# Local music shop closing down.



## CreamCat (Sep 8, 2009)

Just learned that my local cd-shop (the only one in town selling exclusively classical music) is closing down. It's so depressing. The only thing I've been caring to do this evening is to listen to Adagietto from Mahler's 5th on repeat.

I've been buying all my music there for the last 8 years. Jan, the owner of the shop, is such a nice man - treating every single customer with respect. I've had so many great discussions about music, books, movies, stupid politicians (lol) with him through the years, and he has recommended me so many great recordings.

Boy, I will miss him and his little store. This post is a tribute to him. And with the CD-format rapidly disappearing, it's like an era coming to an end...


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

All hail the digital age!


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

CreamCat said:


> Just learned that my local cd-shop (the only one in town selling exclusively classical music) is closing down. It's so depressing. The only thing I've been caring to do this evening is to listen to Adagietto from Mahler's 5th on repeat.
> 
> I've been buying all my music there for the last 8 years. Jan, the owner of the shop, is such a nice man - treating every single customer with respect. I've had so many great discussions about music, books, movies, stupid politicians (lol) with him through the years, and he has recommended me so many great recordings.
> 
> Boy, I will miss him and his little store. This post is a tribute to him. And with the CD-format rapidly disappearing, it's like an era coming to an end...


Buy off the internet. More variety and lower price. I haven't bought CD's from the shops for over a year.

I'm not into the digital/download stuff. Quality is not 100%, no informative sleeve notes to provide background to the work, and "concentration risk"; what if your iPod/computer breaks/lost/whatever? The entire collection is gone too?


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## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

Polednice said:


> All hail the digital age!


I'm so not into this. I don't like to download MP3 of classical music. I can barely tolerate the lower sound quality in other music genres, but in classical I couldn't. Also, I really like to have a physical collection with informative booklets.

It's sad that local stores close. Here in my area the only store that has a halfway decent classical music section is a major bookstore chain. And I'm sure it will eventually close down that section...

Good thing I still have Amazon and other internet retailers... the day when the only option available to me is download music, finally, at last, my spending-in-music problem will end...


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Is the distinction in sound quality noticed only be people who play their music on a hi-fi, or do people who predominantly use a computer/portable player notice it too? I have never noticed a difference in sound quality, and so I stick with the cheap stuff. The sound quality is certainly good enough for it not to sound frustrating and it's still incredibly capable of moving me, so I just go to a concert if I want better quality :/


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Polednice said:


> Is the distinction in sound quality noticed only be people who play their music on a hi-fi, or do people who predominantly use a computer/portable player notice it too? I have never noticed a difference in sound quality, and so I stick with the cheap stuff. The sound quality is certainly good enough for it not to sound frustrating and it's still incredibly capable of moving me, so I just go to a concert if I want better quality :/


When one gets used to quality hi-fi, then listens/switches to say a computer/portable and compare, one should be able to tell the difference, for a given recording. It's like day and night. And it should, otherwise why do people spend thousands, or tens of thousands or even more to acquire top of the line hi-fi?

Digital download offers convenience and price, at the cost of everything else. The biggest problem I have with it all stored in a computer/electronic device is running the risk of loosing it all if the device fails, like all electronic devices/computers can do. With CD's, they are all sitting in the shelves, like books. The only way to loose them is if the house burns down! The music collection itself is kept separate from the playing device, which can be discarded/replaced, but the music collection is timeless and independent.


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## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> When one gets used to quality hi-fi, then listens/switches to say a computer/portable and compare, one should be able to tell the difference, for a given recording. It's like day and night. And it should, otherwise why do people spend thousands, or tens of thousands or even more to acquire top of the line hi-fi?
> 
> Digital download offers convenience and price, at the cost of everything else. The biggest problem I have with it all stored in a computer/electronic device is running the risk of loosing it all if the device fails, like all electronic devices/computers can do. With CD's, they are all sitting in the shelves, like books. The only way to loose them is if the house burns down! The music collection itself is kept separate from the playing device, which can be discarded/replaced, but the music collection is timeless and independent.


This is the best explanation given thus far. And my reason for avoiding downloads and spending more monet than I should in music....


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> When one gets used to quality hi-fi, then listens/switches to say a computer/portable and compare, one should be able to tell the difference, for a given recording. It's like day and night. And it should, otherwise why do people spend thousands, or tens of thousands or even more to acquire top of the line hi-fi?
> 
> Digital download offers convenience and price, at the cost of everything else. The biggest problem I have with it all stored in a computer/electronic device is running the risk of loosing it all if the device fails, like all electronic devices/computers can do. With CD's, they are all sitting in the shelves, like books. The only way to loose them is if the house burns down! The music collection itself is kept separate from the playing device, which can be discarded/replaced, but the music collection is timeless and independent.


Well I'd better never buy a hi-fi, because I'm already impressed with the audio quality of MP3s! Ignorant I may be, but blisfully so 

Would you not feel safe having multiple back-ups? That's what I do, and it's just like having an external CD.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Polednice said:


> Would you not feel safe having multiple back-ups? That's what I do, and it's just like having an external CD.


 That's also what I do - 1 copy on the MP3 player, one on each computer in the house, and one on an external hard drive I keep at work. That means that it the house burns down I should still have my music collection.


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## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> That's also what I do - 1 copy on the MP3 player, one on each computer in the house, and one on an external hard drive I keep at work. That means that it the house burns down I should still have my music collection.


It still feels cold for me to have everything in a hard drive. No collection of discs, no booklets with information and comments. Everything in one single lifeless screen. I really prefer physical media.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

tgtr0660 said:


> It still feels cold for me to have everything in a hard drive. No collection of discs, no booklets with information and comments. Everything in one single lifeless screen. I really prefer physical media.


I could understand the wish for a variety of album covers, but I can't see the appeal of booklets with information - surely such physical media are restrictive when you consider the _boundless_ nature of the internet. Every question about the music you could think of is probably answered somewhere online, and you'll find a lot more information than in the booklets :/


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Maybe shops will do lossless format downloads eventually then (if some don't already). As for booklets they could scan them and offer them with the download.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Internet causes a sphere where minds are getting doubed. It is endless and in the deepest depths you can see disgusting creatures eating Brahms, Mozart or Beethoven or walking on their statues. Do not "hail digital era". It's like a great lake, there is peaceful (relatively) village at the shore, but if the people would put their heads under the water and could see OCH! Those things were always present but not physicaly and they were not combined, not together. In life there is a CD, a round object that you put in CD player, in internet there is nothing, but around this nothing gathers the pack, it causes physical form of uglyness, it could never happen in life. We should destroy internet. Plastic surgery will be also point of laughs and mockery just as now it is with XVIIIth century fashion of ladies getting as pale as they can by putting a plaster on their outdated muzzles.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Polednice said:


> I could understand the wish for a variety of album covers, but I can't see the appeal of booklets with information - surely such physical media are restrictive when you consider the _boundless_ nature of the internet. Every question about the music you could think of is probably answered somewhere online, and you'll find a lot more information than in the booklets :/


I disagree (which is not surprising given that your music collection is largely digital, I presume, hence lacking the sleeve notes, thus encouraging you to research via the internet instead). It is a question of depth of coverage: the topics covered by the sleeve notes show far greater depth in musicology than the majority of internet sources I can find, which I do read as well. The HIP movement's sleeve notes in particular often provide quite detail academic quality research amd notes (as evidenced by the authors who are often leading authorities on the subject). For example, every single one of the Handel and Vivaldi opera recordings I have on CD (HIP) are written in detail providing historical background, notes on performing editions and practices etc, which the internet lacks. Can you find anything more than a few paragraph at best on Handel's opera _Poro_ or Vivaldi's opera _Arsilda_? Can you find anything on the types and makers of the fortepianos Beethoven probably used during the premieres of his piano concertos?

And if you listen to vocal music, say an opera, where do you get the libretto? Unless it happens to be fairly popular opera, I doubt the internet provides that.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> That's also what I do - 1 copy on the MP3 player, one on each computer in the house, and one on an external hard drive I keep at work. That means that it the house burns down I should still have my music collection.


True. But it just sounds so laborious running around making backups here and there, especially with large collections/addicted buyers. At the end of the day, I would prefer to hand pick a CD, put it into the player, turn up my B&W loudspeakers, shut my eyes and literally feel the music present in my room; even be able to hear the air of movement that surrounds a Baroque oboe as it swivels a little during the recorded performance. That is musical fidelity; it brings me as close as possible to a real live performance, or better still, with a HIP recording, to its very premiere.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Can you find anything more than a few paragraph at best on Handel's opera _Poro_ or Vivaldi's opera _Arsilda_? Can you find anything on the types and makers of the fortepianos Beethoven probably used during the premieres of his piano concertos?
> 
> And if you listen to vocal music, say an opera, where do you get the libretto? Unless it happens to be fairly popular opera, I doubt the internet provides that.


I wouldn't know because I haven't searched for those things, but some people are better at scouring the internet than others 

Besides, even though it's not a predominant practice, places like iTunes are starting to give the sleevenotes you find with a CD in .pdf form with the download. Though it could be said that the digital world is not currently better (at least as far as information is concerned) than CDs, it would be utterly wrong to say that it cannot be better in the future - it's all down to the people who sell their items. There is far greater scope for digital media than for physical media; we just have to wait until CDs are well and truly murdered by .mp3s before we see better quality. Until that time, I'm quite happy using the shelf-space in my house for books


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Polednice said:


> There is far greater scope for digital media than for physical media; we just have to wait until CDs are well and truly murdered by .mp3s before we see better quality.


Far greater scope for digital media? Well, speaking of "better quality", the next level of musical fidelity on a recording medium is the SACD; a physical medium. Similarly, with visual entertainment, it seems DVD and all its derivatives are again physical mediums. Digital (actually, downloads are what you're referring to) offers its advantages primarily on convenience of access and storage, though not as a fidelity medium. I think that's the difference.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Far greater scope for digital media? Well, speaking of "better quality", the next level of musical fidelity on a recording medium is the SACD; a physical medium. Similarly, with visual entertainment, it seems DVD and all its derivatives are again physical mediums. Digital (actually, downloads are what you're referring to) offers its advantages primarily on convenience of access and storage, though not as a fidelity medium. I think that's the difference.


Yes, I do have to agree with that - sorry, I didn't make it clear enough that I was just talking about the information provided along with the music you buy


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