[Theo_Bear]

Why the hell would I even think about buying films cheap from Amazon, let alone paying HMV's extortionate prices, when perfect copies of Les Miserables and Django Unchained are already freely available from the good ship Skull & Crossbones?

[SoulGlo]

Originally Posted by blueisthecolour

Higher speed broadband and larger hard drives means that HMV's death is inevitable. We're a pirate nation now . . .

Not me. I love having a well made special edition or boxset with special features in my hand. Appreciating the artwork and all.

Can't download that.

[zx50]

HMV are their own worst enemy, and yet they complain when people aren't buying enough of their stock! What the hell do they expect?!

[zx50]

Originally Posted by Theo_Bear

Why the hell would I even think about buying films cheap from Amazon, let alone paying HMV's extortionate prices, when perfect copies of Les Miserables and Django Unchained are already freely available from the good ship Skull & Crossbones?

I download films etc, but I'll still buy the legitimate copy if I like what I've downloaded enough.

[Wulfster]

Originally Posted by SoulGlo

Not me. I love having a well made special edition or boxset with special features in my hand. Appreciating the artwork and all.

Can't download that.

Good call Soulgo!

Not every one wants to wear a wooden leg and an eye-patch.

If someone just wants a vanilla copy (and poor quality) on stick or Hard-drive that's down to you.

Personally I'm happier with my steel-book Blu-Ray version of "Zombie Flesh Eaters" with the re-mastered sound and picture and 5 hours of specials.

Each to their own though... .

[theonlyweeman]

Originally Posted by blueisthecolour

It's a classic scam. There's not much British people love more than a bargain and these sort of 'panic sales' usually get people rushing through the doors (anyone remember the Woolworths closing down sale?). However, like with Woolworths, DVD/CD stock is very easy to resell back to trade so there's no point in HMV taking any kind of serious hit on the price, even if they are about to go into administration.

Higher speed broadband and larger hard drives means that HMV's death is inevitable. We're a pirate nation now . . .

Didn't the collapse Entertainment:UK (part of Woolworths) cause serious issues for Zavvi?

Not necessarily, I buy DVDs/BDs because I want higher quality, and feel we should support the people that make these films and TV shows.

[Sonick]

Meeting tonight to discuss future

http://news.sky.com/story/1038002/hm...tailers-future

[Theo_Bear]

Originally Posted by Sonick

Meeting tonight to discuss future

http://news.sky.com/story/1038002/hm...tailers-future

I'll be amazed if HMV are still around in a few months.

[Bluray]

Originally Posted by Wulfster

Good call Soulgo!

Not every one wants to wear a wooden leg and an eye-patch.

If someone just wants a vanilla copy (and poor quality) on stick or Hard-drive that's down to you.

Personally I'm happier with my steel-book Blu-Ray version of "Zombie Flesh Eaters" with the re-mastered sound and picture and 5 hours of specials.

Each to their own though... .

I'm with you and Soulgo.

Downloads are cold.

[MC_Satan]

Originally Posted by SoulGlo

Not me. I love having a well made special edition or boxset with special features in my hand. Appreciating the artwork and all.

Can't download that.

Absolutely. I blame iTunes et al and never use them.

[Muttley76]

Originally Posted by SoulGlo

Not me. I love having a well made special edition or boxset with special features in my hand. Appreciating the artwork and all.

Can't download that.

Nor me either. I don't see it as being any different than shop lifting, quite honestly. But putting morality aside, I like to have a quality product not a piece of old tat.

[theonlyweeman]

Originally Posted by MC_Satan

Absolutely. I blame iTunes et al and never use them.

Whilst it may technically be "iTunes et al"'s fault, you can't blame them. HMV had the chance to save the business but didn't do the right things. The prices are high, the staff are obnoxious and the business acumen? non-existent. HMV failed because it sucked. No other reason. But how long until we're told it failed due to piracy and the internet?

[blueisthecolour]

Originally Posted by Muttley76

Nor me either. I don't see it as being any different than shop lifting, quite honestly. But putting morality aside, I like to have a quality product not a piece of old tat.

I won't go into the morality, I mean I pay to go to the cinema quite a lot, but I know that doesn't make it right.

In terms of quality though, as long as you wait for the DVD/BluRay releases then the download is identical to the physical copy. And if you have a HDMI output on your laptop like mine then there's not even a need to move the file over to a compatible player.

[blueisthecolour]

Originally Posted by theonlyweeman

Whilst it may technically be "iTunes et al"'s fault, you can't blame them. HMV had the chance to save the business but didn't do the right things. The prices are high, the staff are obnoxious and the business acumen? non-existent. HMV failed because it sucked. No other reason. But how long until we're told it failed due to piracy and the internet?

To be fair that is the truth. HMV has been overpriced since the days that Virgin Megastore was it's only real competition, yet it performed pretty well then. Maybe, maybe, it could have competed against the internet alone, but with piracy evolving at such a rate it had absolutely no chance.

[Muttley76]

Originally Posted by blueisthecolour

I won't go into the morality, I mean I pay to go to the cinema quite a lot, but I know that doesn't make it right.

It certainly doesn't - it's like a shoplifter saying i go to the supermarket a lot thus it's okay if i sometimes take stuff off the shelves and leave without paying.

In terms of quality though, as long as you wait for the DVD/BluRay releases then the download is identical to the physical copy. And if you have a HDMI output on your laptop like mine then there's not even a need to move the file over to a compatible player.

by tat i was referring to a product not being presented as intended more than the quality of the download.

As I say, though, hell would freeze over before i pirated movies.

[theonlyweeman]

Originally Posted by blueisthecolour

To be fair that is the truth. HMV has been overpriced since the days that Virgin Megastore was it's only real competition, yet it performed pretty well then. Maybe, maybe, it could have competed against the internet alone, but with piracy evolving at such a rate it had absolutely no chance.

I realise I worded that poorly, by "the internet" I meant piracy and online streaming. I complete forgot that "the internet" could also refer to online stores. (Doh!)

I don't buy the piracy claims, Amazon is the 9th most visited website, Hulu the 270th, over 15bn songs and 200m HD episodes have been brought off iTunes, clearly people are still le piracy is an exaggeration. A problem yes, the end of the industry as we know it, unlikely. However, undoubtedly FACT are going to profiteer off this and convince the government to introduce draconian copyright laws that do nothing to prevent piracy and just become a pain in the arse for honest consumers....

[Asmo]

Sky News describing HMV situation as 'collapse' now.

[gemma-the-husky]

we had a £30 voucher at Christmas - fortunately used it in a decent box set, buy one, get one half price deal they had running. (good deal for once!)

[Wulfster]

Just announced on the DS homepage as well;
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/ne...-tomorrow.html

Not looking good ...

[mwardy]

Originally Posted by theonlyweeman

I don't buy the piracy claims, Amazon is the 9th most visited website, Hulu the 270th, over 15bn songs and 200m HD episodes have been brought off iTunes, clearly people are still le piracy is an exaggeration. A problem yes, the end of the industry as we know it, unlikely. However, undoubtedly FACT are going to profiteer off this and convince the government to introduce draconian copyright laws that do nothing to prevent piracy and just become a pain in the arse for honest consumers....

I'm afraid you could be right. Look at industry profits--they are going one way, and it's not downwards. But this could be more grist to the 'insert a DNA sample here' brigade's mill.

[habby]

Appointing administrators http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21021073

[stvn758]

So what does this mean, shitty low bit rate downloads replacing CDs.

[steven123]

Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky

we had a £30 voucher at Christmas - fortunately used it in a decent box set, buy one, get one half price deal they had running. (good deal for once!)

I unfortunately have an unused £20 voucher for HMV, really wish I had used it before now. Any idea if there will be any time to use it before they shut up shop altogether? (I assume they will trade under administration like comet did for some time?).

Kicking myself as I was actually in a store last week but the games I had wanted to buy were all out of stock, should have took that as a warning but I had no idea things were so dire....

[stvn758]

Originally Posted by steven123

I unfortunately have an unused £20 voucher for HMV, really wish I had used it before now. Any idea if there will be any time to use it before they shut up shop altogether? (I assume they will trade under administration like comet did for some time?).

Kicking myself as I was actually in a store last week but the games I had wanted to buy were all out of stock, should have took that as a warning but I had no idea things were so dire....

Get it spent quickly, unless a few disabled kids are sat there with their vouchers in the DM they won't care less, Deloitte with Comet proved themselves to be right *****.

[gerry d]

Too be honest i'm not surprised that this has happened.While HMV can't compete with the likes of amazon & play they done themselves no favours over the years with some of the ridiculous prices for dvd's/blu-ray's especially boxsets.