Physical Media might not be dead, but Physical Media in Retail Stores are accelerating the death (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

You guys are certainly speaking my language about soundtracks and cast recordings. All of my trips to NYC from 1960-1990 where I scoured record stores looking for treasures during the day and went to shows at night. Those were REALLY the days.

 

[TJPC]

We used to go Thursday to Sunday and see 5 shows. We took a look at doing this again recently, but decided not to put a mortgage on the house!

 

[Matt Hough]

We used to go Thursday to Sunday and see 5 shows. We took a look at doing this again recently, but decided not to put a mortgage on the house!

That is the truth. I haven't been to NYC since 2010 due to the impossibly high prices for shows. They were my only reason for going to NYC in recent years since I could buy the books and records online that I normally could only find there. (Well, afternoons spent at the Museum of Television and Radio were also missed, but much of that (but not all) can be found on YouTube now.)

 

[AndrewCrossett]

For years and years, my tastes have been so specialized, that Amazon is the only “store” I can shop at. I still buy CDs, but very few stores stock Soundtracks and Original Cast Broadway, and Ihave basically everything. I used to really enjoy browsing through selections when we had huge multi-story record stores on Yonge street in Toronto, but with their deaths, on line shopping became the only way.

I have the same problem with the fact that my musical tastes are too obscure for places like Best Buy... and also the fact that in 35 years of intensive collecting I've bought most of the music I want. (And I haven't been much interested in new music since the millennium or thereabouts.) I do buy most of my CD's from Amazon now. The biggest problem with Amazon is that you have to know what you want beforehand... you can't really browse through 20 million titles. I find a lot of stuff in secondhand stores and even flea markets/garage sales, but that's really hit or miss.

I've had reasonably good luck finding vintage TV shows at Best Buy. They don't have the more obscure ones, but in recent weeks I've bought complete series sets of Wonder Woman, The Twilight Zone, and Sheena as well as season 1 of The Jetsons. I expect they will have season 1 of Alfred Hitchcock Presents when it comes out next week too.

 

[bmasters9]

I've had reasonably good luck finding vintage TV shows at Best Buy. They don't have the more obscure ones, but in recent weeks I've bought complete series sets of Wonder Woman, The Twilight Zone, and Sheena as well as season 1 of The Jetsons.

That all-in-one of Wonder Woman-- is it the redone single-sided version that you got there?

 

[Rick Thompson]

What the B&M stores don't seem to realize is that, if I know I'll have to go to Amazon to get the item that I want (could be media, but not necessarily), I'll just add the other stuff to that one-item order. Not only do they lose the "not most popular" sale, they lose even sale on the popular and latest they DO carry. Outside of groceries, Amazon gets 60-80 percent of my purchases. The rest is mostly independent ("mom & pop") stores. The big chains get very little (I think I've been to a shopping center twice in the past year). After all, why go to two places when you can go to just one?

 

[Regulus]

amazon.com gets about 75% of my business. "Ma and Pa", B&M and Garage/Yard shops get about 5% and "Trading Sites" get about 20% of my business regarding Home Video.

 

[BobO'Link]

I, too, do most of my purchasing from Amazon. I even purchase *some* groceries and drug store/personal care stuff from Amazon via subscribe-and-save or Prime Pantry (the latter only when there's a free shipping offer).

There aren't too many "mom and pop" type stores that sell what I want and/or need. The grocery stores here are mostly small to major chains (the locally owned ones are overpriced without exception), then there's Target/WM/Sams for misc. over the counter drug items, personal care stuff, and clothes (which I always purchase local for easy returns/exchange), although we purchase many grocery items and paper products from Sams due to price and quantity needed. My purchasing from WM has dropped ~80% primarily due to them no longer price matching but partly because they no longer carry what I want/need to purchase.

As far as media, I stopped looking at BB as their selection has gotten horrible. I'll look at Target and WM as both still carry a fairly good selection of newer releases, including classic TVonDVD titles (especially at WM for those) but it's fairly rare that I'll make a purchase. Barnes and Noble has (or had - I've not been in there in a couple of years) a good media section but everything is MSRP. I can get it for much less from their web site.

I've not purchased any music locally in over 10 years. No one carries what I want, which is mostly catalog titles, and I can get the newer releases for less from Amazon. We've not had a mom and pop music store for ~15 years.

 

[bmasters9]

I'll look at Target and WM as both still carry a fairly good selection of newer releases, including classic TVonDVD titles (especially at WM for those) but it's fairly rare that I'll make a purchase.

That's where I've gotten a few of mine as well (Vega$, Wild Wild West, Airwolf, The Fugitive, et al.).

 

[AndrewCrossett]

That all-in-one of Wonder Woman-- is it the redone single-sided version that you got there?

I'm not sure because I haven't actually opened it yet... it's the version that's currently widely available. Best Buy had it on sale for some ridiculously low price when the WW movie came out.

As far as my shopping... I've been buying a lot less stuff from Amazon lately, mostly because I've been buying a lot less stuff in general lately. I have plenty of DVD's I need to catch up on. I buy pretty much all my books from Amazon... the only physical bookstore left around here is a Barnes & Noble, and the prices there are so high compared to Amazon that it just seems stupid to buy there. Did you know you can pay like $16 for a 200-page novel?

I also never buy clothes online.

 

[Neil Brock]

I've never bought any DVDs or CDs anywhere but online so I wouldn't know.

 

[albert_m2]

There is definitely a sharp decline in CDs, but overall it varies, even within a chain.


Best Buy - overall CDs have been pretty limited there. They used to have several aisles - way more in their peak, than any Target or Walmart. Now, I would say that Walmart has more.

Target is comparable to BB, but it varies from store to store.

Best Buy still has an ok selection of movies, but certainly has many catalog titles and it's very random.


A year or two back, a local Target totally revamped their media section and Movies/TV overall I think is smaller, but there is an older Target that didn't do that and has a lot more titles. Granted, "a lot more" still ain't what is used to be, but it's ok.


Walmarts vary a lot as well. I'm guessing that Walmarts will carry cds the longest, outside of Barnes and Noble, who at this point, has the best CD selection left. They've added a lot of vinyl.

 

[Maxman43]

I buy online, with the very rare exception of something I want immediately (rare thankfully). Usually much cheaper, and I frequently buy used discs for next to nothing. Guess I'm responsible for the decline of stock in the B&M stores.

 

[bmasters9]

I have plenty of DVD's I need to catch up on.

You and me both! I've had several selects out of what I've gotten lately, but I'd like to find a few more.

 

[Suzanne.S]

I shop mostly online now because my collection is huge and most of things I want are obscure. I do miss going to Suncoast and Saturday Matinee back in the VHS days and browsing the shelves finding unexpected things in the Classics section. I miss video rental stores for the same reason.

It's hard to find new and undiscorvedmovies if you shop online because you are generally searching for a specific item. Some of the "you might be interested in..." things are great but mostly the odd discoveries are few and far between.

 

[bmasters9]

Some of the "you might be interested in..." things are great but mostly the odd discoveries are few and far between.

I would imagine that by "odd discoveries," you're referring to what I call "selects," the stuff that is well worth the money-- would I be far wrong?

 

[PMF]

Remember they go by the name of Best Buy, not Best Selections.
And, yah, it's getting to be a paltry selection in one of theiir Massachusetts outlets.
Oddly, though, there's another Best Buy some 30 miles away that has an excellent selection.
I wonder, though, if this had anything to do with their being a Magnolia store; whereas the other was not.

 

[bmasters9]

Remember they go by the name of Best Buy, not Best Selections.

True that-- wasn't intending on changing the name of the business; all I was meaning by "selects" is the stuff that you pay good money for that is well worth that money in several things:

--being a good show
--being packaged well
--excellent A/V quality

...among other things.

(Of course, these aren't static; if a show is good and is packaged well, then even the worst A/V quality would still make for an enjoyable show, as in the case of the all-in-one of M Squad from Timeless Media.)

 

[Jeremy Lancaster]

The 4K's all too often have misleading packaging. Claiming on the package the movie is 4 times better than Blu-Ray when in fact it is nothing but a low level upscale transfer . . . is, in part, leading to store returns. Costco decided to pull the plug. Streaming 4K is of little help for those who live outside a major city where they at lucky to get 10 to 15. The answer for some? Buy the 4K disk online and enjoy the out-of-this world on an LG 65" OLED.

 

[DaveHof3]

4K is where I draw the line. All of us who have been through VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray- that's enough. Unless 4K delivers the cast of the Brady Bunch to perform the episode live in my living room, I don't need any more upgrades.