麻豆官网首页入口

I'm definitely not buying as much music as I used to compared to games, but I still stick to physical media for my music purchases.

Is that sales or units? If it sales then the surprising thing is that it's taken so long. Or, put another way. If albums where 拢39.99 each, and you could only play certain albums on certain CD players dependent on the label the artist was on, or if you wanted to listen to your music while on the move you'd pay the same for an inferior or stripped down version (I suppose you do - mp3s are appalling quality played though anything better than a 拢99.99 "hi-fi" from Tesco's), or if you had to update your CD player every so many years to play the new releases and at the same time being unable to play your existing CD's as the new player is incompatible with what you've already got, then I suspect the music industry would be in rude health.

As for HMV et al whinging about CD sales declining. If your selling (or should that be "not selling") Dark Side Of The Moon for 拢21.99 then perhaps, just perhaps, people may consider that you are a tad expensive and either buy the same album elsewhere or (heaven forbid) download a copy from somwhere er "free". In fact you'd almost think HMV and the rest weren't interested in selling music anymore. We don't sell as much therefore we'll dedicate more space to selling games consoles. Which means, as there is less space to sell music they sell less and so on. Zavi to encurage punters could perhaps make their stores less like jumble sales. Who knows the simple act of putting CD's in alphabetical order may yet save them from the abyss...

Phil90125 makes some good points regarding the sale of units. I would like to pull him up on a couple of things though.

The reason that you have to keep buying new machines is because technology moves at such a rapid rate. The CD has not evolved since his conception in the early 80's, and nor does it need too. Recording a linear music album of around 12 songs at a good quality standard is always going to take up as much data space wether its Dire Straits or Crystal Castles.

Games are different. If we still had the same technology as we did twenty years ago, we would still be playing a variation of Jet Set Willy in 5 colours on a ZX Spectrum not the expansive, freeform gameplay of GTA 4 or Fallout 3.

In response to your comments on music stores being more expensive than other retailers... of course they are. Supermarkets make a loss on each 'loss-leader' DVD and CD they sell in order to get you in the shop in order to over charge you on your groceries. I dare you to find 'Dark Side of the Moon' in your local Tesco Express anyway.

The internet stores such as Amazon and Play rather stole a march on HMV and their like by exploiting tax loops via Jersey and of course need not worry about overhead costs. Maybe 'Dark Side...' is expensive, but that is the most extreme example, and how much of that is down to HMV and not the supplier cost? You could try your independent record store, but I bet its not there any more, a victim of all the new methods of buying (and stealing) music.

As for your critique of the stores CD filing method, I can categorically say (having worked in such an environment for a few years) maintaining sections in perfect order in these shops is close to impossible. If three hundred people a day went into your living room and pulled out your perfectly arranged 15,000 CDs, while you busily scooted around them applying new CDs all the time, while juggling four other tasks and had to answer questions from dotty grandmas about 'Jungle-grunge' every 30 seconds, I guarantee your filing system would not be in the best of shape.

So the British are now 'interacting', rather than sitting on the couch 'adsorbing'. However you look at it that has to be a step forward.

One day they may even become 'constructive'.

Jae_misanthrope - that's a pretty poor defense of the high street dinosaurs.

You say:
Maybe 'Dark Side...' is expensive, but that is the most extreme example, and how much of that is down to HMV and not the supplier cost?
Amazon.co.uk lists it, brand new, at 拢7.98, so it's not a stretch to say that the supplier's price is less than that. The rest is therefore HMV.

Also:
internet stores such as Amazon [...] need not worry about overhead costs
That's clearly not true, they just have different overheads. Everything I buy from Amazon they have to post to me (without adding to the price if it's over a fiver, which 'Dark Side' is); a high street shop makes me go and get it myself, at my own expense.

In any case, none of that really matters, all that does is the bottom-line proposition to the customer, and if the online alternatives are better then the high street shops need to improve.

What's not clear from Rory's original post though, is quite why the (former) music stores think that things are going to be better with games - the service online is still better and cheaper, and the customer base is surely going to have an even higher proportion of people prepared to buy online.

Also noticed that HMV have realy slashed their prices on everything especially cd and games. they are now undercutting amazon and play in a lot of instances. Some HMV branches have started doing trade in pre owned games at much better prices than game. i dont work for them, but this is very exciting as i much prefer phisically shopping rather than clicking buy on the net.

I am not so sure about HMV undercutting Amazon etc...

Personally, between them and Zavvi, I have seen the highest prices for DVDs !!!

Hmm.... then again CD prices might be cheaper

Its clear that games have been on the up for a long time... but I would like to know the REAL figures of how many games were sold compared to music cd's and DVD's. Because to include consoles and hardware with the games figures just doesn't give a fair reflection. That said, its pretty clear that the market in video games is the place to be right now.

This is not entirely unsurprising.
The gaming format has matured and is easily more entertaining than simply listening to an album or watching a film.
Gone are the days when gaming was the sole preserve of teenage boys sitting alone in darkened bedrooms playing 16 bit games. Games now appeal to a much wider audience than ever before, and with the advent of the Wii, actively encourages groups to move around and play together.
It's not long now before having a games machine/media centre in the livingroom is commonplace.
With regards to the issue of dwindling music sales, maybe this will cause record labels to finally pull their respective fingers out and do something to rectify the situation?

First I think you have to factor in the fact that there is less pirating in the console games space then in music.

Second for me is that I have pretty much given up on buying music. On the one side I am aware that CD's are more expensive than digital music. On the other side digital music isn't offered up consistantly apart from iTunes and I'm not buying music with DRM.

Wait a minute; people still _buy_ music?! I thought the way the music moguls were going on and on about it, piracy had wiped out all sales of everything?!

DRM is a failure. All it does is limit what you can play your legally downloaded music on. Why bother buying a track you can only listen to on your ipod for example? I drive a lot so I can't burn it to a CD to play in the car.

However, if I were to illegally download the same track, it's DRM free and I can play it on whatever device *I* want to, not what some dude in a suit in a tall office tower a million miles away from real life says I should.

In an ideal world, music singles would be free - this would force the real talent through and see the end of these 15 minute, one-hit wonders that are polluting the airwaves. The real talent would then be able to tour, charge a reasonable amount to see them live and people would pay. As long as the actual band/artist got a decent cut of the profits everything would be great.

But then, mr Big in his suit in his office, who's only real talent is using others to make bucket loads of cash, wouldn't make money. We can't have that, can we?

I think its a cheap and rather weak argument to label all music sale woes on piracy. I would be surprised if the piracy of music tracks has even taken more than 5% off its sales, or even 1%.

I would hazzard a guess that probably a good 80% of people that download music illegaly probably would never have purchased the music in the first place. So by that argument, music piracy has likely INCREASED interest in music with potential increase to sales.

Instead of whining about pirates, perhaps companies and more importantly record labels should look into precisely why people are pirating and, as has been mentioned above, it comes down to that simple shiney gold and silver thing called "money". CD's, just like Records before them, are massively over-priced (as are games for the record, and it is only a matter of time before the ludicrous pricing of 拢40 a game will have a similar effect on games sales).

Not that I am defending Cap'n Jack and his digital junkies, but it is not Piracy to blame for the fall in music sales, nor is it online shopping. The fault lies entirely in the companies that have spent the past 30 years milking every little penny out of music - it was an absolute given that eventualy the milk would run dry.

Rory,
It is true here in the
United States also...I listen to my
music on the radio...