Purchases Today

[vandermolen]

Buying online has advantages but the surprise element is missing. I'm still thrilled by "hello what do we have here!" feeling. The closing of my favourite emporium was in some respects a blessing in disguise as I have far more LPs on my shelves then I possibly can listen to and CDs are heading in a similar direction. But boy do I miss the physical contact of buying music. The thrill has gone.   

I can most definitely relate to that feeling.

[Karl Henning]

I can most definitely relate to that feeling.

Browsing ain't what it used to be....

[vandermolen]

Elgar/Boult

[vandermolen]

Lutoslawski

[Peter Power Pop]

Buying online has advantages but the surprise element is missing. I'm still thrilled by "hello what do we have here!" feeling. The closing of my favourite emporium was in some respects a blessing in disguise as I have far more LPs on my shelves then I possibly can listen to and CDs are heading in a similar direction. But boy do I miss the physical contact of buying music. The thrill has gone.   

I recreate that feeling of discovery in thrift stores/op shops. Admittedly, the range is smaller than a regular music store, but there can be some surprising finds.

[Irons]

Browsing ain't what it used to be....

I feel a song coming on!

[Irons]

Elgar/Boult

I have Wand of Youth - Suite No.1 on an original ALP 1153 pressing. A work where Elgar shows his softer side.



Love the cover of Boult's EMI stereo Wand of Youth. Made a trip to Kensington Gardens to see Peter Pan statue in the flesh. Didn't see any prams though!

[Que]

Some assorted items at Amazon.de:

[Florestan]

Excellent choice, but why not vol. 2 as well?

[Que]

Buying online has advantages but the surprise element is missing. I'm still thrilled by "hello what do we have here!" feeling. The closing of my favourite emporium was in some respects a blessing in disguise as I have far more LPs on my shelves then I possibly can listen to and CDs are heading in a similar direction. But boy do I miss the physical contact of buying music. The thrill has gone.   

Absolutely. It is the surprise element that has led me to new worthwhile discoveries many times. Also to some dead ends, but that comes with taking a chance on something you don't know. I do try to (re)introduce the surprise element when browsing on Spotify.

But the thrill of physical browsing is hard to emulate. 

[Wanderer]

I live in the north of the Netherlands, and no there are no stores left of any significance. Its all on line.

Almost all gone.... 
Since internet coverage here is almost total,  streaming has taken over.
Most people I meet, are always very surprised to hear that I still listen to CDs...
There used a major classical CD store in my city, that went over 10 years ago.. .
The small outlet I often visited, specialized in Jazz and Classical, went just before the pandemic.
None of the major cities have a specialized Classical CD store anymore.
Amsterdam had several - all gone. What is left is a tiny Classical section of an independent store that caters for all genres. There are a few small independent Classical  shops left here and there, but they are rapidly dissappearing as well.
In other parts of Europe the situation is still different, I know.
I imagine that if you live in a small French village with no or very slow internet, you need your DVDs and CDs...

Such a shame. I'd hope there would be at least one...
In Athens, luckily, there are still 3 specialized classical-only CD (and vinyl) music stores - one next to the other no less. There used to be five, all in the covered passage of the former opera building in the centre of Athens. The three that remain are still there; there are rent-control provisions in order to keep them in place. Their prices nowadays are quite competitive to amazon and other online sellers and I try to support them whenever I can (e.g. that is where I got the Reger, Schumann and Charpentier discs of my previous post).

London is not much better.

That's quite right and very dispiriting - I used to love browsing through specialist LP/CD shops. Even the local town (Tunbridge Wells) once had two decent classical record shops. Now the remaining HMV store has an ever diminishing classical section featuring CDs like 'Beethoven's Greatest Hits' etc 

I do remember that big HMV store in Oxford Street. Good times! There used to be a multi-storey store like that in Athens, called Metropolis, long gone now.

[Wanderer]

Absolutely. It is the surprise element that has led me to new worthwhile discoveries many times. Also to some dead ends, but that comes with taking a chance on something you don't know. I do try to (re)introduce the surprise element when browsing on Spotify.

But the thrill of physical browsing is hard to emulate. 

Indeed. I do try to visit a physical CD store whenever I travel and browse a bit. One can still do that in e.g. Munich, Berlin and Paris. In Vienna, too, although CD prices there are rather exorbitant.

[Wanderer]

[Irons]

Such a shame. I'd hope there would be at least one...
In Athens, luckily, there are still 3 specialized classical-only CD (and vinyl) music stores - one next to the other no less. There used to be five, all in the covered passage of the former opera building in the centre of Athens. The three that remain are still there; there are rent-control provisions in order to keep them in place. Their prices nowadays are quite competitive to amazon and other online sellers and I try to support them whenever I can (e.g. that is where I got the Reger, Schumann and Charpentier discs of my previous post).

I do remember that big HMV store in Oxford Street. Good times! There used to be a multi-storey store like that in Athens, called Metropolis, long gone now.

Not the HMV store by Bond Street Station but the other one further down Oxford Street, which was opened by Edward Elgar in the 1930's, including a wonderful Classical CD section in the 1990's. I spent many pleasurable hours there. It was taken over by Michael Ashley to sell discount trainers. Sacrilege! Tower Records at Piccadilly/Regent Street has fared even worse. I passed it last Sunday, prime site boarded up!

[The new erato]

Music is no longer an object of desire, just a commodity. At least for 99% of music listeners.

[Todd]

Music is no longer an object of desire, just a commodity. At least for 99% of music listeners.

Was music ever an object of desire for most listeners? 

[The new erato]

Certainly for more people than today. Music was costly, and physical objects something to be cherished for quite a lot of consumers. Of course, the market was smaller. And many had to be content with an hour of music of ones particular field of interest every now and then. The older generation still in many cases cherishes the albums bought in their youths, I cannot see that happen to very many of the current generation. Music is something to be consumed before one moves on to the next new thing. I would be happy to be wrong, but I doubt it.

[Todd]

The older generation still in many cases cherishes the albums bought in their youths, I cannot see that happen to very many of the current generation. Music is something to be consumed before one moves on to the next new thing. I would be happy to be wrong, but I doubt it.

I'm not so sure that "the older generation" - I'm not sure what that means - still cherishes albums bought in their youths.  I know many people ranging from their early 40s up into their 90s, and few of them place great significance on music, and they tend to place less significance on music as time passes.  That may be very different across different countries.

As to what "the current generation" - again, I don't know what that means - may or may not value, if there is a difference, it means you are out of step with them and what interests them.  Interests and fashions change over time, technology changes, and so on.  People who love YouTube and TikTok content creators now may very well look at kids ten, twenty, or thirty years hence and complain that said kids are missing out on something.  They may even be right.

[Florestan]

[Florestan]

Music is no longer an object of desire, just a commodity. At least for 99% of music listeners.

I disagree. People buy CDs, LPs or downloads (all of them commodities indeed) because they want to listen to the music therein contained. If that doesn't qualify as desire, I don't know what does.

You would have a point if at least 99% of music listeners bought CDs, LPs or downloads simply for the sake of buying and owning them, without caring to actually listen to the music therein contained --- but my educated guess is that this is very far from reality.