NBA vet Kevin Willis visits the Digital City.
Episode 31 of the Digital City, where we discuss the Virgin Megastore liquidation sale (or lack thereof), Amazon's new big-screen Kindle, and how the video game DLC trend is jumping to handhelds. Later, NBA vet Kevin Willis drops by to talk about his love affair with the iPhone.
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The Virgin Megastore is following Circuit City into the abyss, with the chain's US retail stores in the process of closing down. Similar to Circuit City's infamous liquidation sales, Virgin is currently offering its wares at "up to 30-percent off," according to the copious signage spotting outside Virgin's Union Square location in New York.
Where am I going to find $17.99 CDs now?
(Credit: Dan Ackerman)Ironically, that Virgin Megastore sits on exactly the same block as the Circuit City store we visited in January, and the two liquidation sales are also very similar, judging from what we found this week.
The actual signs and policies are nearly identical to the ones found at Circuit City, and the discounts offered are equally uninspired. Most items, including CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and games, were still listed at 10 or 20-percent off MSRP, which means you're likely to find a better deal at Amazon.
The Virgin Megastore always had a decent consumer electronics section, but the deals there were in the 5-10-percent range, and we spotted a few iPods and Apple TV units (at 5-percent off), a non-HD Creative Vado video camera, several Sony digital photo frames, lots of Rock Band instrument kits, and a JBL Soundstage iPod speaker system.
Check out our gallery of surreptitiously snagged in-store spy shots below for details on what we found, plus price comparisons on specific deals.
[Previously: Spying on the Circuit City liquidation sale]
(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)
We're getting close to the day when a major artist or group releases a download-only album. Maybe it'll be the next Rolling Stones or Sufjan Stevens album. That'll be a dark day.
Just last week, I went to my local record store to pick up "Hemispheres," the new release of Bill Frisell and Jim Hall, a jazz guitar duo. I left the store empty-handed.
Next, I checked on Amazon.com. It stocked the album in MP3 format only. Great, but I refuse to pay $17.98 for a crappy-sounding MP3.
Next, I checked the record label's site, and yes, you can buy the CD there, but I wasn't in the mood to navigate the trials and tribulations of its order form. I already own a lot of Frisell and Hall CDs; I guess I don't need another one.
Tower Records shuttered its doors a few years ago, and now another big record chain, Virgin Megastores, is closing down, so there are fewer and fewer places that sell CDs.
These days, I'm buying more and more CDs from Amazon.com, but even Amazon may not move enough product to justify the labels pressing CDs. And local record shops are an endangered species; here in New York, the better ones are barely hanging on.
Still, the fact is that people buy more CDs than downloads, and download sales aren't expected to surpass those of CDs for another couple of years. There's a lot of conflicting information floating around.
Then again, LP sales are on the rise, so maybe we'll wind up with the choice of low-quality iTunes, MP3s, or vinyl. That would be strange.
If you couldn't buy CDs anymore, would you care?
Would you buy vinyl instead?
Do iTunes sound about the same as free downloads? If they do, why buy them?
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