I go into my local best buy today and again they have shrunk the CD section to a mere 2 small isles. With the exception of current releases they mostly have "Greatest Hits packages". Are there even any Record / cd stores around anymore? Here in the Wash DC area we used to have TONs of record stores ( kemp mill  , waxie maxies , peaches , sam goodies ) all gone now. Now i've never even been to I tunes but it seems to me that you are paying for a watered down product being mp3. Luckly there are a few second hand record / cd shops around my area.....

We still have a great, independent record shop downtown---Plan 9. Used to have 2 stores, but just the one left now. But all the rest are pretty much gone. I get most of my stuff online now. SIGH. I DO miss browsing the bins for that unexpected "treasure".

The Bay Area has lots of places that still selll vinyl even. I think it's great that vinyl is coming back. I never really made the transition from vinyl to CD all that successfully.

Cd? What is this cee dee?

I retired my CD's to the basement last year.  I uploaded everything--some 10,000 'albums' or so--to a hellaciously huge hard drive.  I did most of it in lossless format (FLAC's, WAV's, APE's, etc.).  I did some in MP3 format--poorer sound quality discs to start with (Leadbelly, for instance, there is no difference in FLAC Leadbelly versus MP3 Leadbelly!).  I now have the ability to find and play -- in any order I want -- all of my music.  Much more convenient.

Please.  With a system like mine, I can make any mix far faster and with no loss of sound quality thanks to ripping in lossless formats.  My 10,000 or so CD's are now all on a 8 inch x 8 inch x 3 inch/two pound hard drive (actually, two hard drives--I backed it all up) that I can take anywhere.  I've gone to hotels with a laptop and 2 small Bose speakers for my hard drive and I have my complete collection just a clickety-clack away).  I only keep the CD's as an emergency backup or for those cars that play them.  Technology marches on.  Join the march or be left behind....

By default, it seems as though New England is home to the greatest CD shop left on the planet: Newbury Comics.

While I don't think they are they best shop ever, they actually have a lot of great material and GREAT prices.  It's not the same experience as going into a Tower or Virgin, but this is what we have been left with.

iTunes is a very subpar product, but you are also paying a below normal price for no packaging and a subpar product. 

I have retired from CDs...and converted to vinyl.  And i feel good about it...

StreetsofLover wrote on Feb 6^th, 2009 at 11:52am:




Holy Shiite? you have 10,000 cds and 4,000 records?

welcome back SS.

Honky Tonk Man wrote on Feb 6^th, 2009 at 7:50am:


i remember borrowing cd's from people and making copies of them onto high bias cassetts because i  didn't own a cd player yet.

Nice to hear that so many people still listen to vinyl. I have a few thousand lp's myself..........so who has the secret to cleaning vinyl on a budget ( sorry can't afford one of those pro cleaning machines). I've always found it frustrating when you find what appears to be a "Clean" album and it turns out to be a big black frisbee..............

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ha. seriously. you don't need no machine. one of those little kits with the soft brushy thingy and a little water or cleaning fluid does the trick just fine.  gonna put on some stan getz on the turntable now.....

Lots of places to buy CD's and vinyl in and around NYC.  I just love flipping through the vinyls looking for something rare when I can afford to treat myself to a new 'toy'.  The CD's and albums are my 'toys', I play with them, sort them, stack them, copy them, display them, haha I enjoy them and I never download 'songs' from the Internet. Albums are made to be listened to from beginning to end, not just one or 2 songs that are the 'hits'. It's not the same thing musically.