response 5 of 41:

Jul 20 20:07 UTC 2000

  I used to buy about 80-100 discs per year, then I went back to school and
  had to spend all of my savings on tuition and living expenses -- that cut
  me down to about 10-20 discs per year.

  Now that I'm in a positive cashflow situation again, I'm eager to resume
  my expensive addiction, but I just can't make myself pay retail price for
  new CDs and most of the bands I like are not the ones that are heavily
  promoted or discounted (which seems to cause a vicious cycle, but that's
  another story..)  

  I used to be much more willing to take a flyer on an unheard disc, but it's
  too expensive for me to do so these days, and my willingness has been 
  additionally taxed by a higher-than-normal failure rate on impulse buys.

response 7 of 41:

Jul 20 22:31 UTC 2000

  (maybe in the sense that it's where good CDs go when they leave the 
  earthly plane of existence..)

response 9 of 41:

Jul 20 23:13 UTC 2000

I buy way, way too many CDs.  I probably average around 250 per year.
My purchase log is in disarray, but it looks like I have bought about
150 so far this year.  That number has been inflated by the closeouts
and partial liquidations at three of my favorite CD shops this year.

"Where do you buy CDs?"

My CD shopping behavior is in tremendous flux right now, due to the 
retail shakeout in Ann Arbor.  In the Good Old Days of the early and
mid-1990s, I used to go downtown a couple of times a month and wander
through most of the stores, starting with my favorite Schoolkids, then 
down to the used shop Encore, up to Wazoo, over to Tower.  
I might have some specific titles in mind, but usually I'd be pawing 
through the folk, world music and rock bins to see what looked interesting.
And the classical sections, too.

   (Back as early as 1982 I also started doing a lot of mail order for 
   the more exotic British Isles folk music stuff, and in 1989 that 
   expanded to importing my own stuff from UK shops.  I've also always
   bought a lot of CDs at concerts, if I like the performer at all.
   I figure the performer gets to pocket the retailer's share of the price.)

Once Schoolkids started on its decline, the strategy of wandering around
downtown became less and less worthwhile for me, and after the store 
collapses of the last year I've pretty much abandoned it.
Now I find I'm shopping more and more on the Internet; I'm previewing 
sound samples rather than blind buying; and once I find something I like
it's often not worth a trip downtown to find out that Schoolkids in Exile,
SKR, or Borders doesn't have it.  (I still rely on Elderly Instruments
in Lansing for US-distributed folk music: their stock pretty much defines
what is in the national distribution system, and they are the largest
folk CD discounter in the country.)

  (Statistical note: Leaving out the pigouts at store liquidation sales:
  since May 1 I have bought 24 CDs off the net and only 17 from local
  shops.)

"Do you ever suffer from the problem of too many CDs, too little time?"
  I am its poster child.

"How much of a flyer do you take on CD buying?"  
  As I think I've explained: getting curious about "I wonder if 
I would like this?" can be enough to get me to buy something.  
It's been at least 20 years since I was interested in music 
which got more than token radio exposure -- 
and other than Mike McNally I haven't had too many friends and 
acquaintances who were adventurous listeners *and* shoppers.

But in mid-2000, this is all changing for me; the big new 
experience is the http://www.wen.com website.  
WEN has music journalists compiling
canned "radio" shows, several hours each month, and one of these
journalists is Ian Anderson, not the Jethro Tull guy but the editor
of Folk Roots magazine, who has been my personal music guru for about
15 years.  I'm running about an 80% success rate over those years with
stuff I've bought because Ian recommended it; getting to listen to
two hours of his handpicked favorites every month is just.... ummm....
well, it's a fantasy come true.  From the first three hours of
radio shows I have listened to from WEN, I have bought six albums and
plan to buy at least another four.
 
Add to this the sound samples available for many French discs on
the site http://www.alapage.com and America's own amazon.com
(and amazon.co.uk), and the samples available on many bands' own
websites.  For the first time since I was interested in Top 40 and FM
rock radio in the early 1970s, I am getting a chance to preview lots of
stuff before I buy it.

I don't know that I can ever give up blind buys, or buys based on
one or two rave reviews or Internet mentions.   Such buys have 
usually yielded the artists I love the most, starting back in 1975
when I bought the first electric folk album in my collection based on 
a cryptic reference to Steeleye Span in a SF fanzine, and thus redirected
my entire musical history.

response 11 of 41:

Jul 21 16:08 UTC 2000

Y'know, I have never gone into a used CD store and bought anything ever.
I have bought used CDs from friends (waves at Paula! and others at work),
and what I assume must be used ones from Ebay, but that's it on the used
front.  Any time I've ever glanced at the used section at any store, there
has been no possible congruence between their stock and anything I'd be likely
to buy.  It's frustrating, because I do think I'd buy used if I could find
them, I'm not a snob about always buying new, but most of what I lust for is
Not Available in Stores (tm) -- how many Garnet Rogers CDs have you seen at
Best Buy, or even Borders? Etc. The very smallest percentage of my CD buying
is anything that could be considered popular -- maybe two or three discs a
quarter (like the new Moody Blues, or an eighties anthology....), while a
bigger chunk is at Ark shows or other concerts, and the biggest chunk of all
is obscure folkie stuff that maybe KRJ and a couple of other people even care
about.

response 13 of 41:

Jul 21 17:26 UTC 2000

I've bought used at Encore and found some pretty cool things.

response 15 of 41:

Jul 21 18:10 UTC 2000

Where is Encore located?

response 17 of 41:

Jul 21 18:43 UTC 2000

Encore is the storefront which used to be the classical shop 
Liberty Music.  It's a few doors downhill from the old Schoolkids 
space.

response 19 of 41:

Jul 22 04:45 UTC 2000

I buy somewhere between 20-30 CDs a year. My usual routine nowadays is to go
to Record Exchange and buy any .50-$2.50 CDs that catch my eye. I get anywhere
from 1-5 at a time this way. On other days, I'll check out PJ's and Encore,
depending on how much spare cash I have, Since I spend a lot on books, I
usually don't have enough to even shell out $8 a pop.

I'll buy CDs at concerts when I can afford then, but usually go for the
concert t-shirts instead.

I already have too many CDs to listen to. I tend to rotate about 5-10 at a
time. The rest lay dormant. Of course, since I've been online in my bedroom,
I listen to many more CDs than i used to.

I usually pick CDs from groups I like, songs on the radio, or stuff I get
exposed to through other friend's collections. Thanks to friends, I'm now a
fan of Robyn Hitchcock, Psychic TV, Kate Bush, Hedningarna and the Juggernaut
Jug Band.

response 21 of 41:

Jul 22 16:27 UTC 2000

        Going over to the record player that has become the place to 
stack CDs to be listened to, I got about a dozen yet to get the 
plastic wrapper taken off.   That's my method to make sure I have 
listened to them at least once.  Three unlistened to's are in the
CD player now.  While I listen to "over Easy" on WSCX then over to
WDET for "Folks like us" at noon on Saturdays, the CD player will
probably get some time later today.
        I buy a lot at Borders, since as a corporate employee, I get
a good discount.  If it where not for that, I would probably make
an annual pilgramage to Elderly instruments to check out their Folk
music selections, as I was amazed in a past visit as too how different
their selection was from the good selections of (then Schoolkids) and
Borders downtown.
        Volume?  I just not sure.  Maybe 25 to 35 regualr priced CDs
this year (includes full price Filk CDs and at live performance CDs,
and 9.99-11.99 re-issue CDs) thusfar.  A good number of discount bin
CDs (Hey, I can't pass up buying 'Idle Hands' by Tim Ryan for a $).
These seem to include some that just don't get into the return stream,
like this America 'Human Nature' CD for a $.
        I also get to listen to a number of CDs put out from the 
Borders corporate buyers.  I want to thank the folk buyer for putting
out CDs like Guy Clark and Bill Miller, that I now have.  I do a lot
of adventurous listening from the CDs brought home from this CD grab
area.  A sampler CD had two songs from John Linnell (He Might Be A Giant),
that I liked enough to buy his 'State Songs' CD put out last year.
        I used to have a $100 a month vinyl monkey on my back, back in the
LP days, and would say my CD buying has been about that level for some
time now.

        I listen to CDs at work.  Mostly ones I have listen to a lot and
like the whole album.  Not for the distraction of listening to music, but
to have music to keep me from the distraction of other conversations at
work.  These tend to rotate amoung about ten that get a few listens
before being brought home for the next group.

        Hey that Robert Jones new CD sounds intersting.  Hope it's in
Borders soon.

response 23 of 41:

Jul 25 05:09 UTC 2000

On average?  O-1, since my money is going to other things like bills and 
such.

There are no used CD/tape stores here in the Ellensburg area.  Yakima 
might be different.  I miss deja vu in Richland.

last two CDs were ones my wife bought: Bill Cosby's "Why Is There Air?" 
and "Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow: Right!"

I suppose I should find friends to borrow from..

response 25 of 41:

Jul 25 20:34 UTC 2000

  I can't remember now whether I have "Bob's Media Ecology" or
  "Bob's Media Ecology 2"   I honestly don't remember much about
  the album except (1) it didn't do much for me, and (2) definite
  Subgenius references..

  Both were early 90's releases from a group calling themselves
  "Producers For Bob".  the All Music Guide (allmusic.com) classifies
  them as "Rap", which they're not, except in the sense of being 
  sample-heavy and featuring spoken word passages.

  
  I looked up Psychic TV in the allmusic guide, which reminded me that
  they're a Genesis P. Orridge proioject, and not who I thought they were..

response 27 of 41:

Jul 26 00:55 UTC 2000

  Where is this Borders' parking lot?