Requiem For The Record Store

Rick Zeman writes "The Washington Post has an article (minimal registration required) in which record stores ('Daddy, what's a record?') are preparing for their own demises. They attribute this to the big box stores (Best Buy, etc), online retailers (Amazon, etc) and, you guessed it, downloading, both illegal and legal. 'The fat lady is warming up, but she's not exactly singing,' says one retailer, knowing that he still has a few more years until his business is totally moribund." Get it while it's hot -- soon, the Washington Post is switching to a more annoying registration system.

Comments

Physical Media

[77Punker]

I'll always be buying physical media whenever it's available, record shops or not. If I'm buying digital stuff, it's just a keystroke or bankruptcy away from being lost forever. With real stuff, it's much harder to destroy, can be easily backed up, and the format won't go out of style for quite a while.

Is this a bad thing?

[Reality Master 101]

I'm not sure what the big deal about this is. I seriously doubt that many people care about "knowledgeable" record store owners. All they want is the lowest price, which the large retailers are going to provide. People learn about music through their friends, the radio, etc.

Now, the knowledgeable people used to be more important, because we didn't have online sources of knowledge. Who wants to trek down to ask Record Story Guy about that obscure album when you can sit in front of your computer and make a post on some web site to the world? Sure, there are some people who want the record store experience, but I highly doubt that it's a significant number.

There's just no reason for them to exist anymore, unless they can somehow sell for less.