Frustrating Day trying to buy a CD locally

mantis

Whats up everyone?
Is it me or has anyone notice that CD's are declining in stores Stock?

I went to Best buy Yesterday to pick up all 3 of Pop Evil's Cd's ( this is a new band to me that I was recently turned onto). They didn't have any of their CD's in stock. They honestly didn't have many at all CD's in stock. They had way more movies then CD's. The CD section was very small to what it use to be just a few years ago.
So I decided ok no big deal Wallmart or Barnes and Noble should have at least the newest CD. I drove over to Wallmart and discovered they have a smaller section of CD's then the last time I looked there and didn't find Pop Evil. OK not so bad, Barnes and Noble has a really nice section of CD's , I'll just go there and pay a fee bucks more.
Went to B&N's and they have greatly reduced their CD section and go figure no Pop Evil. The lady there told me she could order it for me. I told her no thank you and walked out a bit angry. Not at her but at the fact you can't just jump in the car and buy a CD anymore.
So last resort I decided that going to the Oxford Valley Mall should turn up my CD's I want , it's a mall how could it not, not to mention they got they store called FYE which is a software store , they have plenty of CD's movies , games etc so off I went to the mall.
I arrived at the mall and went where I though the store was and there was no store. So I walked around the entire top of the mall thinking I didn't remember where the store was located exactly. The EFFIN store is closed, go figure.
I left the mall steaming and went home.

I recently had my bank account hacked by my Debit card and now I'm gun shy buying anything online. So ordering the CD's online which seems to be the only way I'm gonna purchase them makes me amazingly nervous. I could however just get them from iTunes but they still as of right now only offer 256k and I'm not really into that. I would prefer the higher quality of CD.

So whats a man to do guys? Where the hell can you go to buy CD's if you want them right now? Is Amazon the only game in town now? It hasn't been that long since I purchased a CD locally but it seems that CD's are going away at least to the stores I went to.

simm

Although I would love to be able to buy CD's locally I too have found the only way to get anything other than new releases or popular artists is to order from Amazon. I believe we are experiencing the byproduct of a price driven economy.

smglbrth

..., or, it's downloading/streaming, mp3'ing or whatever you call it nowadays...

zane77

I don't know about your Walmart but the cd's are in such a mess that irks almost impossible to find something even if it is in stock

Tornado Red

I'm in Winnipeg, Can. and I've noticed what you describe at those stores as well. BB here more and more pushes you to buy online from them, as their store stock shrinks in almost every department. I feel fortunate that here we have HMV record stores, our last bastion of all things musically recorded. I checked online and all 3 (assume there are just 3?) Pop Evil CDs are available here. How long this lasts is anyone's guess, but I will support them by purchasing there vs places like Amazon whenever I can.

sucks2beme

BB, Target, XXXmart aren't going to be carrying CD's much longer.
If there's no demand, they'll drop them Physical media is something
the industry wants GONE anyway. Soon you'll be paying the same price for downloads
as hard print books, CD's and movies. And it will all be tied up in DRM.
No more going to the thrift shop and buying used books for $.50 and $1 CD's.

mantis

sucks2beme wrote: »

BB, Target, XXXmart aren't going to be carrying CD's much longer.
If there's no demand, they'll drop them Physical media is something
the industry wants GONE anyway. Soon you'll be paying the same price for downloads
as hard print books, CD's and movies. And it will all be tied up in DRM.
No more going to the thrift shop and buying used books for $.50 and $1 CD's.

That makes some sense, the used maker will get killed if the only way to purchase is downloading. I never even thought of that.
I bet that has a ton to do with these decisions

mantis

Tornado Red wrote: »

I'm in Winnipeg, Can. and I've noticed what you describe at those stores as well. BB here more and more pushes you to buy online from them, as their store stock shrinks in almost every department. I feel fortunate that here we have HMV record stores, our last bastion of all things musically recorded. I checked online and all 3 (assume there are just 3?) Pop Evil CDs are available here. How long this lasts is anyone's guess, but I will support them by purchasing there vs places like Amazon whenever I can.

It sucks you just can't jump in the car, go pick up some new music and come home and listen. Thats something I took for granted even knowing all this streaming and downloading would take over at some point.

chumlie

If your worried about hackers. Buy an Amazon gift card.

txcoastal1

I create a list of CD's and every few months I order them. My last list was 17 CD's, and decided to TRY to buy locally so I spent the day in search of....Target, Wal-Mart, Half Price Books, Hastings, Fry's, and 2 Best Buys I came home with only 1 CD from the list, I finally gave up. I even had the Best Buy guy go through my list on the computer hence the reason for going to the 2nd Best Buy for the 1 CD.

Really sad, ended up getting the entire list from Amazon

drumminman

I gave up buying locally a couple of years ago, even though we have several cd stores in town. Too much wasted time and gas driving around when you can go online and get instant gratification - well, except waiting for them to arrive.

If you buy with a credit card you have protection from fraud, so no worries there. I've found success ordering from www.importcds.com as well as amazon. The former has very reasonable shipping rates, too, and is often cheaper.

gudnoyez

Go to best buy, buy one of thier gift cards then go home and go to bb.com and order if your a premier member shipping is free if not buy all three of the Pop Evil CDs that will qualify for free shipping. You don't got to worry about using your debit card and you get your CDs. I ordered Lipstick On The Mirror the first one to check em out.

Another solution is have Barnes and Nobles order them for you, however they would be more expensive, same with any mom and Pop store they will order them in for you also. Just get a BB gift card from the store order it on line and be done with it.

tonyb

Dan, I never use my debit card online. Get a credit card with a low approved amount, more protections for you with online purchases.

Nothing online is 100% safe anymore, so limit what they can steal. A debit card is fine if you don't keep a lot in there. A credit card gives you avenues of protection and the ability to dispute charges, debit cards...it's gone.

Toolfan66

We have a record store called Twist and Shout, and they carry everything, new and used, vinyl and cd's even some SACD's, the only downfall for me is the store is 25 miles from me but the store kicks ****, if I'm after something I will call them to make sure they have it, if they do I just have them hold it/them for me, and I will pick up on my way home from work.

They will even find "out of print" stuff if your looking for it. The store is set-up old school kinda like the old Budget Tapes & Records used to be, posters, t-shirts, music books, music dvd,s and blu-rays, Incense.

I quit going to BB, ****mart, target etc a couple years ago, all of those stores have been that way around here for a very long time.

Funny thing you bring this up as we went to BB yesterday just because we wanted to see one of those curve TV's, and as we were walking around I was telling the wife how I miss the days coming in here and shopping for music, it's very sad indeed to see this change happening...

By the way the curve TV we saw was awesome!!

EndersShadow

I gave up on buying anything media wise at the stores. Its just to hard to find anything anymore... so what I've done is just continually update one of three wishlists on Amazon.

I have one for books I want (still want physical copies here)
I have one for movies that are worth it
I have another one for CD's I want. I have a Beats Music account for 60 day free due to their MOG transfer, so I am trying that out as I used MOG to listen to music LOTS, but if I liked the artist enough I buy their CD to actually try to support them.

My wife and family get these lists for my B-day, Fathers Day & Christmas.... As I get stuff I remove it so they know they can just check my lists for ideas.

But yes I have all but given up on buying CD's locally.... just cant find a decent selection of things anymore....

voltz

I spend around 5-8k a year on amazon, the UPS man knows me personally now and says I'm his #1 customer, that is where I bought the "Onyx" CD from. but I have amazon prime so its all free 2nd day shipping.

Irrenhaus

Here in the area if I want to get Cd's I will go to Rasputin Music good selection of new and used CD's

I gave up using BB last time I ask about SACD's and the kid was clueless about what I was asking. I really miss the days that most of the people that worked on audio/music store was because they liked and not just to get pay. That kind of service is still available at Rasputin.

There is also a good selection of small music stores in San Francisco.

Cheers

ntculenuff

find a local music store, the majors are limited to usually only the top 40 at best

Oldfatdogs

There used to be a number of music stores in town here.Now we are down to one chain, Dimple. New and used if they don't have what I want its off to Amazon. What a shame.

Dan

mantis

gudnoyez wrote: »

Go to best buy, buy one of thier gift cards then go home and go to bb.com and order if your a premier member shipping is free if not buy all three of the Pop Evil CDs that will qualify for free shipping. You don't got to worry about using your debit card and you get your CDs. I ordered Lipstick On The Mirror the first one to check em out.

Another solution is have Barnes and Nobles order them for you, however they would be more expensive, same with any mom and Pop store they will order them in for you also. Just get a BB gift card from the store order it on line and be done with it.

Thats solid advise my man, I think thats going to be my new way of purchasing CD's. Now I don't have to give up on my points earned, I'm an Elite member have have been for years.

Tornado Red

Though I too buy online because sometimes it's the only way to get what I want, there is one big thing that experience is lacking. Being able to "browse" through a record store. I was at HMV this afternoon and came home with the Gregg Allman tribute concert "All My Friends" on blu-ray. I almost always come home with something I wasn't planning on getting...but that's why I went there.

PolkieMan

I like digging around at Goodwill and HP Books and such, it's cool to find something that I really like and cheap. Most new music I don't care for anyway.

Dennis Gardner

I use a "Purchase debit account" that only gets used for online purchases. I transfer the amount needed into the account when I need it and otherwise that account sits with only a few bucks in it. If someone hacks it, I close it and open a new account. I have done this personally and in my business for over 10 years. In today's/tomorrow's world brick and mortar stores are a thing of the past.

As far as CDs go, if you think that streaming/download hasn't affected CD sales, I have over 5000 Karaoke/performance type tracks that I am stuck with from my business that most likely will never be sold. Even unloading them online is a dead in the water task. The public in general is okay with burned CDs or MP3 quality, if it is easier and cheaper.

Gatecrasher

Stores don't sell the small indie label and niche' CDs which make up the majority of music I buy. A lot of times they can't even be purchased in the USA. The only option for most has always been mail order.

I will never pay for an MP3. I don't even like buying lossless downloads. I want the real thing.

dkg999

Amazon. Use an AMEX card so you have additional protection.

lightman1

Repo Records in Charlotte, NC have never let me down on CD's. Linda dropped me off and came back three hours later. I still had another 75% of the store to look through. Vinyl heaven!!!!

BlueFox

dkg999 wrote: »

Amazon. Use an AMEX card so you have additional protection.

Or use the Chase/Amazon Visa and get points on your purchases. I bought an $800 Herman Miller chair with my first batch of points, and am now burning off $400 in points buying CDs, Blue Rays, clothes, etc.

Gatecrasher

I don't know of too many credit cards nowadays that don't have some form of buyer's protection. Pay Pal does too. Pay with a credit card through Pay Pal and get double protection.

That being said, I really have no fear of buying CDs or anything else from Amazon or any other reputable dealer online.

I haven't had an Amex card for several years now. Most corporations are moving away from them too. They aren't accepted in as many places as Mastercard and Visa.

thsmith

Half Priced Books

pitdogg2

Secondspin.com

been using them for years. get set up and then they have 50% off days, buy 1 get 1 all kinds of deals.

StantonZ

I share your pain, but I have a couple of suggestions that actually haven't been mentioned:
1) I tend to get more CD's off eBay than even Amazon these days (especially since they raised their minimum shipping requirements), especially since you can get promos/samples ahead of release date.
2) PayPal is another way to get around hacking, etc. (I always link to a CC and not bank account though), especially if you buy on eBay.