popcorn Jan 9 01:45:11 2004 Valerie Mates popcorn Jan 9 01:45:195 responses total.
For me - PJ's on Packard for LP's Encore Recordings on Liberty (tends to be a bit snooty but they have a good classical selection Tower is decent for new CD's (good selection of world titles.)
Record Town in Briarwood is way way too expensive, as is BMG music service, but that is another item.
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When I go shopping for music, I usually have something in mind, and usually don't want any help, unless I cannot find it in stock-- Like Abbey Road on CD.
I usually listen to the radio. I work at Best Buy Ann Arbor. Most of the time I shop for music, I do it because a manager is pleased with something I've done and says I can have a free CD. So I'm no expert at music shopping. That said, Best Buy has been sending me to other stores to do some remodeling. I can't believe how much more space these other stores have for music than we do. Have any of you shopped for music at the huge new stores in Southfield (we closed the old Southfield store in fall 95. It was about the size of the current Ann Arbor store) or Okemos? The Best Buy stores in Grand Rapids, Waterford, Kalamazoo, Madison Heights, and Port Huron are also much bigger than Ann Arbor. Does all that additional space make the selection significantly better? Are things easier to find? Or is music shopping the same at any Best Buy stores because the same buyers and inventory analysts serve all the stores?
I generally buy stuff from Schoolkids in Ann Arbor, sometimes from Borders if Schoolkids doesn't have it. Schoolkids has survived and prospered when other chains moved in across the street, which is why I prefer to support it over Borders.
If I know exactly what I want, meaning I've already heard it, then I'll buy it anywhere. If I know the piece I want but need advice as to which performance I'd prefer then I go to SKR and ask one of two salespersons who know what I mean when I say clean, powerful, honest, minimalist, pulse-filled, not Itzhak-like, etc. If all I want to do is listen to what's new out there I go to Borders and spend about an hour at the listening stations and take my chances with getting head lice.
I usually know what I want, unless I'm looking for something totally unknown, like my unfulfilled quest a couple years ago to find "something like waltzes performed by a Salvation Army size brass band".
I like SKR because they know their music and can offer good suggestions when I haven't a clue.
Heh, I should probably link this to the music conference. There probably is not one "best" shop in Ann Arbor. It would depend on what you wanted. If Best Buy's selection of the current hits covers your needs, they are probably the lowest prices in town for new CDs. If you need a somewhat better selection of rock music, Where House Records on S. University is likely to undercut the Big Three stores by a buck or two. Schoolkids main store: ah, the homegrown favorite. The staff is generally knowledgable but tends to arrogance. Prices are high - $16-$17 on most discs, and sometimes there are real gouges on more collectible items. But you can manage the prices with coupons from CURRENT, the $1-discount on multiple purchases, and the frequent 20% off sale. And they do get a lot of stuff that few other places do. This is really the only good source in town for folk music. Schoolkids annex: used CDs of many varieties. New CDs of the most obscure trendiness here, still somewhat overpriced. Basically, if you are over 25 and still shopping here, you need a life -- you shouldn't be listening to Come, Tsunami, the Boredoms, or bands like that anyway. :) Schoolkids Classical: good classical shop, again somewhat pricey, staff very knowledgable. I often just buy whatever they're playing in the store. Selection is maybe "deeper" but not as "broad" as Tower. Tower Records: Ann Arbor's Tower Records is very well run. Good selections in all departments except folk music: Tower seems congenitally unable to comprehend folk music, chain-wide. Prices maybe a buck cheaper than Schoolkids on rock and jazz, often $2-4 cheaper on some classical items. I do not find that the staff has a lot of deep knowledge -- there were some folks who were very good with classical music some years ago, but they are long gone. Tower has the best selection of "geegaws" -- cassette & video tape, storage units, things like that. Borders: Borders has decided that there is a mint to be made selling music to the middle-aged in a soothing environment. Smaller classical deparment, interesting jazz and rock selections, nothing too cutting-edge. Borders' real strength is the hundreds of discs they have put into listening stations; you can spend hours there previewing the discs they are promoting this month. I'm fascinated with how the stocks of Schoolkids, Tower and Borders are complementary. When I start looking for an obscure rock, jazz or classical item, I can usually be sure that one of the three will have it -- but I can never tell *which* one will have it. Encore Music (still says Liberty Music on the awning): In the last year Encore has acheived critical mass in used CDs. There's a *lot* of neat stuff in that shop for $9 or less. Also lots of vinyl -- it amazes me that they are still buying old LPS! Encore is probably one of the best shops in the country for classical LPs. And the staff is fun, and they play neat stuff on the house stereo; this is a worthwhile place to go and browse. Did that answer the question, Valerie? vinyl.
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Liberty and Thompson.
Right, just a handful of storefronts down the hill from Schoolkids. Liberty Music was Ann Arbor's classical store for many, many years: I think the bags used to carry the legend, "Since 1939." Schoolkids was pretty intense competition for them when SKR Classical opened, and I suspect Liberty did not handle the transition to the CD era well. Sometime around 1990 or 1991 the store was sold to some of the employees and as Encore Music they dropped out of the new-recording market and became a used shop. But the old green awning has never been replaced.
to jeff way back in #5 -- I was in the Okemos Best Buy looking for a CD player last week, so I took the opportunity to check out the CD selection. I think the Okemos selection is quite a bit broader than the Ann Arbor store; there was actually some interesting stuff in the folk section. I have to wonder about who does their ordering, though. There were 35 copies of the new Clive Gregson album, and over 20 copies of the WOMEN OF KERRVILLE collection. Best Buy isn't going to sell all of these, I don't believe. Most of them will get returned for credit, which will choke the small labels which issued them.
I have not worked in that department at Best Buy, but I don't think that BBY deals directly with small record labels. Names on cartons the CDs come in usually seem to be WEA-Chicago or DART. So perhaps those big distributers can take the stuff BBY sends back and ship it to a different store. I was once in a video rental store (I think it was called Broadway Video) on Packard south of Stadium where they also sell CDs. Just walking through the store not meaning to look at the CDs, the Best Buy label on the front of a CD caught my eye. It was a price tag put there for a BBY store near Cleveland. And the BBY price was about $2 less than the price this other store had put on the same piece. Best Buy music buyers can also move things around the company. I've seen CDs with three or more labels showing how well traveled they had been. So maybe the title you saw 20 copies of had sold well at that store and its siblings had been brought in from all over place.
(((consumer #64 <---> music #205)))
BTW, popcorn, PJ's Used Records and CD's is still in business.
Though I'm generally not much on chain stores, I really like the Tower Records outlet in the Galleria. Their selection is a lot more varied than I would ever have expected. Schoolkids' is always wonderful, of course. I used to go to Wherehouse Records (just down the street from Tower) all the time, but haven't been there in a few years.
This item has been linked from Music 205 to Intro 104. Type "join music" at the Ok: prompt for discussion of musical recordings, and where to get them. Also, "join consumers" for discussion of where to buy things in general.
A friend of mine who was friends with some Schoolkids employees said that Schoolkids' owner is a real jerk, so he tries not to support them. (I didn't ask about any examples of his alleged jerkiness). To me, the fact that they've survived in the face of bigger competition, and driven out smaller competition, does not *necessarily* mean that they're worth supporting, other things being equal.
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Mmm, I don't know anyplace which lets you stack discount offers.
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Re something way back there: someone said BMG music service seemed way overpriced to them. If $7 a CD is way overpriced for you, I want to know where you shop!
Are all their CDs $7? If so, where are they, and what do they carry? (Used or new, pop or obscure.)
The last sale they had was $4.99 per CD, plus the shipping and handling, generally $2 to $2.50 per CD.
BMG is the former RCA Record Club.
BMG is a total rip. You wait eons for your music, usually priced at $14.99 and higher, and they never tell you how much is shipping, and how much is handling. I'd just as soon as go to Meijer, where the prices on most is $9.99 and some are as high as $13.99 and you get to hear your music now.
I dunno, I just got 8 CDs for $60. That's well under $9.99 each. For that kind of savings, I'll wait. >8)
Hey, more power to you Rob, but I find that they don't have what I want, when I want it, at the price and the time I want it. Since I listen to oldies, classical, and other stuff, BMG often doesn't suit me. I usually do better at Encore or Tower.
I usually have a major problem with "record club" services' selection, so I only caved once on one of those deals. Finding 10 CDs I really wanted was a major challenge, though.
I know the feeling, the last time Columbia sent me something I decided to see if I could find ten CDs I really wanted. I managed to find three.
The best way to do it is to find someone you know who's already in the club and have them give you their stack of catalogs... so you basically end up with a list of everything they've had in stock for the past year or so. The promo's they send out have all the CDs that are cheap and they're trying to get rid of on them. In order to save money through BMG (I've never saved a cent with Columbia House) you have to wait for the sales and order a lot of CDs. The more you order the more you save, generally. NEVER pay full price. You don't have to. I've never paid BMG more than $8 per CD.
Does anybody have any good leads regarding buying new and/or used CD's, now that I've made the sacrifice and disposed of my cassettes and cassette singles? I'm looking for prices $8.00 or lower, which will count out most new releases, but I specialize in compilations, especially those from Rhino Records or CD's sung by that reclusive act called "Various Artists."
Ack! Why dispose of your old recordings? I've still got about a thousand LPs downstairs. Encore Music on Liberty Street seems to have an interesting "various artists" selection of used CDs.
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Re 36 - But how many people would buy 8 CDs if the slogan were, "The more you order, the more money you spend!" >8)
I would...bonus points for honesty...
It depends on what the CDs are!! But I'd be sure to read past the slogan, which I don't usually.
Will somebody help to get some Roger Waters solo albums like Radio Kaos e.t.c. I may be contacted on pighatak@pcsbom.patni.com OR pins@grex.cyberspace.org. I'm from INDIA.
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I would try PJ's on Packard first, that is if you don't care about used CD's. Then on to Encore Recordings, then as a last resort, Tower. at least this is my way of buying music.
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((( consumer #64 <--> music #12 (the 2nd music conference))))
Leslie and I were looking at www.cdconnection.com and www.cdnow.com this weekend, and the CD Connection site seemed to be consistently a buck cheaper -- about $13 for most of the items we were looking at. We've ordered from CD Connection in the past, no problems. Best Buy can probably match that price on current popular music CDs, but not on catalog or unusual items. The CD Now site has more information about albums, including a note if it's in stock.
personally, for cds, i've been going to tower lately, i used to shop at best buy, but they've really gone downhill in the past year or so (a2 store) and their selection was never the greatest... tower's decent, a little pricey, but i can deal with pricey if they have the selection, tho there have been a few times when i was unable to find what i was looking for (mainly stuff on import) I could spend hours on end just browsing around tower.
No Rush? Heaven forbid.
Tower has easily the best cheapest classical selection I've seen... all the horn stuff I have I've either bought there or directly through whoever manufactures the stuff. But last week I went in to buy a Baumann CD I've seen in there every time I've looked through the horn stack.. . and it wasn't there. I'm bummed.
The Tower records store in D.C. is pretty good. After I move to NewYork, I anticipate going a lot to the Virgin Records MegaStore in Times Square. That place is huge-- even has a movie theater, bookstore, software store, cafe and Travel agency, and thats just on the ground floor.
yeah, when i was there, a friend of mine wanted to go visit that, but we never ended up making it.. new york's such a cool place...
There is an item waiting to be written about mega-stores and music retailing. I dunno if I should it here, in an item linked to Consumer cf, though. Valerie?
An item about buying CDs is appropriate for both conferences, and should be linked from one to the other, whichever one it happens to start in.
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Right, I'll be happy to link it here in consumer if it is elsewhere. Just let me know (or enter the item in consumer cf.).
Hastings is all we have over here, and I guess it's a company limited to the western U.S. I say it's all we have in regards to a discount store-- we have Sam Goody and Camelot at our local mall, but I'd rather go to hastings for their prices. (It's also closer to where I live.) That's the best we have for new recordings. As far as used CDs and tapes, our locally owned deja vu is best and R&P Records is our only used LP store (and the owner usually copies them to tape for you). I mentioned more about deja vu in the used music item.
Schoolkids (in Ann Arbor) is advertising a 20% off sale through Easter Sunday. (I'd probably best keep my distance, so I don't save myself into bankruptcy.)
D'oh! Just broke down and bought a few records at their inflated normal prices the other day.. CD prices in Ann Arbor have gotten outrageous in the past nine months or so. Does anyone actually pay $15.99 for an average CD?
Sadly, many do. I can't remember where I read that a group is trying to sue the manufacturers for keeping the prices so high. A very limited pressing, say 500 or so, only costs about $5.00(US) each. That's for everything, recording, materials, promotion, gas for taking them to the record stores, etc. I would imagine making more, like a few hundred thousand, would drive the cost down further. For now, when I can scrape up a few bucks, I'll buy used cds or vinyl.
I am bad -- I do pay those prices, and worse. Though not usually for anything popular. I figure that most of what I buy isn't available in discount sotes, so I'm stuck.
re #60: If you can only find it one or two places you've got little choice but my question was about paying that for an "average CD." When I was at Tower a week or two ago the new U2 disc was marked $16.99 -- of course as a new release they were selling it at a discount ($12.99 or $13.99..) After the initial sale period is over do they really expect people to pay $17 for a disc that you can buy (almost literally) anywhere? Someday I'd like to see a breakdown of where the money goes in CD sales.. On my more cynical days I tend to suspect that more money goes to lobby legislators to keep decent recordable technologies like DAT off the market or too expensive and fending off antitrust actions than goes to the artists..
Cynical, aren't we? :-) But I do agree, it seems totally stupid for CD prices to be so high, and 've noted a disturbing trend for prices to be marked at $17.99 for new releases lately. I will not pay that for anything popular, but I know people who do. Most of what I buy is folk, and half the time it's imports, and Schollkids is my only source. Of course, if I had some patience, I could probably order my own copies from Elderly's or evne England, but I have this immediate gratification problem.
Well, I don't know a lot about where the money for CDs goes, but from my expirence working at Best Buy 1994-1997: The normal price for many CDs at the Michigan stores was 13.99 for a fairly long time. One day a Media Play store was getting ready to open near the Best Buy on the northwest side of Grand Rapids. So about 3 of us from Ann Arbor and several people from the rest of Michigan went up to Grand Rapids armed with price guns. We went through every CD in stock at both the NW and SE Grand Rapids stores covering every $13.99 price tag with a $12.99 sticker. The district media manager who was in charge of this operation noted with some glee that spys from Media Play would quickly figure out what we were doing. They will not be happy about it. I later did a similar "music repricing" operation at Best Buy Madison Heights. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Micigan at Best Buy stores near Media Play stores you won't find a CD for $13.99 but at the Ann Arbor store, you won't find a CD for $12.99. I don't know from personal expirence because I wasn't paying attention to music prices for the last severl months I worked there and I just about never buy CDs for myself. I prefer the radio.
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(a special command performance brought to you by the organizers of the music conf..)
There has to be a *very good reason* for me to spend in upwards of $18 for a CD. I think the last one was "Sinatra: Reprise" with some of his best performances. I'd like to have the US3 and "In Gabriel's Garden" but not for $18. I'll wait. OTOH, CD's are virtually indestructable, if treated correctly, and will most likely outlast thier owners by far. In that respect, $18 is a small price to pay, if you really think about it.
And another thing, tapes can break, or get eaten.
If it's any consolation, CDs are cheaper in the USA than just about everywhere else in the world. British CDs generally run about 12-14 pounds in the shops there. French CDs are higher. Canadian prices are wildly variable; new releases get promoted at Can$11-13, but back catalog is often Can$20. I'm just back from Where House Records in East Lansing, and I noticed that many of their CDs have been restickered down to $14.99. Also, on Tuesdays, Where House in East Lansing has a $2 off sale, and I believe that sale runs in Ann Arbor too. Alas, neither Where House nor anyone else in East Lansing has the first Whiskeytown CD. :( I believe that a good deal of the price of a major label CD goes to pay for the extravagant, up-front deals that the biggest artists have been commanding. R.E.M. set the most recent record with $80 million for their next few albums. Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, the Stones, Aerosmith, and probably a few others have gotten astonishing amounts of up-front money in the last few years.
I was really shocked when we went to Adrian today. They have a Sam Goodys at the mall, and I went in, hopig to find a cheap 80s compilation tape or cd. Well, not only did they NOT have any 80s compilations (!), I priced most of their popular records at $16.99, and several others at $18.99 -- and these were not big names nor new albums -- one was an Eric Clapton, and another was a nice but not outstanding Moody Blues "Greatest Hits" package, which I mihgt have gotten at a more normal price, but NOT at $18.99. The ohter interesting thing was the prevalence of rap and country music. Both sections were bigger than the rock, the classical, and the "misc." section..
I'm not sure whether there are any decent independent music stores in Adrian to provide competition but I'm constantly baffled by the success of mall chain music stores (Sam Goody, Musicland, Coconuts, etc..) in cities such as Ann Arbor where there're clearly superior choices.
I remember buying all my 45's at Nixon-Marbro's in 1967-68, when it was in downtown Adrian (where I lived until moving to Ann Arbor in 1973).
Hey, Bruin! My mother in law worked at Nixon's way back in the 50's, I think it was there -- it was certainly a cool music store from the stories she's told. Far as I know, there are no independent music stores in Adrian. (Though I don't shop there often.) Well, I think that for me, in re: why I'd shop at a Musicland here in A2 would be tht I wanted something popular (like an 80s compilation) and cheap. I'm not going to find much in that line at Skids or at Tower -- or if I do, they'll be esoteric ones that leave off the cheesy songs that I really want, but don't want to pay a whole bunch of money for. (The store on the corner of State and Liberty has been a godsend for my quest to make the perfect 80s mix tape -- they have a whole *bunch* of cheap ($4.99 and lower...) tapes which have covered nearly all the songs I want.) But if I wnat to get something *good*, I usually hit Skids or Borders.
I believe that Discount Records, on the corner of State and Liberty, is a part of the Musicland chain, whose stores are usually in malls. I think Discount is the vestige of something which was once much larger; East Lansing had a Discount Records which was part of the same operation up until about 1981.
Ann Arbor's monster record and cd show is sched. for this Saturday the 12th from 10am - 4pm. At the Elks lodge on East Eisenhower. They say you can bring in a few records to sell or trade, if you want. $3 admission.
Would anyone who's been to one of these shows before care to comment? Is their appeal principally limited to hardcore record-collectors looking for out-of-print and/or hard to find items or are they like a big cutout showroom with obscure and little-wanted titles by bands that never quite made it? I guess what I'm wonderring is who'd get the most out of going to the show?
I usually use Musical Memories in Flint, for rare/out-of-print/hard-to-find records. They mostly have what I am looking for. (810) 231-5575
Of all the record shows that come to Ann Arbor, I like the" monster" one the best. There's a little of everything at this show, classical, new wave, jazz, blues, junk, posters, videos, usually an all Canadian table, 45's of all kinds, cd's, vinyl, and all kinds of prices, from cheap to realy stupid. It gets kinda smokey in there, but ex-smoker that I am, I don't notice it after a while. A few of the dealers have portable record players at their table, so you can listen (sort of) to what you are looking at.
Would there be much Canadian Folk at the Canadian table?
When I was there the last time, there were some Rankin family, but no other names I recognized. The outlook for folk seemed pretty dismal. And of course the smoking kinda made it pretty miserable for me. I saw a lot of stuff, but nothing that I'd want. But then, I'm werid.
canadian music? ew :)
i thought you liked canadian music steve?
Well, I made out pretty good. Greetings from TIMBUK3-- $1.00
Asleep at the Wheel SERVED LIVE-- Free
David Sylvian GONE TO EARTH-- $15.00
(all on vinyl)
Clannad HARRY'S GAME-- $1.00 (cd sampler)
I saw a lot more, budget restraints held me back. There was a lot of folk
stuff there. Next show is sometime in October.
I'm canadian, but I dont' necessarily like the music :) Alanis is good, but she sounds basically American. The levitz are cool, I guess, and there are some other good canadian bands, but a lot of them really don't hold up well.
You mean there's more to Canadian music than Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Rush, and the Rankin Family? :-) Actually the past five years or so have been pretty good for exposing Canadian acts to American audiences even if certain acts (Alanis Morissette) have been a little over-exposed..
Re #84 Yes, there is more to Canadian music than the aforementioned acts. There's the Guess Who, Steppenwolf, Bryan Adams, Paul Anka, Percy Faith, and quite a few others. BTW, did you know that bandleader Guy Lombardo was originally from Canada?
And then there's Glen Gould... Personally I always liked the MacKenzie Brothers, eh?
re 85 Maybe that's the reason for naming his band, the Royal Canadians, eh? re 86- Take off, hoser. who's not to like Bob and Doug, eh?
Stan Rogers,a song singing storyteller from Canada had what I
call *vocal passion*. Not only the words but the delivery of the
words can move you.
Some of you know of his song "Lies" others have turned it
into elevator music compared to him.
Lies is okay, but I still prefer his other songs. (Maybe I'm just reacting to having heard it eight zillion times by other people. )
[momentarily diverting this album back to a discussion about good places to buy CDs: temporarily, at least, Schooolkids'.. when I drove by last night they had a sign advertising one of their occasional 20% off sales..]
The advert in the paper last night said the sale runs till Sunday.
I was never really impressed by Schoolkids.
What does Schoolkids lack which would impress you, Senna? 20% off at Schoolkids; probably Friday only, for the "Midnight Madness" sale.
Availability. And atmosphere.. felt clogged and claustrophobic and stuff.. hartd to explain. It's one of my things.
Schoolkids, especially the used section, is kinda weird. Most of the time, I don't shop there, preferring Encore, but when I do go there, I invariably like what I get.
yeah, i don't like schoolkids much.. but then again, i haven't shopped there much (maybe because i don't like it) I much perfer the selection of tower, but a lot of times i look at wherehouse first because they tend to be cheaper than tower, but with less selection..
What kinds of music are you looking for, kewy? I end up at Skids too often, since they have the only decent selectin in town of what I crave. ,
it depends. sometimes more obscure stuff from a few years ago, sometimes things that don't get much attention by radio etc, it depends, really, b/c i like lots of different music..
Well, I'm a nut for the folk music -- both domestic andforeign, so Skids is about the only place to find it, though Borders is getting a darn good selection. For anything at all popular, though, I check out the place on the corner of Liberty and State -- that has a LOT of obscure stuff.
Hundredth! anderyn--you mean discount records?
discount records is one of the ann arbor music stores i haven't been in.. dunno why.. should go there some time..
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Encore definitely is my favorite place in town. SOmetimes you have to be patient with them for things to come it, but it's worth it
Now that the buy-more-save-more deal is gone "Discount" Records is basically a non-mall Musicland. No reason to buy there except possibly during one of their periodic 20% off sales.. Just recently discovered Encore and was wowed by their selection (both breadth and ease-of-finding-what-you-want..)
where is encore, that's another place i've never been, so discount records is really as high priced as music land, because their prices are outrageous, 18$ is way too much for one cd..
I shop at Best Buy whenever possible, because they tend to undersell mainline music stores by $3 or $4
Encore is at the corner of Liberty and Thompson. Next to Thano's
Confusingly it has an awning labelling it "Liberty Records" which I believe survived from the previous music-store incarnation in that location..
see my response #13 on the history of Liberty Music -> Encore Music.
oh.. hm, oky, i think i know what it is then.. maybe.. well, i'll look for it next time i'm down there.
I just went there the other day; I stopped myself from buying more CDs-which I can't afford at present-by picking stuff up and handing it to my friend who was going on a long car trip. . .:) THey had cool stuff, as usual. . . Wazoo sometimes gets in some cool stuff, too, but you have to look for it.
yeah, i like wazoo, but sometimes it can be a bit out of the way, just for cheap..
Encore finally got an awning that says encore...I'm so proud :)
Where is the historic preservation commission when you need it? :)
The good thing about used music stores is that you can find things that you want that you'd never find anywhere else. The bad thing is that you almost never do. They can never have a complete collection of every rare cd or record that ever existed.
(Yea, people keep buying them up! ;-)
Better to go in looking for 'something interesting'--which you can always find--than for 'this interesting album right here'--which you never will.
senna in #115: often finding the rare recording just takes persistence. I was looking for one particular Duke Ellington LP beginning in 1978; it finally turned up in Encore's bins around 1993. If finding such things was easy, then they wouldn't be rare! Encore (and other used stores) are also good for a chance to gamble on a recording at a reduced rate; and since the stock is already unsealed, you can often get a chance to listen to a disc before buying it, especially if you shop at a less busy time.
Just a note of a music store's passing: State Discount in East Lansing has dropped out of the music business. All the way back to the mid-70s, and possibly even earlier, State Discount did a good business of selling the top hits -- *only* the top hits -- for significantly less than the other new-record shops. Anyone have any comments on Disc-Go-Round, the used-CD chain which has opened outlets in East Lansing and Ann Arbor? The East Lansing outlet is at the corner of Abbott and Albert; the Ann Arbor store is on South University. I haven't been overwhelmed by the selection in either store, and given that both towns have two or more good-to-excellent used CD shops, it's hard to see what the niche of these new shops will be.
I was just at Disc-go-Round today, and got a couple CDs. Seemed OK, the owner was rather obviously training a new hire. OK prices, annoying light show.
The Ann Arbor Disc-Go-Round seems to be much better than the other Disc-Go-Round stores I've been in. It's still not particularly good but they get points for usually having at least a couple of things I'd like to hear and for keeping it organized well enough that I can find what I'm looking for if it's there. Encore's much better but Disc-Go-Round is acceptable..
Well, nobody can beat Encore...
Indeed.
I'm with you on Encore. I buy probably 75% of my music there now. Only if I have to have something new do I go elsewhere, either Tower or Tower.
Last 2 I bought were from Meijer. Leann Rimes "Blue" for 10.99 and Bob Dylan's "Time out of Mind" for 13.99. Decent. I would like to score *all* of Dylan's CD's; I've grown to love his music.
I dunno. I truly, truly love Encore, but I just can't forget how I once found a Fish album "Internal Exile" at PJ records on Packard. I've kept meaning to go back their since... BTW I don't suppose you've heard of any more of them free concerts, have you Dan?
No, but I haven' really been looking. I'll keep an eye open.
(most of my music shopping in Ann Arbor occurs at Discount Records/Sam Goody [new releases], Encore [used], and Tower [vinyl singles]. every once in a while, I'll wander into Wherehouse Records to look for singles, or to Wazoo to look for used singles, or PJ's, just to look.) (I go to Discount Records partly out of habit, and partly because of the sales people. I'm a "Replay" member, so I get all sorts of special deals [and never pay full price for albums]. I like going to Encore because they tend to have a fairly fluid inventory wrt what I'm looking for; I tend to skip Wazoo and PJ's because their inventory isn't as fluid.) (I don't like going to Sam Goody, although they tend to have a larger selection than Discount; usually, it's only during the special "Replay" member days that I go. I *hate* Tower, and wouldn't go if they didn't carry vinyl singles. they've recently marked up the prices on these as well, so I'll pribly wean myself from Tower altogether soon.) (I tend to spend a lot of time shopping for music [last year, I spent 7-8% of my income on music, even with the various discounts and bargain bin/used grabs], and lately I've been travelling out of town in search of elusive grabs. right now, my favorite place is Desirable Discs II in Dearborn. they have boxes and boxes of used vinyl, all of it unalphabetized. this is actually a good thing for someone such as me, because it discourages the casual shopper from taking the time to go through it. I've taken a couple of day trips out there, and I've still barely scratched the surface of what they might have. for newer vinyl and older CD singles, I've had a lot of luck at Dearborn Music, both in Dearborn and in Canton. Record Time in Roseville is much better for new vinyl, but it's a long drive, and I've been through their used vinyl twice now, so I need to take some time off.) (while in New York, I had a LOT of fun looking for music. there's a guide to shopping for vinyl in New York on the Web [the address escapes me now] that reviews all of the shops and gives an idea of what can be found. Vinylmania was once upon a time the place to go, but nowadays there isn't much there that can't be found elsewhere at better prices, unless you happen to be buddy-buddy with the staff and do a lot of special ordering. Phat Beats was VERY cool in both atmosphere and selection [mostly rap, but hey, that's why I was there!]. the best was A-1 Records, where I found most of the things on my shopping list. it's a fairly new store and isn't in the guide yet, but it pribly will be soon.) (I forgot to mention: most of the stuff I bought in New York was used.) =^)
sale note: Tower in A2 and EL is having their annual January storewide sale. $3 off most full-price discs, $2 off budget discs.
Urgghh.. I wish you hadn't told me that -- that's information I can't afford..
If you really want to save money, tape the CDs from the public library, everyone else does, judging from all the scribbled times on the backs. I have a lot of records that were also free, in three cases they were put out by the curb after a yard sale, and in one case we helped clean up after the Hadassah rummage sale. Kiwanis and the public library sell used records, cheap. Kiwanis also sells used turntables cheap, and cheap reusable tapes (which we also find by the curb).
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For that matter, the booksale sells CD's and suchlike as well. (Does anyone still have a 78 RPM player?)
YEah, we do. We have tons of 78 rpm records too. :-)
Wow, neat...
I have a dual turntable that spins 78s. Found it at a garage sale a few months after giving my younger sister on the order of 300 78s I had, along with the dual I had then. She has/had a wind up victrola, but it broke. She had yet to get a CD player. I still have a few 78s, including a Judy Garland album--A Star is Born.
(One should probably clarify that Dual is a brand name, not a description of some special kind of turntable.)
CD Now (www.cdnow.com) is offering a website-wide sale through March. They are claiming 30% off most discs, but it appears to be 30% off list, not off their usual price. Still might be worth checking out; they list the Smithsonian Folkways ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC for $51 or so, a full $9 cheaper than the best price I have seen elsewhere.
In terms of equipment, has anyone bought one of the cassette adapters for a personal CD player? What was your experience? How is the sound quality?
Do you mean, to play a portable CD player through a cassette car stereo? If so: yes, I use mine for almost two hours every day, and if this is what you are looking for I can tell you more.
Do you find the arrangement works well enough that you don't wish you just had a CD player in your dashboard?
When I used one (don't drive that much anymore) I found the sound quality quite good. Not perfect, but useable. Making a cassette of a CD seemed to help with dynamic range; in a car, less variation in volume is better. I liked being able to use the same CD player for everything.
I have an in-dash cd player and am happy with it, but from what I've heard of the casette adapters they have sounded pretty good too. It didn't make sense for me, since I own almost no tapes. If my car had come with a tape player, I might have gone that route instead.
Looks like we have a discussion going. :) I have been using a portable CD player connected through a cassette adaptor in my car for three years. I'm very happy with the sound quality: less hiss (though still some from the tape player electronics) and rock solid pitch stability, of course. I sometimes get annoyed at having to hook the player up, but since I do a one hour drive each way to commute to my job, I don't mind the extra few seconds to plug everything together. Mike in #141: unfortunately, the ramp where I park at my office is the Car Stereo Thieves Shopping Mart, so I have stuck with the factory Ford stereo cassette player. If theft were not a frequent worry, I might have gone with an in-dash player. Also, I still have a large library of tapes I like to play. And Leslie needs tape access too -- she's always listening to recordings of her voice lessons, or of music she is learning. Scott in #142: I have bought the high-end Sony car players. These come with a Digital Signal Processing option labelled "car" which is a gentle compression circuit. (My most recent player comes with two settings for the compression level.) This is essential for listening to classical music on the road. Unfortunately I was not happy with the Sony brand adaptors. I had one which came with the Sony CD player, and one which was an aftermarket purchase, and both developed really annoying squeaks. The adaptor has to have moving parts to fool the cassette player into thinking that a tape is being played. What I have bought since then is the Discwasher brand cassette adapter. It's pricey, but I think it may sound a little better, and it is perfectly quiet, mechanically. It does have one annoying failure mode, however... but Leslie needs the phone line so I will have to tell you about that later.
I have a Audiovox cassette stereo radio that I pulled out of the trash and got working. It has a CD IN jack right on the front. I have not tried it but I suspect that it is a line level input. It also has AS/PS and ART pushbuttons, whatever those do... The cassette adapters use a stereo tape player head to couple the signal from the CD output to the cassette head in the stereo. Pretty simple. The take-up wheels inside the cassette player want to see motion or else the mechanism ejects the tape. Hence, the adapters have the two reels geared to each other. I suspect that a noisy mechanism can be quieted wit a drop of two of silicone oil (Needle oil at your favorite sewing center.)
This reminds me that once back in my youth I added a CD jack to a cheap car stereo. You can wire one in to the volume control usually.
Any reason you can't use the cassette adapter for your personal CD player with the cassette player of your home "stereo" system? (Mine's cheap, and I haven't invested in a home CD player yet, and might not if the above scenario made sense and panned out...)
I'm not generally too concerned about sound quality in the car -- road noise will more than overwhelm it in any car I've ever owned.. What I would worry about would be skipping (which you seem to be saying is not much of a problem on units that have a read-ahead buffer) and the inconvenience of hooking it up and stowing it after use..
albaugh: the only problem I can envision would be if the cord leading out from the fake-cassette got in the way of the boombox door closing. This is not a problem in most car cassette players, which have the door slightly ajar when a cassette is playing. (I take it your boombox does not have an "auxiliary" input jack.) You might also look at cheap powered computer speakers to plug into the headphone jack of your portable CD player. Get a AC adaptor from Radio Shack so you don't use up lots of batteries. mike: skipping problems: what I have found is that the mechanical stabilization stuff in the Sony players I have had "wears out" after a year. At least, that's my best guess. My Sony car player #1 became unusable in the car after a year; almost any jolt causes a brief signal dropout or skipping. The unit plays fine, immobile, in my office. Sony car player #2, with a ten second buffer, played perfectly for about a year but then developed similar problems: after a bad road jolt you can hear the player mechanism frantically seeking -- click, click -- while the buffer runs out. I've worked around this by putting the player in my lap; my thighs seem to be excellent shock absorbers. Maybe it's really the shock absorbers in my car which are wearing out, making the road jolts worse. klaus: the "ART" pushbutton on your car cassette player improves the creativity and quality of the music you are listening to, of course. Routine commercial jingles are transformed into mini-symphonies. :) Finally, the Discwasher cassette adaptor failure mode: the connection between the stereo-mini plug which inserts into your CD player, and the attached wire, is very very flimsy. I had two of them break at that point. Finally, I reinforced the connection between the wire and the miniplug with some plastic twirled cable wrap. This keeps the attachment point protected from bending; so far, so good! Other than that failure problem, I am very happy with the mechanical and sonic performance of the Discwasher adaptor and I recommend it, even at the fairly steep price of $25.
Hmmm.. Sounds like you've had many of the problems I suspected (and have heard reported by other users) but just are more willing to tolerate them. I guess that if I ever decided to take the plunge I'll probably just got for an in-dash player or possibly a trunk-based changer, though those struck me as more than a bit inconvenient. Oh well, I guess it's not like it's a pressing issue with my student budget -- feeding the CD monkey is more than enough music expense even in its current quiescent state..
Yeah, that's a big "duh!" on me re: being able to close the cassette door on the stereo system. Are they called "RCA jacks", those things shaped like "( o )" which plug into connectors shaped like "(O)" ? Anyway, those are the jacks/connectors I use to connect my VCR to my stereo Aux input. Do personal CD players have some Aux/Line out that can be patched into stereo Aux input? Do the patch cords usually come with the unit, or do I have to find & buy separately?
albaugh: "yes" on the RCA jacks. To the best of my limited knowledge, all personal CD players come with Line Out jacks, and with a cable to connect this jack to the AUX input on home stereo systems. It sounds like you haven't bought the CD player yet, so check to be sure the cable is in there. A super-cheap (under $80?) player might not have the cable, I suppose, if the manufacturer were being super-stingy. Extra cables for this application are about $5 at Radio Shack (and probably at Meijer's). This is a common installation for personal CD players. It's what I have at my office. This is definitely the way to go for a home installation if you have the AUX INPUT jacks; the cassette adaptor kludge is intended for cars. If you want to avoid the hassle of recabling when you switch between your VCR and your portable CD player: Radio Shack, and presumably others, sell switch boxes which let you put two pairs of RCA connectors "in", and select one of those two to go "out" to your system's AUX input. These switches are probably overpriced at about $15; you could make one for less if you can get junk parts.
re #150-152: the particular patch cable is called a "Y-adapter." It has two male jacks to plug into the CD or AUX RCA jacks, and a headphone sized jack to plug into the CD line out. I'm certain that Ken is correct; all personal CD players have this; but even if it did not, you can plug it into the headphone out and you'll get the same effect. I've tried it..it works
Hey, albaugh, did you ever get the CD player hooked up? ---------- Tower Records in East Lansing is moving to a "standard" price of $17.99. Woog. I have not checked the Ann Arbor store.
Already there for many titles. Guess how long it's been since I've bought anything at Tower except during a sale (and rarely these days even then since I used to discover the sales as a side effect of passing through Tower once or twice a week to browse. When you don't go there frequently, you don't notice the sales, so you go there even less frequently, and so forth... Encore fulfills many of my browsing needs and I've learned to like Wherehouse Records -- their selection is weak in many areas but it's surprisingly strong in a few, depending on the whims of the buyers I guess. They also usually give $2 off/disc on Tuesdays to lure in people on new release day. It's a pain timing your shopping expeditions, but their prices wind up being much more reasonable than Tower's on anything that's been out long enough for Tower's new-release discount to have expired. What I don't understand about Tower's stratospheric prices is how they expect to get away with it.. Schoolkids', for example, can get away with high prices because they stock for the specialty customers they attract with their jazz, world music, and folk sections. Tower, though, seems to rely mostly on their mainstream selection (they have a huge classical department but I never see anyone shoppping over there..) and I just don't see how they can compete with, say, Best Buy, who charge dollars less per disc and have much more convenient parking for those who don't want to come down near campus. Sure, Tower gets student traffic from campus but students are pretty price conscious and Tower has to share that market with Schoolkids', "Discount", and Wherehouse, as well as used and used/new stores like Encore, Wazoo, PJ's, etc.. Am I missing something huge here or is Tower's gouging going to cause it to self-destruct? I thought the pattern was for the big chain to come in, underprice their competitors and drive them out of business, and only *then* jack up prices and start raking in the bucks.. Tower seems to have forgotten to drive their competitors out of business before jacking up prices..
Actually, nothing is cheaper than the much-maligned but actually quite good Best Buy. I buy there unless there's something really rare that I can't find there... and most of those rarities aren't at Tower or anywhere else local, either.
$17.99? Holy Cow! Now that makes me glad that I still have my BMG membership. If you wait for the sales, you can get a pretty good deal. I just bought 8 CD's for about 8 bux each, including shipping. Not too shabby.
((Pointer for anyone reading this only in the consumer conference: Schoolkids Records in Ann Arbor is closing. Details and weeping and wailing are in Summer Agora #151, linked as Music #149. We don't need to repeat it all here.))
Is Vintage Vinyl or Now Hear This or even Slackers anywhere up north?
Not around here, at any rate..
(Vintage Vinyl rings a bell, but I can't place it.) (most used record and CD stores aren't large chains, and tend to be exclusive to their area. 2nd Hand Tunes is pribly the big chain in the Chicago area, with Record Town being the big chain in Detroit.)
In East Lansing, Where House Records is having a sale for all of April: $2 off most prices. This is the customary end-of-school-year stock reduction, I think.
I really miss the Ann Arbor store. Of the various places in town, their buyer was the closest to being on my wavelength. They had a lot of really good stuff in their import & indie sections..
This question is for Mike, though anyone else can chime in: Do you have any recommendations for CD shopping in Montreal?
Sorry, didn't get to do much CD shopping on my last Montreal visit. Now if you were going to Quebec (City)..
It's tempting, but realistically Quebec isn't going to happen on this trip.
anyway it's not like I'm very knowledgable about record stores there, either, though I could refer you to a small shop with an enthusiastic owner which was able to supply the Quebecois folk recording you'd asked for last summer..
Where House Records in East Lansing is having a Summer Stock Reduction Sale on its classical CDs: 30% off. I think the sale is through June 20, but you might call before you travel any distance to get there.
didn't where house in Ann Arbor close a bit ago? Maybe it's just my imagination... I'm not in downtown Ann Arbor much these days. Anyone know of a good place in Ypsi to get music? Has anyone been to Vinyl Joe's before? It's right across the street from me, but I haven't checked it out yet.
Yes, the Ann Arbor branch of Where House closed. AFAIK they still have branches in Jackson & E. Lansing.
Re #169: I've met the owner of Vinyl Joe's but haven't been in yet. He must carry some obscure stuff, 'cos he wanted to sell BLAMMO's CD ;)
((The East Lansing branch of Where House Records is just a three minute walk from my office; it's still in business.))
Hi kewy, it's good to see you're on grex again. Vinyl Joe's is a pretty decent store. I've found some really obscure stuff there. I picked up a couple of surf music CDs and the Brazil soundtrack there. They also carry some music videos. The staff seemed willing to special order stuff, but I haven't taken them up on it yet. BTW, (quick plug) besure to check out Cross Street Book Shop. It's a great place to get used books. It's the only book store in Ypsi. As far as other Ypsi record stores, I can only think of Puffer Reds (which specializes in rap and hip hop) and *shudder* Meijers. (Oops, I forgot to say that the reason I brought up Cross Street Book Shop is because it's next door to Vinyl Joe's.)
Y'know, what was truly weird? I went to Best Buy to get a Rammstein album (since the one a coworker had leant me was disappeared), and found a Yat Kan album. THAT I wouldn't ever in a million years have expected. Given that they're Tuvan.
Best Buy has a very scattershot selection of folk and world music but they do stock a bit.. Their selection seems to be almost completely random..
One of the used CD shops on South University is gone. Disc-go-Round, I think it was. We saw the vacant storefront as we left Tower tonight. No loss in my life. Used CDs are still an area where a local shop can trounce a chain, i guess.
re 173 joe's will order it for ya i've had good lucking doing that with them a few times over the past 2 years, real nice folks.
Ooh...I heard the tail end of a Yat Kan track on the radio a while back, and I've wanted to hear more ever since, but my music wish-list is soooo long. What do you think of them, Anderyn?
They're interesting. Not something I'd listen to everyday, but neat. I particularly like the fact that there are several different styles of throat singing, and that tehy've managed to integrate traditional tunes and melodies with a rock beat. I'd give them thumbs up.
<nods> I wasn't sure I'd want to buy their CD blind, but maybe I'll keep an eye out for them.
I've just ordered the finally release Pete Townshend "Lifehouse" CD set, frem his direct sales site eelpie.com. At about $63 plus shipping it is not cheap (well, it *is* 6 CDs), so y'all might wait until I can post a review of some sort.
I've been thinking about that one....the shiping is waht's the killer though unless they sorted it out a bit. Early on it was about 18 pounds of shipping (18x1.6=USD!)
Yup. :( Better be worth it. ;)
Speaking of large boxed sets, I recently read a review of a Teldec (I think) release of the Complete Works of J.S. Bach on CD. 12 "volumes" / 153 CDs / $1,200 / weighs 22 pounds. A company called Hansler has put out its own boxed set of 170 CDs, and claims Teldec's eedition isn't really complete.
I've seen that in a Columbia House catalog. Probably it's just my ignorance, but I hadn't heard of any of the featured performers (I could find the list if anyone's curious)
Just to put it in perspective, if you listened to that 153-CD Bach set as a regular full-time job, 40 hours a week, it would take you a month to listen to the whole thing. (That's assuming 70-minute CDs.) Even I wouldn't want quite that much Bach. I figure it would have taken close to 220 LPs, using standard timings, to carry that much music. Anybody care to figure out how much that would weigh? I read somewhere that it would take 75 years to copy out all of Bach's music by hand. This struck me as curious, as the composer only lived to be 65. Possibly the figure included instrumental and vocal parts.
That number may also assume careful, legible handwriting, which Bach's wasn't.
Still, even if you divide that in half, to only 37.5 years, one wonders where Bach found time to sire his musically talented progeny..
For those with East Lansing connections: (Michigan) Where House Records is selling "all" CDs at 30% off for the month of March, the MSU store only. I got "Led Zepplin III" and the new Ali Farka Toure' for about $12 each. East Lansing Tower has marked down everything in the Celtic bins for St. Patrick's Day; I'm guessing that sale is chain-wide.
re 188: He did it PDQ?
Ann Arbor sale: SKR and SKR Classical, 30% almost all discs. Sale should run through Sunday April 9. Owner Jim Leonard was complaining about how cheap the prices were.
re 190: Only he who is running, knows....
RE#191 -- that's a shitty attitude...(Jim L. that is)
Oh, I think he was being a little humorous there, maybe my comment needed a little smiley face. It's interesting though that both SKR and East Lansing's Where House have run 30% clearance sales in the last month. I haven't seen a discount that deep in quite a while.
Old stuff can be had at the (bi) annual Monster record & CD show at the Best Western Hotel on Jackson Rd. in Ann Arbor on April 15th. 10a-4pmCool stuff
You have several choices: