sources
How are people getting their music these days? People have been harping on about the death of the CD for ages now, but what I'd like to know is what is your main 'source' for the music that you listen to? Brick-and-mortar CD stores who want to trade in the more experimental end of things can always boost their revenue by stocking some more mainstream titles (although even purchases of those are decreasing rapidly), but I recently heard of an online store being forced to close its 'doors' because of a lack of customers. Now, with virtually no overheads whatsoever you have to wonder what kind of a situation things are in where an entirely virtual shop has to close because it's not making enough money to keep going. Do you buy physical CDs in a shop or in an online store? Do you use iTunes or eMusic to download tracks, or do you get everything you can for free, legally or otherwise?
i get almost everything on
i get almost everything on cd (or on vinyl). i don't like the idea of spreading my music between physical records and files on my hd very much, especially since my pc isn't connected to my hifi-system. but i buy almost everything online, a growing part of that direct at the label's shop on their homepages - so i understand why shops have to shut down their business. on the other hand i don't know many (if any) shops their i can get (almost) everything i desire, so i don't quite see the point of the shop-system for me anymore.
CDs, Downloads, Vinyl...
CD is really still my medium of preference (I like to have a "thing" - especially when there's some useful information included). Proper factory-pressed - CD-R seems to be something of a temporary medium, if I buy a CD-R it gets copied onto hard disk (several hard disks) straight away.
Downloads next - I like the way the Ayler label handles these, with proper artwork. I do like to know what I'm getting by way of format, bitrate and so forth (seems a waste for producers to skimp by offering low bitrate MP3 - this is music "for always"). What I like about downloads is that I don't have to pay postage - significant when mail-ordering CDs.
Vinyl is now a last resort for me - because I'm completely out of storage space. Don't care for the "fetishism" that's increasingly associated with vinyl.
As for "where to buy from" - almost completely from online suppliers (including directly from folks like Dennis Gonzalez), that's not from choice. It's because the music just doesn't seem to reach the shops near me these days - admire the persistence of folks like Sound323, Second Layer, DMG - and I'll always buy in person if there's a choice. Something that rather distresses me is that I've been buying from Amazon these past few months - would rather support an independant specialist, but adding P&P to the price ordering from DMG or Cadence makes them significantly more expensive.
I still like to buy CDs (and
I still like to buy CDs (and DVDs) of the bands that I really like and want to support. But I also download a lot of music to preview from blogs. If I like it and can't find it anywhere, I'll burn it to CD. I also like to hunt for out-of-print music online, which I'll download and burn to CD.
I also keep a lot of mp3s on a few external hard drives.
But I prefer CD. I also just don't get the fascination with vinyl. No matter what old hipster audiophiles say, CD is just better. I like music WITHOUT hiss and pops and scratches.
ThanX,
Dimaension X
http://dimaensionxblog.blogspot.com
http://myspace.com/dimaensionx
Purchasing Jazz Music/Books?
Although yesterday I have got a new computer equipment with many new possibilities, I can't imagine downloading music exclusively. I like a CD from the manufacturer in my hand with the artwork, musicians involved on the back and liner notes (except from Stanley Crouch).
Same goes with books. Every time I have the All Music Guide To Jazz or other significant books in my hands, it is pure pleasure.
Written with passion, wit, knowledge and sometimes very funny. Sure, from time to time I'll check the web for further informations (bands/musicians not shown in the 4. Edition). And of course the website of the Artists itself.
dosh
i suppose it firstly comes down to economic factors. Personally I love having a physical object, with nice packaging, a cover as a visual anchor and some good liners to give it all context. But more often than not I haven't got the money for that. Especially being here in Australia I would have to get a lot of the things I want ordered in which only adds to the price tag. So I usually end up going via the download route. Same goes with releasing music, I suppose. I'd love to put out physical discs of what I do but the money's just not there, so I put everything up as free downloads. I could charge for the downloads I guess, but charging money for something intangible just never seemed right to me.
Getting music
Until recently, I have ordered most of the music (CD's) at cadence; sometimes tower, quidco, you name them. Especially cadence has an unbelievable service, prices for CD's are fine (to me). But in generell, the shipping cost from the US/Canada are enormous (depends of course on the service you choose). Since I live in southwest germany, I order most of the CD's now at a mail order company 35 miles from me away. When the label is a european one (I have a lot of Emanem-CD's-London Improvisers Orchestra, SME-), I order there.
European Mail Order
Can you tell us the name (web address) of this mail order company? I share a similar frustration with shipping costs (my experiences with Cadence, DMG, Dusty Groove and so forth have all been good in terms of the bit they do) - especially since the bankers decided that the British pound should be worthless and UK Customs has become zealous in extracting import duties to finance military aggression (and the Royal Mail takes a further hefty chunk for their process of delaying mail in order to collect these duties).