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Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon

Kite159

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Do many people take a day off for Christmas shopping or is this a case of you setting another fantastical scenario to suit what ever it is you are on about?

I mean quite a lot of people only work 5 days a week ,say, thus they have 2 days - that's right 2 days off - so they can then return on the second day so that the delivery could be made.

There is a few folk where I work who take a weekday off in the lead up to Christmas for the purpose of shopping. A lot are parents buying gifts for their kids or want to do shopping when the shops are less busy (ie less kids around)
 
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Rail Blues

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I still buy CDs, i am probably of the last generation where it feels weird to pay for something you don't physically own, like paying for the steam off your kettle. I geel sorry for the staff at HMV, but the stores seem unfocused, shabby and sad and no real sense of who they appealed to.

That said, i hope Fopp (also owned by HMV) weathers the storm, they have a decent collection of vinyl and some well chosen reggae and soul compilations. The sgaff in my local Fopp were generally knowledgeable and helpful, whereas HMV seemed liked a ragtag of band t-shirts, film and tv merchandise, celebrity branded headphones and the music was sorely neglected and of the three things i wanted (nothing wilfully obscure) they didn't have anything.
 

Busaholic

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I still buy CDs, i am probably of the last generation where it feels weird to pay for something you don't physically own, like paying for the steam off your kettle. I geel sorry for the staff at HMV, but the stores seem unfocused, shabby and sad and no real sense of who they appealed to.

That said, i hope Fopp (also owned by HMV) weathers the storm, they have a decent collection of vinyl and some well chosen reggae and soul compilations. The sgaff in my local Fopp were generally knowledgeable and helpful, whereas HMV seemed liked a ragtag of band t-shirts, film and tv merchandise, celebrity branded headphones and the music was sorely neglected and of the three things i wanted (nothing wilfully obscure) they didn't have anything.
My sister bought me a CD for Christmas, at my request, from HMV online, as it happened. I believe it was the collapse of the DVD sale market over the last few years that did for them, though.
 

Rail Blues

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My sister bought me a CD for Christmas, at my request, from HMV online, as it happened. I believe it was the collapse of the DVD sale market over the last few years that did for them, though.


That makes sense, thanks for clearing that up. After complaining about the unfocused nature of their stores, i bought a book from them in the run up to Christmas.
 

pemma

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That said, i hope Fopp (also owned by HMV) weathers the storm, they have a decent collection of vinyl and some well chosen reggae and soul compilations. The sgaff in my local Fopp were generally knowledgeable and helpful, whereas HMV seemed liked a ragtag of band t-shirts, film and tv merchandise, celebrity branded headphones and the music was sorely neglected and of the three things i wanted (nothing wilfully obscure) they didn't have anything.

Fopp is a subsidiary of HMV Retail Ltd (the company which has been placed in to administration), so currently Fopp is in administration as well. Hilco (HMV's owners) are specialists in business restructuring so if they think Fopp's books could balance as a separate business it almost certainly will survive, if not it won't.
 

Groningen

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The 3 Dunking Donuts have gone in the Netherlands. With 3!? It seems that in Groningen alone there is 1 KFC, 2 Burgerking and 6/7 Mc Donalds.
 

Kite159

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I still buy CDs, i am probably of the last generation where it feels weird to pay for something you don't physically own, like paying for the steam off your kettle. I geel sorry for the staff at HMV, but the stores seem unfocused, shabby and sad and no real sense of who they appealed to.

That said, i hope Fopp (also owned by HMV) weathers the storm, they have a decent collection of vinyl and some well chosen reggae and soul compilations. The sgaff in my local Fopp were generally knowledgeable and helpful, whereas HMV seemed liked a ragtag of band t-shirts, film and tv merchandise, celebrity branded headphones and the music was sorely neglected and of the three things i wanted (nothing wilfully obscure) they didn't have anything.

I'm with you in still buying CDs as it is nice to have something physical to hold (and to play in my car when on long trips), rather than paying a monthly subscription to a music steaming website.

Problem with HMV is the main music/movie market is online, and for those titles which are popular in physical format (i.e. Greatest Showman) I would guess a good portion of those sales are made at supermarkets, or from the likes of Amazon [or other online retailers].

---------------

I suspect HMV won't be the first retailer to call in the administrators following poorer than expected Christmas sale profits.
 

HH

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Hell, I'm 67, and I moved to Spotify some time ago. CDs are like the Dodo; Vinyls are a different matter - they're collectables.

BTW Debenhams will likely be the next to go.
 

gswindale

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I'm with you in still buying CDs as it is nice to have something physical to hold (and to play in my car when on long trips), rather than paying a monthly subscription to a music steaming website.
I very rarely purchase a physical CD - any music purchased digitally can be burnt onto a CD (either as an audio CD for all cars with a CD player or as MP3 files for those with the ability to play MP3 CDs). My new car has an usb port in which I have a large capacity usb drive plugged in and set to random repeat. Works quite well for long trips and I don't have to change the disc every 45 minutes!
 

LAX54

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So with more and more downloading, using mp3's etc we seem to be creeping towards a less quality product, as it's simply easier !
 

trash80

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I disagree, we're moving to a much more diverse product as anyone can self-publish and not have to find the money to produce physical product. The quality and variety of music out there now is astonishing.
 

DavidGrain

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I bought a 3 CD set as a Christmas present for my sister. I went into an HMV shop to buy it as HMV Online would have charged me for delivery.
 

LAX54

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I disagree, we're moving to a much more diverse product as anyone can self-publish and not have to find the money to produce physical product. The quality and variety of music out there now is astonishing.
Quality as in 'audio' quality :)
 

Tracked

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I was surprised HMV lasted as long after the last time it had troubles, the one near me's currently in the process of moving to a smaller store from the main shopping centre in Doncaster. Every time I've been to the Fopp's in Manchester/Edinburgh I've ended up buying a load of stuff from there, HMV anywhere, not much.

The one in town was a bit weird after the reopening; a couple of rows of CD's, a row of books, a few rows of DVD's, a load of music equipment (CD players/radio's/etc) that wouldn't be a regular purchase taking up 1/4 of the store, then some CD/DVD offers and top ten's near the door. Couldn't find some of the more smaller releases and the bigger albums would be at supermarkets anyway, couldn't find much worth buying in fact. It always felt like it was in a bit of no-man's land between niche stores and supermarket, and was in a site too big and expensive for the trade it generated (it's always busy in the sales around this time of year, and that's it).
 

pdq

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Quality as in 'audio' quality :)
I've just downloaded a classical album at 24 bit FLAC which is lossless, unlike horrid mp3; so actually a better quality product than the physical CD. I've seen downloads at 88.2k and 96k frequency rates as well: so, with the right playback equipment, even better again.

The environmental benefits of the download are also significant - no plastic case, no plastic CD, no paper used in printed parts, no transportation.
 

trash80

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Quality as in 'audio' quality :)

Indeed there is that aspect though not one of paramount importance to me (others i know it is, we're all different), it doesn't matter how good it sounds if its not worth listening to in the first place :)
 

cactustwirly

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I've just downloaded a classical album at 24 bit FLAC which is lossless, unlike horrid mp3; so actually a better quality product than the physical CD. I've seen downloads at 88.2k and 96k frequency rates as well: so, with the right playback equipment, even better again.

The environmental benefits of the download are also significant - no plastic case, no plastic CD, no paper used in printed parts, no transportation.

No the CD contains the uncompressed file, so should have the best sound quality.
Obviously if you then rip it to a low bit rate mp3 then it won't sound good.
I have MP3 320s, and they sound much better than the same songs on Spotify (on high quality mode)
 

Tracked

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HMV own Fopp so I don't get why you're more inclined to spend there.

I know they do, but the choice of books/music they have there always seems to be better than HMV (the local independent record shop here closed about 10 years ago, and their choice was better than HMV in a shop about a third of the space even then). I should point out that they hit trouble long before HMV...
 

pdq

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No the CD contains the uncompressed file, so should have the best sound quality
Yes and no. The WAV file on the CD is uncompressed, but only 16 bit. Ths FLAC is lossless, so even though the file is compressed it does not lose any musical information. The FLAC comes from the original recording and has 24 bits of data so should be able to convey a wider dynamic range than the 16 bit CD.
 

johntea

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They won't go bust, but CeX made me laugh earlier today in that they literally seem to have 1000+ copies of second hand Red Dead Redemption 2 for the PS4/XBOX priced at...£50 - you can buy it brand new for £49.99 pretty much everywhere!

They seem to pay £23 or £33 voucher for a copy, so why not get it flying off the shelf at £40 or something instead?!

Suppose they must buy a billion copies of Fifa 'Insert Year Here each time though and the following year they have to flog them off for 50p!
 

Kite159

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They won't go bust, but CeX made me laugh earlier today in that they literally seem to have 1000+ copies of second hand Red Dead Redemption 2 for the PS4/XBOX priced at...£50 - you can buy it brand new for £49.99 pretty much everywhere!

They seem to pay £23 or £33 voucher for a copy, so why not get it flying off the shelf at £40 or something instead?!

Suppose they must buy a billion copies of Fifa 'Insert Year Here each time though and the following year they have to flog them off for 50p!

CEX prices are a bit hit & miss compared to buying to brand new
 

PeterC

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I very rarely purchase a physical CD - any music purchased digitally can be burnt onto a CD (either as an audio CD for all cars with a CD player or as MP3 files for those with the ability to play MP3 CDs). My new car has an usb port in which I have a large capacity usb drive plugged in and set to random repeat. Works quite well for long trips and I don't have to change the disc every 45 minutes!
Other way round for me although as a music journalist I get a lot of comps for review. When I buy CDs it is normally "off the stage" at gigs.

I usually rip the CDs and copy to my phone to play through Bluetooth in the car.
 

nlogax

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HMV's second demise was sad but inevitable. As a typical example of their former customers I've pretty much given up with CDs. If I want to buy a new album I buy the vinyl which usually comes bundled with an MP3 or FLAC source which I can u/l to Google Play Music. For older stuff where I don't already own the CD which I've ripped to Google, Spotify usually has it and I can buy the original CD or vinyl on Discogs.
 

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