The End of an Audio Era

Amanda and I went to a local music store that was holding a closing out sale this afternoon. When we walked through the shelves and flipped through clearance CDs, it felt like the end of an era. Actually, Amanda and I witnessed another recently -- the end of the video store as anything more than a niche market when Blockbuster and the other video rental chains went bankrupt in the last few years, but it wasn't quite the same.

In the case of the video stores, I was largely sheltered from their decline and collapse. I lived in Tumbler Ridge where the video store was still a major part of the community, and our Internet access was far too slow for streaming and downloading services (Netflix, iTunes video rentals, etc.), to ever make much headway.

The decline of the music store, however, has occurred right in front of my eyes. Stores like CD Plus have disappeared, and the HMVs of the world have a small aisle of CDs forgotten amidst the DVDs and licensed merchandise. It was kind of sad to be in that closing store today realizing that I was seeing something disappear that was a part of my life but will not be a part of my children's...

At the same time though, it was very clear to me while browsing the store why music stores are disappearing -- and it has nothing to do with piracy. First, most of the CDs started at over $20. When most albums on iTunes cost between $10-14, it's hard to justify paying the extra cost of the same music. Second, there was no way to sample the music. I saw a few CDs that looked interesting, but without knowing the songs or having a way to hear them first, I wasn't willing to take a chance. iTunes lets me sample snippets of songs, and not be stuck buying an entire album because I like one song.

Third, actually going to the store was inconvenient. Amanda and I had to drive out on snowy streets and risk getting stuck in the parking lot to see what was on the store shelves (which would've been a hit-or-miss proposition even if the store wasn't going out of business). My other option lets me sit on the couch, browse an amazing collection of music for sale on my iPad, where albums don't go out of stock, and purchase the music right there. Done.

So to summarize, it's sad to see an entire field of business fade from the landscape, but at the same time, it was very clear why it has happened. I feel bad for the store owners because they really haven't done anything wrong. It's just that their competition has found a way to surpass them on many different fronts...