Continuing with CDs?

Best Buy Isn't

Best Buy has just told music suppliers that it will pull CDs from its stores come July 1. At one point, Best Buy was the most powerful music merchandiser in the U.S., but nowadays it's a shadow of its former self, with a reduced and shoddy offering of CDs. Sources suggest that the company's CD business is nowadays only generating about $40 million annually. While it says it's planning to pull out CDs, Best Buy will continue to carry vinyl for the next two years, keeping a commitment it made to vendors. The vinyl will now be merchandised with the turntables, sources suggest.

I was killing time before an appointment at a Best Buy not too long ago; went looking for said vinyl and finally it in a dusty corner of the store in a stack on a shelf next to some Crosley turntables. So...Good Luck With 2 More Years Of That.

vinyl sold with.... turntables? an idea just crazy enough to work.

we still order & rip the CD version if it’s available

Kind of wondering if there even will be a Best Buy in 2 years.

As for the Target part of the article, they're gradually remodeling the ones around here, adjusting the stores with floorplans had the Electronics Dept.* by the front entrance to a smaller spot in the back. There's a modular rack and half of a short aisle with an endcap rack of CDs in those stores now.

*Which these days is more of a Pop Culture Dept., with much shelf space once devoted to DVD/BluRay/CDs now housing Comic Book/Star Wars/Disney licensed merch (clothing, books, posters, Funko etc.).

it's been my impression that Best Buy has been doing better, esp online sales

they are actually better priced on a lot of stuff like tvs than Amazon

I just hope I can continue to buy CDs from somewhere going forward [(I mainly buy from the one independent shop near me (and Amazon, of course)].

Best Buy/Target has had a terrible CD selection for a decade plus in my neck of the woods.

this music dude who moved out upstairs last week left behind tons and tons of stuff in the giveaway pile. i gratefully took fifteen LPs, some 7"s, and a handful of DVDs that i'll watch once before passing them on. didn't touch the books - too much space per item. but i've been eerily fascinated by the CDs. hundreds and hundreds by artists big and small. things i would have snapped up for a dollar or five dollars back in the day if i found them at a thrift store or something. grandaddy, enon, 70s beach boys, all kinds of shit that's up my alley. i keep passing them in the foyer and there's a muscle memory that makes me want to browse through but, like, i don't collect CDs anymore. where would i even put them?

in your CD player!

hmmm well that will be the first problem

my who with the what now

superdrives are like $30 now

doesn’t count

I mean, arguably I have three computer drives that are “cd players” but I only ever rip CDs with them. I’ve got a PS4 but it’s hooked to an a/v setup I stream music to. I have a neat muji wall CD player that is decorative but I now very seldom use

so I’d say I do have one “cd player” in that the function I primarily use it for is to play compact discs, but it’s not even plugged in

actually my laptop does have a CD drive now that you mention it. feels so awkward and flimsy though and my computer's not plugged into the stereo so i really don't use it for listening.

"I’ve got a PS4 but it’s hooked to an a/v setup" I don't think ps4s play CDs either, from what I remember. maybe they've updated since the last time I tried this but they didn't a year ago which was baffling to me.

oh yeah there’s something weird about that, right?

What's the problem again

Craigslist usually has amazing older audiophile CD player for peanuts now

hmm I may still have a PS1 in a boc

*box

Clearing out my father in law's house, this last visit I found two rather audiophile looking portable CD players which I am looking forward to fucking with.

having a 2006 car w/ no aux port or bluetooth was 90% of the reason i continued w/ cds, (the other 10% that we have a pretty good local used cd/record store chain) that car is totaled now and im looking for a new car. i still feel attached to cds though, way more than i ever have w/ vinyl. feel sad but spotify is a better deal then buying these things

hmm, I did neglect to mention the car because I don't think of it as being "at home?"

I've got a six disc changer in that thing that I haven't stocked for a while -- the problem is the stuff I listen to in the car is the kind of thing I'd tend to stream, like podcasts, dj mixes, pop singles

at some point I will just permanently affix six lana del rey albums in there and then seal the access port

i went a bit crazy last month and bought a brand new cd player in the january sales. probably won't fully get back into buying new releases on cd other than nice reissue/archival stuff, but i have been having fun idly rooting round in charity shops and buying used cds for pennies

this music dude who moved out upstairs last week left behind tons and tons of stuff in the giveaway pile.

Funny that hauling all that media to a second-hand music store wasn't worth it, by the original guy. Back when I was culling the collection every few years, Everyday Music in Portland was great for taking everything I brought, even as the payouts declined. Didn't really care if a cd only generated .50, I just didn't want to be handed a pile of unwanted discs. Now I take the odd duplicates and unwanted discs to work and add post-it "FREE" stickers.

I still fondly remember trading in CDs for $10CDN credit back in the early 90s. I now have a dozen banker boxes full of them, which will stay with me until I finally accept that I can't get more than fifty cents apiece from the local merchants.

I bought three CDs off Discogs this past weekend alone. still on board. commute/work vehicle has a CD player, I play FLAC rips at home.

I really don't think there's a secondhand music store around here that deals in CDs! Dude knew his stuff, I def think he'd determined it wasn't worth fucking with.

Went to a great little second hand music shop the other day; bought 12 CDs for £35 - Terry Callier, Bert Jansch, Mercury Rev, Spinners. I'm still in.

There was a new vinyl shop up the road. There are identikit shops opening all over the south. They're small, shiny (polished wooden floors a must) carry a small amount of stock and are run by the same late middle aged bloke with a small business loan and a microscopic knowledge of 70s soundtracks. The first thing I saw was Clapton's Unplugged in some limited edition or other for £25.99. I turned around and walked out, John Carpenter ringing in my ears.

It still seems like CDs are still more expensive than records were in the early 2000s.

This is just to say, if there were dollar bins with appealing CDs (I'd call Mercury Rev and the Spinners appealing) then that would be a good value proposition. 4.25 per CD is still too high.

I think it's just inflation. Most record/book store used CD bargain bins I see are in the $2-3 range, while thrift stores bring the $1 stuff (and they'll sell anything--starting to see a lot CD-R back-up discs in the racks).

you all can just give your good cds to me, i'll listen to them

I'm still paying 40 pounds for little known goth cds.

Pretty much I'm glad I live in SF with Amoeba right there, because they take anything from me. Even if some of it is 'can't do anything with it,' they'll still take it.

Got a bunch of nice price, new in packaging Cds for $2.99 each down at a store in Atlanta when there on business back in November - Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Deep Purple, Montrose, Aerosmith, Ram Jam, Joe Perry Project, Spirit, Mountain, Night Ranger, Ratt Etc.

this music dude who moved out upstairs last week left behind tons and tons of stuff in the giveaway pile.

Funny that hauling all that media to a second-hand music store wasn't worth it, by the original guy. Back when I was culling the collection every few years, Everyday Music in Portland was great for taking everything I brought, even as the payouts declined. Didn't really care if a cd only generated .50, I just didn't want to be handed a pile of unwanted discs. Now I take the odd duplicates and unwanted discs to work and add post-it "FREE" stickers.

― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Monday, February 5, 2018 12:21 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

God, I miss Portland. I have a few record stores near me but they're crap.

My Sony CD player is fucked and I only got it in 2010. Is that normal? Is it the new normal?

Checking around for new cd players and none of them seem to have DSGX or Bass Boost. Do they not need it anymore? Do they sound like that by default now?

they never needed it.

i dunno, maybe 8 years is a good run nowadays.

I thought it always made everything sound better.

nah, "flat" sound is the way to go IMHO.

Amplifiers usually have time controls.

Tone

My Sony CD player is fucked and I only got it in 2010. Is that normal? Is it the new normal?

― Robert Adam Gilmour

Odd. The entry-level NAD deck i bought in 1998 only made it about 10 years before requiring service (which i know as a 20yr old deck i could still get serviced). But the Sony CD Walkman i still have from the mid-80s will play discs reliably. I did, however, purchase what was to be "the last VCR i'll ever have to buy" in the early 'aughts and it only lasted a few months beyond the original warranty -- and that was the last Sony product i've purchased since.

My car stereo (2-year old) has a bass boost button that i find easier to use while listening at low levels -- especially because you otherwise have to navigate through many menus to adjust the traditional tone controls.

I don't think I've had a CD player last more than 5 or 6 years before refusing to play certain CDs or developing other defects like the drawer opening and closing when it's not supposed to. Maybe I've just been unlucky?

I think it's normal for a CD player to need service after 5-10 years - moveable parts and a lens that gets dirty

You could take the cover off and clean the lens with a q-tip, might give you a few more years use

I don't know where you live but in Denmark you can get a used CD player for next to nothing

I've given up on CD hifi components and got a nice, cheap Discman on eBay

This lot approves!
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/best-cd-sound-ever-panasonic-sl-s120-and-sony-d25-portables.556664/

aw I had that panasonic years ago and it sounded lovely. think I accidentally left it in a car I sold.