Now you need to spend more than £10 to get free delivery, think it's £15. Hopefully people do keep them in business although like the other guy said, people who buy physical music will always buy it in person which begs the question?
What does keep Amazon in business if it isn't the music industry? Films? Clothes? Books? What else could be pumping millions into this company?
Now you need to spend more than £10 to get free delivery, think it's £15. Hopefully people do keep them in business although like the other guy said, people who buy physical music will always buy it in person which begs the question?
What does keep Amazon in business if it isn't the music industry? Films? Clothes? Books? What else could be pumping millions into this company?
Lol seriously? Amazon is most ordinary peoples main internet shopping hub. FIlms yes definitely. Books definitely. I mean Amazon were originally set up for books. Their book sales and Kindle have wiped out the traditional book shop apart from the biggest players who have been forced to bring their own electronic readers just to compete. Electronics such as phones. Video games a huge seller. I could go on, but you've got some thing against Amazon clearly.
lol no no. I'm just wondering what is keeping them afloat that is all. So people buying music are dwindling but the physical movie buying is increasing? Hmm.
Firstly I have...secondly, they really are not. Maybe in CD's they are competitive, but frankly you have to be competitive in the music CD market these days or no one would buy the things.
But blu rays and games? Haha absolutely not.
There have been few occasions last year when I have bought Blu Rays and DVD's that have been cheaper in HMV than Amazon.
Games seen to be shoved in the corner of the one I go in and are a poor selection and over priced.
CD's, wouldn't have a clue. Not bought a CD for several years. Not because I download instead, I don't. Just really gone off music.
lol no no. I'm just wondering what is keeping them afloat that is all. So people buying music are dwindling but the physical movie buying is increasing? Hmm.
Is that really surprising? The digital music revolution happened with Itunes that allowed individual songs to be purchased for pennies.
Movies clearly are not in that category. Digital movie sales are decent and Amazon capture those BTW through their Kindle devices too. BUt the facts are you are never going to buy a movie for 99p digitally, so they are still in the traditional physical way.
BTW how hard is it to imagine what is keeping them afloat? They operate in the entire globe. Renowned the world over. They make mountains of cash.
But you don't actually own anything. You can google any song or album in the world and find a free download for it so why would you pay money for them? Especially when you can't hold them in your hand or do anything with them, they are just computer files. Movies are the same way so i find it hard to believe less people are buying plastic discs with music on them but more are buying plastic discs with films on them despite them being found extremely easily for nothing.
But you don't actually own anything. You can google any song or album in the world and find a free download for it so why would you pay money for them? Especially when you can't hold them in your hand or do anything with them, they are just computer files. Movies are the same way so i find it hard to believe less people are buying plastic discs with music on them but more are buying plastic discs with films on them despite them being found extremely easily for nothing.
Most people don't care if you don't actually own the thing in your hand these days. That is kind of the point of digital convenience in our lives. It is the reality of the marketplace. You keep having this apparent amazement that anyone buys music digitally because they don't actually own it (although in all practical realities they essentially do)...but haven't you checked the sales figures for digital music and books etc??
You talk about "piracy" as well. Well "piracy" has not stopped millions upon millions of sales. People still buy even though you can download most things for free.
How hard is it to understand less people are buying plastic discs for music because they are so cheap digitally but because films are still expensive digitally, people prefer in that particular instance to buy physical since it is the same price anyway?
But you don't actually own anything. You can google any song or album in the world and find a free download for it so why would you pay money for them? Especially when you can't hold them in your hand or do anything with them, they are just computer files. Movies are the same way so i find it hard to believe less people are buying plastic discs with music on them but more are buying plastic discs with films on them despite them being found extremely easily for nothing.
Maybe some of us like being honest and buying something legit that we actually own and can play at any time without having to rely on computers and the internet.
HMV has overtaken Amazon to become the UK's biggest seller of physical music. While this might initially sound like a good thing it probably isn't! Physical music is on the decline as is other physical media. Amazon have Autorip on CD purchases too. Still HMV claim all their stores are profitable, but I'm sure they still have debt to repay looking at the bigger picture.
CD sales were up 1.5%, while DVD and Blu-ray sales were 0.5% higher in the year to December 2014 compared to the previous year, claimed HMV. Hardly inspiring is it! Still niche vinyl sales were the highest since the mid 90s, with more than 350,000 units sold an increase of 170% year-on-year. Yip hardly going to make a fortune out of that either!
A CD with a physical disk plus all the packaging inserts etc. will always be better than a downloaded file and in most instances higher bit-rate quality.
Most people don't care if you don't actually own the thing in your hand these days. That is kind of the point of digital convenience in our lives. It is the reality of the marketplace. You keep having this apparent amazement that anyone buys music digitally because they don't actually own it (although in all practical realities they essentially do)...but haven't you checked the sales figures for digital music and books etc??
You talk about "piracy" as well. Well "piracy" has not stopped millions upon millions of sales. People still buy even though you can download most things for free.
How hard is it to understand less people are buying plastic discs for music because they are so cheap digitally but because films are still expensive digitally, people prefer in that particular instance to buy physical since it is the same price anyway?
You sound either under 20 or complete arrogant. Possibly both, and as for "Most people..." Do you know most people?
I am not sure I really understand this post to be honest. Amazon is a great company and all but the more business they drive out of the market the higher their prices for good will be. Having more players do well in the market like HMV is good for business and good for us.
Just look at the train fares same crap service and yet the price goes up each year beyond inflation because their is no other choice we have to pay it.
I am not sure I really understand this post to be honest. Amazon is a great company and all but the more business they drive out of the market the higher their prices for good will be. Having more players do well in the market like HMV is good for business and good for us.
Just look at the train fares same crap service and yet the price goes up each year beyond inflation because their is no other choice we have to pay it.
Except that is entirely disingenuous because Amazon will never have the ability to force higher prices on everyone. The good thing about the internet is that eith low running costs, there is always potential competition around the corner in the vast Internet. Amazon will always have to be competitive.
You know who are not competitive? HMV. And they are punished by almost going out of business and frankly I don't exactly view them as being on totally safe ground now.
22 and only slightly arrogant when it comes to the Internet and the holding back of progress by Luddites.
One of my previous assistants was amazed when I had a rare record delivered to the office. She just couldn't believe how vinyl was double-sided, yet pocksy CDs were only single-sided.
It's the strangest thing. E-Book sales are on the decline too. It's as if people have rejected digital media in favour of the traditional physical types.
I think that there was an inevitability to this decline to be honest.
There's a certain novelty to digital media that lures most people in at some stage. The ability to store thousands upon thousands of songs on a single handheld device like a phone, tens of thousands via the cloud - a perfect example of something that entices many people. But all novelty wears off, and there is usually a reality to face as well.
In the case of digital media, that reality usually comes down to service reliability and ownership. People embrace digital media, but remain uneasy about having to depend on an online service to access it - what if Netflix removes one of your favourite films? What if Google changes terms of service and my app doesn't work the same any more? What if I can't listen to music without a 3G/4G signal? Why am I using a battery powered e-book when I could have just packed the book? What if the Playstation Network is down? It takes just one or two bad experiences with digital media, and the consumer will become more inclined to latch onto physical media again, no matter what the pros of digital media are. Counter in the biggest argument used against consumers regarding digital media, which is that you don't truly own anything you 'purchase' when it's digital, and there is a bit of disillusion towards the format that builds.
I'm personally not against digital media, but feel there's many kinks to iron out if they want me to be as sold on it as I think they're currently aiming for. Take music for example - I feel more inclined to keep my music on an SD card on my phone, mostly transferred from my own CD's, than I would feel inclined to rely on Google Play Music/Spotify/itunes. I then actually physically own most the music, and offline listening is a lot less of a strain on my phone battery too. I also don't need to worry about phone signals enabling me to stream non-cached music. As such, I'm inclined to use offline and physical media predominantly, and see online services and digital media as a bit of a backup.
Except that is entirely disingenuous because Amazon will never have the ability to force higher prices on everyone. The good thing about the internet is that eith low running costs, there is always potential competition around the corner in the vast Internet. Amazon will always have to be competitive.
You know who are not competitive? HMV. And they are punished by almost going out of business and frankly I don't exactly view them as being on totally safe ground now.
So you have not noticed that Amazon's prices for DVD / Bluerays have been increasing as Play.com move out of business to the market group and blockbuster disappeared. How lovefilm killed off all the rental services then moved to Amazon Prime service charging 79 pounds a year.
Amazon's prices are only competitive because they price sniper other sites which is a poor business model and an abuse of their power. If argos start selling an item at say 14.99 within 24 hours Amazon starts under cutting them by a penny. If Argos then run out of stock bang Amazon put the prices back up again.
Problem is once companies like Argos are force out of business Amazon wont be doing this so wont be competitive.
you cannot blame Amazon for doing this it is business I suppose but it will be the customers such us suffer in the long term the bigger they get.
One of my previous assistants was amazed when I had a rare record delivered to the office. She just couldn't believe how vinyl was double-sided, yet pocksy CDs were only single-sided.
So there you have it. CDs are for luddites!
Tell that to some DJs. Sven Vath and Nina Kraviz still use vinyl in their DJ sets.
(Skip through the two sets above if not particularly interested in the music, but it will give you the general idea, as Sven generally only uses vinyl and Nina a mixture of both CD and vinyl, which is why she has 2 vinyl decks and 3 CD mixers in addition to the mixing console.)
This is bad how?? HMV are finally sorting themselves out. There current 2 for £15 offer is brilliant and I've bought more from the shop these past few months than I have since about 2008
(Skip through the two sets above if not particularly interested in the music, but it will give you the general idea, as Sven generally only uses vinyl and Nina a mixture of both CD and vinyl, which is why she has 2 vinyl decks and 3 CD mixers in addition to the mixing console.)
It's why many DJs prefer the time-coded Digital Vinyl Systems - still the same tactile vinyl feel and control, but the convenience of only needing to carry a laptop rather than boxes of records. As a DJ myself, I've moved completely to a digital set-up, but still have my vinyl in storage - there is no way I'm parting with my collection! I probably have some Sven Vath tracks knocking about in my father-in-laws garage!
If we complete our loft conversion, I'd like to put some turntables in one of our rooms.
And they can continue to do so yes, but with the proviso that they realise they are in a dwindling minority. I hate to be morbid, but the realities of life are that the people who spent their lives buying physical music only, are dying off, literally. Amazon want to go on indefinitely, not have their business cut out from under them in 30 years.
The way some of you big up HMV, you'd almost imagine they hadn't practically gone out of business like 3 years ago...
You'd also imagine that they and their ilk had never killed off the independent stores that were always miles better than HMV ever were or could be.
I am not sure I really understand this post to be honest. Amazon is a great company and all but the more business they drive out of the market the higher their prices for good will be. Having more players do well in the market like HMV is good for business and good for us.
Just look at the train fares same crap service and yet the price goes up each year beyond inflation because their is no other choice we have to pay it.
This is all the recent trend perpetrated by the likes of the Guardian, bash Amazon all you can because "they is evil".
It's why many DJs prefer the time-coded Digital Vinyl Systems - still the same tactile vinyl feel and control, but the convenience of only needing to carry a laptop rather than boxes of records. As a DJ myself, I've moved completely to a digital set-up, but still have my vinyl in storage - there is no way I'm parting with my collection! I probably have some Sven Vath tracks knocking about in my father-in-laws garage!
If we complete our loft conversion, I'd like to put some turntables in one of our rooms.
So, you will obviously know all about the complexities of mixing vinyl. Nina is in 'full vinyl mode' about 38 mins into her set. Sven has to change a pickup (cartridge) about 22 minutes into his set. Also, 47 mins Nina set.
Ah sorry. We were actually supposed to be talking about HMV here. I don't know about online, as I usually buy DVD/CD media from Amazon and 'back in the day', HMV were usually much more expensive in their high street stores than buying online, even from HMV.
Also, HMV gift vouchers were only valid at their high street outlets, not online. A mistake IMO.
Comments
What does keep Amazon in business if it isn't the music industry? Films? Clothes? Books? What else could be pumping millions into this company?
Lol seriously? Amazon is most ordinary peoples main internet shopping hub. FIlms yes definitely. Books definitely. I mean Amazon were originally set up for books. Their book sales and Kindle have wiped out the traditional book shop apart from the biggest players who have been forced to bring their own electronic readers just to compete. Electronics such as phones. Video games a huge seller. I could go on, but you've got some thing against Amazon clearly.
There have been few occasions last year when I have bought Blu Rays and DVD's that have been cheaper in HMV than Amazon.
Games seen to be shoved in the corner of the one I go in and are a poor selection and over priced.
CD's, wouldn't have a clue. Not bought a CD for several years. Not because I download instead, I don't. Just really gone off music.
Is that really surprising? The digital music revolution happened with Itunes that allowed individual songs to be purchased for pennies.
Movies clearly are not in that category. Digital movie sales are decent and Amazon capture those BTW through their Kindle devices too. BUt the facts are you are never going to buy a movie for 99p digitally, so they are still in the traditional physical way.
BTW how hard is it to imagine what is keeping them afloat? They operate in the entire globe. Renowned the world over. They make mountains of cash.
Most people don't care if you don't actually own the thing in your hand these days. That is kind of the point of digital convenience in our lives. It is the reality of the marketplace. You keep having this apparent amazement that anyone buys music digitally because they don't actually own it (although in all practical realities they essentially do)...but haven't you checked the sales figures for digital music and books etc??
You talk about "piracy" as well. Well "piracy" has not stopped millions upon millions of sales. People still buy even though you can download most things for free.
How hard is it to understand less people are buying plastic discs for music because they are so cheap digitally but because films are still expensive digitally, people prefer in that particular instance to buy physical since it is the same price anyway?
Maybe some of us like being honest and buying something legit that we actually own and can play at any time without having to rely on computers and the internet.
SorrySome of us like to buy CD's. I bought one from HMV yesterday.
You sound either under 20 or complete arrogant. Possibly both, and as for "Most people..." Do you know most people?
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2039213
Just look at the train fares same crap service and yet the price goes up each year beyond inflation because their is no other choice we have to pay it.
Except that is entirely disingenuous because Amazon will never have the ability to force higher prices on everyone. The good thing about the internet is that eith low running costs, there is always potential competition around the corner in the vast Internet. Amazon will always have to be competitive.
You know who are not competitive? HMV. And they are punished by almost going out of business and frankly I don't exactly view them as being on totally safe ground now.
22 and only slightly arrogant when it comes to the Internet and the holding back of progress by Luddites.
One of my previous assistants was amazed when I had a rare record delivered to the office. She just couldn't believe how vinyl was double-sided, yet pocksy CDs were only single-sided.
So there you have it. CDs are for luddites!
There's a certain novelty to digital media that lures most people in at some stage. The ability to store thousands upon thousands of songs on a single handheld device like a phone, tens of thousands via the cloud - a perfect example of something that entices many people. But all novelty wears off, and there is usually a reality to face as well.
In the case of digital media, that reality usually comes down to service reliability and ownership. People embrace digital media, but remain uneasy about having to depend on an online service to access it - what if Netflix removes one of your favourite films? What if Google changes terms of service and my app doesn't work the same any more? What if I can't listen to music without a 3G/4G signal? Why am I using a battery powered e-book when I could have just packed the book? What if the Playstation Network is down? It takes just one or two bad experiences with digital media, and the consumer will become more inclined to latch onto physical media again, no matter what the pros of digital media are. Counter in the biggest argument used against consumers regarding digital media, which is that you don't truly own anything you 'purchase' when it's digital, and there is a bit of disillusion towards the format that builds.
I'm personally not against digital media, but feel there's many kinks to iron out if they want me to be as sold on it as I think they're currently aiming for. Take music for example - I feel more inclined to keep my music on an SD card on my phone, mostly transferred from my own CD's, than I would feel inclined to rely on Google Play Music/Spotify/itunes. I then actually physically own most the music, and offline listening is a lot less of a strain on my phone battery too. I also don't need to worry about phone signals enabling me to stream non-cached music. As such, I'm inclined to use offline and physical media predominantly, and see online services and digital media as a bit of a backup.
So you have not noticed that Amazon's prices for DVD / Bluerays have been increasing as Play.com move out of business to the market group and blockbuster disappeared. How lovefilm killed off all the rental services then moved to Amazon Prime service charging 79 pounds a year.
Amazon's prices are only competitive because they price sniper other sites which is a poor business model and an abuse of their power. If argos start selling an item at say 14.99 within 24 hours Amazon starts under cutting them by a penny. If Argos then run out of stock bang Amazon put the prices back up again.
Problem is once companies like Argos are force out of business Amazon wont be doing this so wont be competitive.
you cannot blame Amazon for doing this it is business I suppose but it will be the customers such us suffer in the long term the bigger they get.
Tell that to some DJs. Sven Vath and Nina Kraviz still use vinyl in their DJ sets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_V%C3%A4th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Kraviz
Gerard Hanson aka ERP/Convextion/Time Light Curve often releases tracks on vinyl.
http://www.discogs.com/ERP-Alsoran/release/922170
http://www.discogs.com/ERP-Vox-Automaton/release/1088946
Sven Väth Boiler Room Berlin Groove Magazine take-over Mix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uInltd4OkTQ
Nina Kraviz Boiler Room Berlin DJ Set
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xogJgUteDAs
(Skip through the two sets above if not particularly interested in the music, but it will give you the general idea, as Sven generally only uses vinyl and Nina a mixture of both CD and vinyl, which is why she has 2 vinyl decks and 3 CD mixers in addition to the mixing console.)
You seriously think Luddites is a reasonable comparison? Try again.
It's why many DJs prefer the time-coded Digital Vinyl Systems - still the same tactile vinyl feel and control, but the convenience of only needing to carry a laptop rather than boxes of records. As a DJ myself, I've moved completely to a digital set-up, but still have my vinyl in storage - there is no way I'm parting with my collection! I probably have some Sven Vath tracks knocking about in my father-in-laws garage!
If we complete our loft conversion, I'd like to put some turntables in one of our rooms.
And if I may be so bold; https://mixcloud.com/ElectroGrooveMonkey/
You'd also imagine that they and their ilk had never killed off the independent stores that were always miles better than HMV ever were or could be.
This is all the recent trend perpetrated by the likes of the Guardian, bash Amazon all you can because "they is evil".
So, you will obviously know all about the complexities of mixing vinyl. Nina is in 'full vinyl mode' about 38 mins into her set. Sven has to change a pickup (cartridge) about 22 minutes into his set.
Ah sorry. We were actually supposed to be talking about HMV here. I don't know about online, as I usually buy DVD/CD media from Amazon and 'back in the day', HMV were usually much more expensive in their high street stores than buying online, even from HMV.
Also, HMV gift vouchers were only valid at their high street outlets, not online. A mistake IMO.