Best Buy re-vinylized

[LouieB]

if anything, this is gonna be fun. going to a store and seeing a vinyl section. just like the 70s man!

And the 60s and the 50s and at least part of the 80s. (And the 40s and the 30s and the 20s....)

 

Record store clerks can be jerks that's why I always shop at Laurie's Planet of Sound where NONE of the clerks are jerks....

 

LouieB

[Elixir Sue]

Every time I go into those places, they're mostly jerks, who give me the attitude that I'm not totally cool because I'm buying some Wilco or Songs: Ohia records.

But that's part of the whole experience! Imagine how cool you'll feel when you buy the right combination of stuff and get complimented by the clerk.

[HighFives]

Best Buy has had vinyl for the last few years hasn't it? A very very small selection though of course. This is kind of cool news. I get pretty much all my records online. maybe 20% at local stores. This will be good because I get Best Buy gift cards probably every christmas from like random relatives or employers. Now I don't have to waste them on DVDs I never watch.

[sureshot]

Maybe I'm a bad person but I don't really care for the small record stores. Every time I go into those places, they're mostly jerks, who give me the attitude that I'm not totally cool because I'm buying some Wilco or Songs: Ohia records. I go where I can get the records I want for the cheapest price, usually the internet now.

 

I really dont get this perception. I mean, do clerks honestly give you a hard time? I shop at a couple stores;

 

Vals Halla in Oak Park is one, and Val is one of the most genuinely nice people I've ever met (besides being an encyclopedia of music knowledge and a treasure trove of stories, having worked for Capital Records in the 60s). If anything shes a hair overbearing if all you want to do is browse.

 

Another shop is Permanent Records on the west side of Chicago, and the owners there too are super friendly, and I almost always get a complimen on some record I've picked out (which if nothing else artificially boosts my ego). Plus they have a store cat, which adds bonus points.

 

I go to Dusty Groove if Im looking for jazz, hip-hop, and funk...a lot of the stuff they carry is super rare and unavailable elsewhere. You can literally walk into this place blindfolded, pick up 6 records at random, and you will leave happy. The selection is that astounding.

 

Reckless Records is the "big" indie chain here, and I guess the clerks there fit more the mold of your stereotypical hipster snob, but even then I doubt they care one way or another what I buy, if they even notice considering the amount of orders they are running around to fulfill.

 

I dunno, I love small independent shops. Its WAY too easy for me to spend more time and money in one than I had planned. Ive never really gotten the attitude that you allude to

[Dr. Steve Brule]

We're not real worried about Best Buy selling vinyl. We don't sell a whole ton of expensive major label new releases on vinyl, which they will probably have in abundance. As a bonus vinyl is a non-returnable item meaning those expensive LPs they don't sell out of will get marked down.

[LouieB]

Actually i am sorry to see the larger independent (or semi-independent) record stores disappear. There was a time when those stores met everyone's needs every day with a full selection of all kinds of records, I mean all kinds of new records rock, blues, classical, folk, etc. etc. The sad part is those days are long gone. While the smaller indie stores are nice and i can go on all day about how much I like Laurie's, you can't really find that wide a range at Lauries, or any of the stores we have mentioned. Only Ameoba on the west coast even comes close (more than close they are amazing...), but even Chicago doesn't have anything like Ameoba, but we used to have Rose Records back in the day. I have been to all the stores mentioned in the above post and Val is a nice person with a limited selection of both new and used records. Permanent is run by a bunch of nice folks, but also limited and Dusty Groove is ridiculously expensive and a bit snotty. Reckless used to be great, but is less then impressive any more and I always feel like a jerk if I don't buy something "cool" when in there. For collectors all these stores are great fun because people like us like to browse and make impulsive buys and maybe spend more than we should, but the average music consumer who wants to browse for stuff they know and maybe get recommendations that are not quirky, these stores don't really meet their needs. Remember most people don't even KNOW vinyl is still being sold*. But then again the music scene has changed so much that maybe no one really needs the larger stores anymore.

 

So into the breach rushes Best Buy, just so long as vinyl is still selling, after that, well.....we shall see....

 

LouieB

 

*Funny and sad story.... Recently at a family Easter get together at my house one of the brother in laws was saying to my wife (who sort of hates my vinyl collecting anyway) that I should turn all my LPs into digital files and get rid of my LPs. I mean here is a normal every day guy who doesn't know or understand any of the things we are talking about here, just plain clueless. Most people are like that because to most people music consumption is still either CDs or iPods.

[dondoboy]

I still care about small record stores, but you make a good point about the folks behind the counters - for the most part, they're dickweeds. I heard a guy not long ago ask a customer if he was ready to buy and he replied "Yeah I'm all set" to which the worker said "All set? What the hell does 'all set' even mean? It means nothing." The guy just shrugged it off. I like to think I'd have just left, depending of course on what I was about to buy.

I've seen this kind of rotten customer service at a few record stores. I've had a sales person ask, "That's what you're buying?" I laughed it off. For the most part I think its all sort of funny. Mainly because I know they probably bought "For Emma Forever Ago" That's punishment enough.

[LouieB]

We're not real worried about Best Buy selling vinyl. We don't sell a whole ton of expensive major label new releases on vinyl, which they will probably have in abundance. As a bonus vinyl is a non-returnable item meaning those expensive LPs they don't sell out of will get marked down.

You have a point...YEAH!!!! the return of the long lost cut out bin.....

(But then again alot of that crap they are bound to sell at Best Buy I ain't gonna buy at 3 or 4 bucks anyway...... )

(But then again again if someone like me is browsing the cut out bins at Best Buy then I will be spending less time and money browsing at the local indie store.....so I am still not so sure this is a good thing.)

 

LouieB

[Moss]

I think I posted what I need in some Hendrix thread around here at some point. I have not really thought about it in a while.

 

What cracks me up is when people buy records and digitize them, and then make Mp3 files out of that, to put on their iPod. I guess I can see doing that if something is out of print, but if something is in print, or brand new, why go to all that trouble when you could just buy or obtain the Mp3 files elsewhere.

 

 

 

That is about the same way I got the copy I have. The one I got is on the Blue Thumb label.

 

Know anything about this one? I bought it as an import a long, long time ago and heard it was worth some money.

 

 

The more vinyl the better, I don't care who is selling it. I just got back into vinyl recently after about 20 years of not bothering to fix my player so now I'm into it.

[Analogman]

Did you say you wanted to give that to me?

 

I know someone who says I should take my 4,000 or so cds and digitize them and then sell the cds.

[Moss]

Did you say you wanted to give that to me?

 

Ah, so it is worth something!

[Analogman]

Ah, so it is worth something!

 

 

$99?

[nodep5]

Ah, so it is worth something!

 

 

worth at least a weird feeling in my stomach due to the creepy album art?

[HungryHippo]

I stopped buying vinyl records when there were no more indoor flea markets to go to in the town where I live. I have bought a few records by way of Ebay, but it is just not the same.

you're right. i love the feeling of finding awesome vinyl at flea markets/ thrift shops, etc... of an album you had no intention of buying until you came across it by chance. buying off the net takes that magic away.

[bjorn_skurj]

But that's part of the whole experience! Imagine how cool you'll feel when you buy the right combination of stuff and get complimented by the clerk.

What is that, Fiery Furnaces, Mung Dynasty and the Zombiedroids?

[The High Heat]

I know someone who says I should take my 4,000 or so cds and digitize them and then sell the cds.

Have you considered where they will end up when you are gone? Maybe you could do this:

DJ Donates Collection

[Analogman]

Have you considered where they will end up when you are gone? Maybe you could do this:

DJ Donates Collection

 

I am taking everything with me.

[Sir Stewart]

Speaking of gone - a friend of mine who I've mentioned here before is gone, and he had about (I'd guess) 2,000 CDs and 4,000 LPs. He wasn't closer to anyone than he was to me, but I deferred to his father without a struggle when it came to inheriting the collection. I did take what I wanted, which wasn't much, but I wish I knew what's happened to all that stuff. Oh well.

[LouieB]

I know someone who says I should take my 4,000 or so cds and digitize them and then sell the cds.

See my similar story above....some people just don't get it.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

See my similar story above....some people just don't get it.

 

LouieB

 

I meant to post that as a response to your post.

 

As I have said before, most of the people I know do not buy music in any form what so ever. They just listen to the radio in their car and/or at home. So, to them, having stacks and stacks of such things seems absurd, and the first thing some of them think about is the money involved. Of course, to people who don't collect things, or do not have a passion for something, anything along those lines seems absurd.

[Vacant Horizon]

Maybe I'm a bad person but I don't really care for the small record stores. Every time I go into those places, they're mostly jerks, who give me the attitude that I'm not totally cool because I'm buying some Wilco or Songs: Ohia records. I go where I can get the records I want for the cheapest price, usually the internet now.

 

 

i've made the same point here several times. i was listening to sound opinions' record store day special and they had several record store owners and all had that uber cool attitude to me. they kept going on and on about how you can only get 'good' recommendations for new music from the indie record store clerk. i've never gotten any recommendations from those dudes. mostly indifference.

 

kids would probably frequent these places more, but they just get flack when they want to buy coldplay or nickelback. its too bad.

[LouieB]

I meant to post that as a response to your post.

 

As I have said before, most of the people I know do not buy music in any form what so ever. They just listen to the radio in their car and/or at home. So, to them, having stacks and stacks of such things seems absurd, and the first thing some of them think about is the money involved. Of course, to people who don't collect things, or do not have a passion for something, anything along those lines seems absurd.

Collecting is a thing (maybe an obession OCD style)so those who don't do it can't understand it. Some people collect books, some art, some dishes, others graphics, comic books, etc. etc. It is the collecting that is the rush.

 

 

i've made the same point here several times. i was listening to sound opinions' record store day special and they had several record store owners and all had that uber cool attitude to me. they kept going on and on about how you can only get 'good' recommendations for new music from the indie record store clerk. i've never gotten any recommendations from those dudes. mostly indifference.

 

kids would probably frequent these places more, but they just get flack when they want to buy coldplay or nickelback. its too bad.

I totally defend indie stores, but if you read my post above what is really missing are the larger stores that carried everything so you could go get your Coldplay and not get dissed because they were in business to sell everything, not just the hip.

 

Even I got dissed (nicely of course) at Laurie's not so long ago because I expressed vague interest in the new recording of Astral Weeks. Laurie's didn't stock it because they can't return it so they despite the cache that Van and his seminal work have, they don't stock this new one at all (nor many other mainstream recordings for the same reason.) This is all part of what is a very fucked up system that the indies and the major outlets are all involved it. It used to be if you wanted music you went to Rose Records, went to the rock (or blues, or folk, or jazz, or show tunes, or classical, etc. etc.) dept and looked around on your own and then asked a clerk if you were confused about what to buy, but more often than not you saw all the records they had and made a guess or bought the newest thing or what a friend suggested or whatever. Those days are gone, which is why many people, including me, get in the internet and order something if I have a hankering for something and just do the deed. (Anybody else out there remember these days or am I the only one??) To get back to the story, since I am not privy to the ins and outs of marketing of various labels (I guess I am now!!!!!) it came as a bit of a shock that there was no way for me to get the new Astral Weeks. Meanwhile I will do what I always do and that is wait for someone to trade in a copy of something and then buy it cheap and NONE of the money will actually go to the artist since most of these types of trades are from folks who get them free as promos and don't want them anymore.

 

I don't blame anyone for this, but it is one more reason that the music biz is in the toilet. Meanwhile if you wanted a copy of Chinese Democracy on vinyl it WAS available at Best Buy. But if you want a vinyl copy of something more meaningful (a Numero Group LP or a reissue on some specialty label) you have to hit the indie stores and hope for the best, or else just sit home an order one on your computer from the cheapest dealer and don't feel like a dork in either place.

 

LouieB

[Guest Speed Racer]

(Anybody else out there remember these days or am I the only one??)

LouieB

 

I have very clear recollections of my mother dragging me to Val's Halla (in Oak Park) for the weirdest damned things (not cool weird, but "God, mom," weird). Every time Val saw her she would just pull out this huge thing that looked like the Yellow Pages, flip to whatever my mom wanted, and fill out an order slip for her.

 

I used to get shit for buying a lot of my earlier collection at Val's, but she told me if I didn't keep listening I'd never find the good stuff - mind you, not in any sort of loving, chatty sort of sense but rather in the under-her-breath "Is she talking to herself?" sort of way. I came in one day to sell off a bunch of really embarrassing CDs and she mumbled, "You came around..." The younger folks who worked there were total assholes, but thank god I was self-important enough to think they just didn't "get" good music when they heard it.

 

Anyway, moral of that story, I was raised on the belief that if you can't find it, Val's can.

[jff]

Nobody made fun of me at Best Buy when I bought Neko Case and Kelly Clarkson cds and a Traffic dvd. Maybe after I left they said "Traffic, pffft...who listens to that shit?".

[Vacant Horizon]

Collecting is a thing (maybe an obession OCD style)so those who don't do it can't understand it. Some people collect books, some art, some dishes, others graphics, comic books, etc. etc. It is the collecting that is the rush.

 

 

I totally defend indie stores, but if you read my post above what is really missing are the larger stores that carried everything so you could go get your Coldplay and not get dissed because they were in business to sell everything, not just the hip.

 

Even I got dissed (nicely of course) at Laurie's not so long ago because I expressed vague interest in the new recording of Astral Weeks. Laurie's didn't stock it because they can't return it so they despite the cache that Van and his seminal work have, they don't stock this new one at all (nor many other mainstream recordings for the same reason.) This is all part of what is a very fucked up system that the indies and the major outlets are all involved it. It used to be if you wanted music you went to Rose Records, went to the rock (or blues, or folk, or jazz, or show tunes, or classical, etc. etc.) dept and looked around on your own and then asked a clerk if you were confused about what to buy, but more often than not you saw all the records they had and made a guess or bought the newest thing or what a friend suggested or whatever. Those days are gone, which is why many people, including me, get in the internet and order something if I have a hankering for something and just do the deed. (Anybody else out there remember these days or am I the only one??) To get back to the story, since I am not privy to the ins and outs of marketing of various labels (I guess I am now!!!!!) it came as a bit of a shock that there was no way for me to get the new Astral Weeks. Meanwhile I will do what I always do and that is wait for someone to trade in a copy of something and then buy it cheap and NONE of the money will actually go to the artist since most of these types of trades are from folks who get them free as promos and don't want them anymore.

 

I don't blame anyone for this, but it is one more reason that the music biz is in the toilet. Meanwhile if you wanted a copy of Chinese Democracy on vinyl it WAS available at Best Buy. But if you want a vinyl copy of something more meaningful (a Numero Group LP or a reissue on some specialty label) you have to hit the indie stores and hope for the best, or else just sit home an order one on your computer from the cheapest dealer and don't feel like a dork in either place.

 

LouieB

 

 

good points. astral weeks is a great example of lack of availability. i remember, i wanted the new eagles a few years ago and had to walmart (ick!) to get one. walmart's not close to my house either.