If your taste reaches a certain degree of specialization, how much point is there in going to a record store instead of just ordering exactly what you want online? (For those who still buy CDs.)

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Please note I said "if" not "once," which I was originally thinking of saying, but I never wanted to imply that we must all develop in the direction of greater specialization. Funny how you can become specialized while being a generalist. I don't consider myself a connoisseur of a.g. jazz or experimental music, yet I routinely come up with things in those categories that I cannot find in the music hipster record stores I go to. I want Ayaya Moses, I don't want this other Frith stuff yet. I want Cooper-Moore's projects, not Assif Tsahar's. I want Derek Bailey with Susie Ibarra.

For major label &/or major distributor stuff, like all the salsa on Sony Discos or the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, yes, I can generally find that at Tower or Borders, and it's sometimes worth it just to get it into my hands as soon as possible. But if I'm hunting for esoteric recordings, the record stores I go to often let me down.

(I don't seriously bother looking for Arabic music or non-major label/import salsa in general record stores, although I will browse those sections.)

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i now go to record stores only for sale or secondhand items.

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i like instant gratification, so i buy more at record shops than online. also i think my tastes are not particularly esoteric so it's pretty rare that what i want isn't instock. i only buy online if it's heaps cheaper. and i love just loitering around in the record shop and going through all the racks, you come across some gems that way!

also i have a crush on the guy who works at my local record shop.

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I rarely buy online, whole instant gratification/culture of music buying/getting up from my desk thing.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess anything that gets us out the door can be a good thing.

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I am not a collector

― JaXoN (JasonD), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:21 (twenty-one years ago)

actually i fell the same way gem and gear do, just i don't have crushes on a boy

― JaXoN (JasonD), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

you're missing out JaXoN

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:23 (twenty-one years ago)

what the electric sound of jim said. if it's something i can't expect to find used, i'll order it online. unless i'm dying to have it the day it comes out, then i'll go to the store...because i never have the foresight to preorder anything.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I would like to clarify that I do not have a crush on a boy

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:31 (twenty-one years ago)

is that like the twee version of "not that i'm gay or anything"?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

there's nothin gay going on here, just a couple of bros havin fun

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

the only difference between a gay guy and a straight guy is a six-pack and a backrub

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel gratified when I discover a particularly well-priced CD at my local record store (or at chain stores, for that matter). Sometimes I go into Best Buy and force myself to find something "worthy" of my patronage.

I learned that Madonna's "Like A Virgin" is fairly banal. The self-titled record rocks, though. off-topic tangent: what's everyone think about True Blue?

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

"white heat" is weird

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm basically with Jim. I never buy new records in stores, always online. Well, except for the occasional thing at DustyGroove, but that's just cuz I live in Chicago and can go there. But you can still find good stuff used. last night I bought the Abba Arrival CD remaster for $4.99 at Reckless.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 24 October 2004 03:56 (twenty-one years ago)

"arrival" has a great cover (also a great back cover)

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 04:00 (twenty-one years ago)

these days if I can get it in a store, I'll go and get it (assuming it's not ridiculously priced). But if I can't find it at all, I'm not going to wait around. goddamn my shoulders are sore.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 24 October 2004 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

There's every point because record store people can often tell you about a record that they have in stock that you didn't know about, or once they get to know your taste they give you good stuff to listen to. Plus the whole social interaction bit.

I think no matter how specialised your taste gets, you can't know everything!

Unfortunately for me there are no decent record stores in singapore so I buy everything online.

― Jacob (Jacob), Sunday, 24 October 2004 04:17 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost - the weight of the world gear?

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 24 October 2004 04:55 (twenty-one years ago)

i get a list together of stuff i want when i go to the record store and they never have anything on the list, it's depressing.

― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 24 October 2004 05:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i know that feeling too well, even if the list is always just in my head

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

but it's a record store, FULL TO THE BRIM with records. if they don't have what's on my list i just trundle off to the racks and find something else i'm keen on.

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 24 October 2004 06:38 (twenty-one years ago)

'Arrival' also has "When I Kissed the Teacher," yay!

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 24 October 2004 07:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha! I'm listening to it again right now, in fact. it's apparent that Stephen Merritt really loved "Dum Dum Diddle"...

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 24 October 2004 07:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I love the way Abba record covers all have that little registered trademark symbol next to their logo.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 24 October 2004 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)

what's even worse than finding nothing you like is finding what you came for, and then another 3-4 CDs you really want. i.e. today at Amoeba, whilst clinging to eventual purchases Ellen Allien, the Futureheads, and Les Georges Leningrad, I spent a fair amount of time pondering whether or not I should buy that new EBTG compilation, Goldenboy w/Miss Kittin, and Nina Nastasia.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 24 October 2004 08:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Ive never bought anything online. A store would have to sell nothing but Taking Back Sunday records to lack something I'd want.

― David Allen (David Allen), Sunday, 24 October 2004 08:44 (twenty-one years ago)

this thread is making me sad. i haven't bought a cd in two years in either manner. not one i knew i wanted and found somewhere.

i rely on finding unwanted stuff in annual sales at suburban chain stores for $2.

― bulbs (bulbs), Sunday, 24 October 2004 08:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I find most record store people too surly stone-faced hip, at least in the indie sort of stores, which is where I kind of have to go for stuff like Fred Frith. I liked someone who specialized in jazz in an independent, but not particularly indie, store, that covers a prety big mix of styles, but he no longer works there. Actually, as I think about it, I don't really like record store clerks trying to guess what else I might like, because they are generally wrong.

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I saw the new Jimmy Bosch CD in the jazz section of the indie store I went to this week, which surprised me. Unfortunately, that's not something I'm in a rush to buy. It's really more salsa than Latin jazz, although a number of the songs are labeled descargas, so I guess they must stretch out.

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't listen to the advice of record store clerks since someone at rose records suggested mighty like a rose to me as an ideal elvis costello album ca. 1992

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 13:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually go to specialized record stores and I make these guys play record after record -- each will get 2-3 mins and then I decide whether to get it or not so record shopping has its uses -- though I'm sure some websites have MP3s (forced exposure doesn't).

(I've just came back from tower - first time I've been there in prob 1-2 months)

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 24 October 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Where I live there is *zero* point at all making the effort to go to a irl record shop. There aren't really any specialist (in the vaguest sense of the word. Dance, Indie, Fopp etc) shops to speak of, just a handful of monolithic mainstream catch-all ones.

Online ordering is frustrating (the postage charges, the back-ordering, the waiting) but compared to wasted afternoons spent trudging round the city centre in vain hope that something might be stocked in the specialist sections of such stores (reminded myself how futile this actually was yesterday), it's heaven.

If I actually saw an Ellen Allien record I would squeal with delight.

"what's even worse than finding nothing you like is finding what you came for, and then another 3-4 CDs you really want"

I have that problem online :(
It almost never feels worth the bother to buy just one CD...

― latetotheparty (latetotheparty), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:10 (twenty-one years ago)

There's every point because record store people can often tell you about a record that they have in stock that you didn't know about,

I agree with Rockist up there. Having to listen to the clerk's advice on what to buy is what keeps me from not going to the record store.

"I don't care what Black Keys sounds like, dammit! I'm 31 years old, so just sell me the fucking Wilco record."

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

www.juno.co.uk has 30 sec .mp3 samples. Despite the shortness, I do find them useful.

And I usually use Amazon (.com) for the windows media clips as well (I like in the uk, but for some reason we only get realmedia clips ho hum).

What I hate is otherwise excellent stores that only stream clips in broadband bitrates grr.

― latetotheparty (latetotheparty), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I like going to record stores, and buying things that I think I might like just judging by the cover. I don't have the self-confidence to ask to hear something first.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree with Rockist up there. Having to listen to the clerk's advice on what to buy is what keeps me from not going to the record store.

The one place I can get to easily that has an informed selection of salsa CDs (mostly on independent labels, if you can call the Fania monlith and whoever owns it now independent) is very unreliable about keeping titles in stock. "Come back next week. . . Come back next week. . ." You have to pay in cash. And I end up feeling I have to defend my taste when dealing with the baby boomer Puerto Rican who owns it and can't understand why I don't like certain classics, while dismissing some current stuff I do like as bubble gum salsa. Granted, that can also be kind of amusing.

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Online ordering is both impersonal and a hassle. While Amoeba/Mod Lang might not have the specific albums I'm looking for, I'll always find something worth buying. You know, those ohyeah albums that you completely forgot you wanted, until you see them in the store.

Plus, it's fun. I like record stores. You meet interesting people, etc.

― babyalive (babyalive), Sunday, 24 October 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

that sounds like a cool store, RS...the salsa thing. there was one place in cambridge (mass) like that, where i would have meaningful music conversations with the owner, but that experience has not been replicated.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

But I always feel like I have to prove myself there, being a gringo.

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

but that sounds like an interesting challenge, so long as they aren't hostile. i like when people don't expect me to be interested in something i'm interested in.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 24 October 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Ahh, I just like going to Vinyl Fever (the local warehouse of a record store here) for convienience's sake and to see if there's anything that might catch my eye, not to mention that my friend works as a clerk there...

― Ian Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 24 October 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I normally buy CD's in used stores and CD fairs. Apart from that, I scavenge every store for CD sales and special promotions, being new releases by loved artists the only thing I buy at first sight (and even so, I tend to check the online stores to see if they have it cheaper...)

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Sunday, 24 October 2004 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

http://neil.fraser.name/news/2002/xenu.gif

― sometimes i like to pretend i am very small and warm (ex machina), Sunday, 24 October 2004 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Always record stores

I don't have a credit card

― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 25 October 2004 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm friendly with the guy who runs the record store i frequent the most, he is very well-informed and basically the opposite of the indie-clerk stereotype. which is so nice and refreshing.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 25 October 2004 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I can never remember what I'm currently after, o to see the thing in front of my face is usually a good reminder.

btw, Riot Gear!, you shold have bought the Nina Nastasia. Maybe next time?

― Ben Dot (1977), Monday, 25 October 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

another traumatic record store experience (after the elvis costello episode i mentioned earlier) is when a reckless records clerk actually made fun of my friend and i for looking through the bruce springsteen LPs! and he did it in that cutty/dean "what, i'm not making fun of you, you sourpuss" way, too.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:26 (twenty-one years ago)

we sort of ganged up on him and eventually he squeaked out "i guess nebraska is a good record..."

corny indie fuq

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

gang of sourpusses.

― identity theftor (deangulberry), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

YES

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

actually i think the clerk may have been in that "man, i don't even know if i'm being sarcastic anymore" mode

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Always record stores
I don't have a credit card

-- Sasha (ahmar...), October 25th, 2004.

i was gonna say the same thing!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

sarcasm only applies to late springsteen.

― identity theftor (deangulberry), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, well we were looking at a copy of the river when the offending comment was made

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

as much as i want to take his side, i just can't.

― identity theftor (deangulberry), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Always record stores
I don't have a credit card

-- Sasha (ahmar...), October 25th, 2004.

Isn't this a Haiku waiting to be finished?

Always record stores
I don't have a credit card
Damn my bad credit

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 08:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Always record stores!
I don't have a credit card;
Delaying adulthood.

― Amateurist (Travis Blue), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

But the last line has 6 sylables!

Always record stores!
I don't have a credit card;
Delay adulthood.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 09:14 (twenty-one years ago)

hmmm, i miss record shopping a bit. i just find it harder to justify the need for me to purchase vinyl (or even CDs) these days.

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 09:24 (twenty-one years ago)

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