Tower Records bankrupt?

[myuman]

I just got onto both tower and amazon and am not too thrilled with the pricing.  10.99 or there about was the norm not too long ago, throw in shipping and we were talking about 12 bucks per cd... and a great selection.  Now however, 13.99 seem to be the going rate for most stuff.  Throw in shipping and "screw that" rolls across my lips.  There are a few "club" deals and used stuff deals, but with shipping, I'm not too sure this is the way to go.  Any word on Napster?  I heard 10 bucks a cd, and that sounds a lot high, but better than retail.  I would say that over 75% of my recent purchases have been used cd's.  Which can't be ethically much better than Kazaa, but Bureaucrats haven't spoken against it yet.  But at 6 or 7 bucks for a used cd, selection is the only drawback.

[Jaguär]

I still find that some of the local independents are sometimes the best way to go, especially in Baltimore. Again, you are limited with your selection but they usually have a nice array of music to select from. Buying CDs at shows too can sometimes save you money if it's something you were planning on getting or would like to have to add to your collection.
 
 Shipping charges can be a bitch unless you are buying a nice stock and the company gives free shipping with so much in purchases, like Amazon does sometimes, or the additional CDs charge is cheap, averaging out your total cost. I got very lucky in being unlucky the other week. I purchased a couple CDs from an online independent. The one CD was available and the other was sold out. When they sent me the avaible CD, instead of charging me the 1st CD rate of $5.and something, they only charged me the $2, which was for each additional. You can bet I'll be giving that customer friendly store more of my business.

<img src="http://www.lileks.com/institute/bread/bread6a.jpg" alt=" - " />

[killsaly]

This thread is an interesting look at an interesting time...

[Justin Tonation]

dc area needs more indie/used stores

The area needs more stores that aren't just in hipster neighborhoods. Yesterday and Today was millions of times cooler than any of today's stores and it was in fucking Rockville.

[Yada]

Does this mean I should try to spend that gift certificate soon?

Oh how things haven't changed... thrifty even 12 years ago.

[Space Freely]

Does this mean I should try to spend that gift certificate soon?

Oh how things haven't changed... thrifty even 12 years ago.

Charlie, of course the correct answer is hold onto that gift certificate until they mark everything down to 25 cents and there are still some treasures available...like Amy Winehouse's first album that your wife will play so much you'll get sick of (this was before Back to Black)...then use the gift cerificate...you'll get about 200 cd's for that $50 certificate, if I'm doing the math correctly.

[evilizac]

Did anyone watch the Tom Hank's son's Tower Records documentary?
I think it played for about two weeks around here somewhere in NoVA.

Sometimes I feels like I'm alone in my nostalgia for Tower. It was accessible (literally), it felt like democratized cool (more cool than say, FYE which I have no understanding of why still exists), and going there felt like an adult extension of being allowed into the toy store as a kid; just pawing and eyeing the merchandise (not that I didn't buy what I could when I could).
I also appreciated that they had a community bulletin board and enjoyed snatching copies of Arthur.
Plus, my friend/high school crush worked at one.

[Space Freely]

Did anyone watch the Tom Hank's son's Tower Records documentary?
I think it played for about two weeks around here somewhere in NoVA.

Sometimes I feels like I'm alone in my nostalgia for Tower. It was accessible (literally), it felt like democratized cool (more cool than say, FYE which I have no understanding of why still exists), and going there felt like an adult extension of being allowed into the toy store as a kid; just pawing and eyeing the merchandise (not that I didn't buy what I could when I could).
I also appreciated that they had a community bulletin board and enjoyed snatching copies of Arthur.
Plus, my friend/high school crush worked at one.

I watched that doc on dvd and thought it was kind of "meh". YMMV.