on Qobuz to act in good faith.
 

[Kalevala]

A warning about Qobuz. I don't stream with them but I occasionally purchase downloads from them. Supposedly when you purchase a download from Qobuz you are free to download the content as often as necessary, for instance to replace tracks that were lost in a disk failure, etc. I looked at my purchase history page and a large number of my purchases (at least a third) are listed as "unavailable." When you click through the notice it says this may be due to a variety of causes, such as change in the license agreement for the recording.

Beware! You can't depend on Qobuz to act in good faith.
 

Thank you for the heads up.  So, basically, just make sure (if you decide to purchase from them), that you download it correctly/that it is complete/works the first time around.  The hard part:  if you don't know the work and/or recording, you could be in trouble!

K

p.s.  Do they have all of the "fine print" (with asterisks) now in place...or perhaps it was there earlier, but you missed it?  Just trying to be fair to all concerned.   

[Spotted Horses]

Thank you for the heads up.  So, basically, just make sure (if you decide to purchase from them), that you download it correctly/that it is complete/works the first time around.  The hard part:  if you don't know the work and/or recording, you could be in trouble!

K

p.s.  Do they have all of the "fine print" (with asterisks) now in place...or perhaps it was there earlier, but you missed it?  Just trying to be fair to all concerned.   

They have a download app (which was broken for a while) that allows you to download the entirety of any release you have purchased in one click. I don't recall having to redo a download, but I vaguely recall there was a time I downloaded it and absentmindedly forgot to copy it from my local drive to my archive drive.

I assume the fine print is there, saying that releases can disappear due to licensing complications, but I expected it to be a rare thing. The good thing is that there is no digital rights management, so if you have downloaded the files there is nothing that can prevent you from playing them.  This contrasts with other media, like Kindle Books or Video downloads. You can't open a Kindle Book without an amazon login so they can revoke your ability to open a Kindle Book even if you have it downloaded. (This seems to happen in rare instances, such as when someone sells you a book and it is discovered that the publisher didn't have the rights.) They can also change the book after you've purchased it (i.e., replace it with an updated edition) which you might not like. Similar conditions apply to video. You can't generally play video you have purchased unless you have a valid login to the service (such as Apple TV).

[Madiel]

A warning about Qobuz. I don't stream with them but I occasionally purchase downloads from them. Supposedly when you purchase a download from Qobuz you are free to download the content as often as necessary, for instance to replace tracks that were lost in a disk failure, etc. I looked at my purchase history page and a large number of my purchases (at least a third) are listed as "unavailable." When you click through the notice it says this may be due to a variety of causes, such as change in the license agreement for the recording.

Beware! You can't depend on Qobuz to act in good faith.
 

With respect, this has nothing to do with bad faith. If someone ends their licensing agreement with Qobuz, then Qobuz no longer has access to the file.

[Brian]

Yeah, the real problem is the entire digital rights infrastructure across all genres (music, books, gaming, movies, podcasting, etc.).

[Spotted Horses]

With respect, this has nothing to do with bad faith. If someone ends their licensing agreement with Qobuz, then Qobuz no longer has access to the file.

They are not managing their licensing agreements to protect their customers. Many cpo albums I purchased as downloads on Qobuz are now listed as unavailable to me even though they are still for sale on the site. All of the cpo albums I purchased as downloads from Presto (or at least all that I checked) continue to be available. Why should I assume cpo is at fault?

[Madiel]

They are not managing their licensing agreements to protect their customers. Many cpo albums I purchased as downloads on Qobuz are now listed as unavailable to me even though they are still for sale on the site. All of the cpo albums I purchased as downloads from Presto (or at least all that I checked) continue to be available. Why should I assume cpo is at fault?

You didn't say they're still for sale on the Qobuz site. That's different.

And something you should raise with Qobuz. Because technical faults are another possible explanation rather than bad faith.

[Kalevala]

They are not managing their licensing agreements to protect their customers. Many cpo albums I purchased as downloads on Qobuz are now listed as unavailable to me even though they are still for sale on the site. All of the cpo albums I purchased as downloads from Presto (or at least all that I checked) continue to be available. Why should I assume cpo is at fault?

Let us know how it turns out.

K

[Papy Oli]

I had mentioned before in the streaming thread how some albums saved in my playlists or favourites on Qobuz regularly seemed to "disappear"(chandos, CPO and others), showing error 404 when you click on the album entry itself.

A search for that same album would then show up under a new entry/link as if it had been relisted by Qobuz.

such a relisting could explaining this issue with redownloading past purchases. Maybe @Spotted Horses did the purchase on the old entry, but is prevented to download again as it is now under a new link. With Qobuz not bridging the two in terms of playlist, purchases, etc...

Just a thought.

[Kalevala]

I found this (under their "Help" section "Can I re-download my purchases?"):

"Please note: The albums may no longer be available for download, which is why we recommend to users to make a backup of their purchase.

I haven't found an answer to my question: contact our customer service team."

And there's a link to contact the CST.

K

[Spotted Horses]

Let us know how it turns out.

K

I happened to look at the list to satisfy some curiosity about my use of Qobuz, I don't have a need to download anything at the moment so I won't be pursuing the issue further. In the past when I did have an issue with Qobuz because they refused to honor my credit card my inquiries were ignored.

I had mentioned before in the streaming thread how some albums saved in my playlists or favourites on Qobuz regularly seemed to "disappear"(chandos, CPO and others), showing error 404 when you click on the album entry itself.

A search for that same album would then show up under a new entry/link as if it had been relisted by Qobuz.

such a relisting could explaining this issue with redownloading past purchases. Maybe @Spotted Horses did the purchase on the old entry, but is prevented to download again as it is now under a new link. With Qobuz not bridging the two in terms of playlist, purchases, etc...

Just a thought.

That sounds like a likely explanation. It seems like in cases where the link has been revised they have not applied to revision to the download links for customers who have purchased the items. My disappearing downloads seem to be mostly cpo and DUX.

There are cases where Qobuz has a dramatically lower price than Presto for downloads, but usually the prices are pretty much the same. I am forewarned not to use Qobuz unless there is a very significant price difference, because of their technical incompetence and/or lack of respect for their customers.