Sunday, September 26, 2010

Goodbye CDs and Record Bars?

I don't know when exactly the remaining branches of Music One in Glorietta and Greenbelt closed down but I was really shocked two weeks ago when I see BOTH branches closed already. I was about to blog this earlier but forgot about it but last Friday I saw National Book Store occupying Music One's former space in Glorietta so it reminded me of this sad development. I know their business has been doing not so well the last few years as evident with the "shrinking" of their once huge shops but I never thought it will really close shop. I was thinking at least one could have survived. It's just sad to see an era ending right before my eyes. I remember the days when Music One shops were still Tower Records how huge their shops are and how wide the selection of their titles. Although I rarely buy there before because they don't sell cassette tapes and tapes were the one I can afford back in the day. Even though I don't play them anymore (and some of my choices then are embarassing now haha) I still cherish my cassette tapes. It's a time capsule.
I'm not a big buyer of CDs because it's expensive, the last CD I bought was Lifehouse's latest album Smokes & Mirrors at Music One Glorietta, I only buy CDs from artist I really like. And this, along with the Internet where you can find music for free, is probably the reason why CD sales are down. When cassette tapes died there were no longer a cheaper alternative for music buyers and CD sales are just way too expensive for a regular person like me. Although Odyssey,Astrovision/Astroplus and SM Record Bars are still surviving but the CD selection are now limited and they mostly sell VCDs/DVDs. How I wish CDs were cheaper like cassette tapes before. Nevertheless, despite the easy access to music through the Internet and the rise of mp3 players, I still feel strongly about having a physical, tangible copy of a record. There's nothing like opening the CD/tape for the first time, smelling the inlay, looking at the artworks and photos, reading the "Thank Yous" and singing along with the lyrics. I don't know if I'm just really sentimental and refuses to let things go but I hope there will be a way for CDs to survive because imagining that one day the music CDs will be obsolete makes me really sad.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forg ganyan talaga marami store un nagclose kc mahina na un sales. Nauna na jan un Radio City. Wala na yta ganun ngayon. Un Odyssey nga sa Robinson's Lipa nagclose na rin last october. And i really got sad kc un n lang un music store dun nagclose n rin un Astrovision 2 years ago. Affected pa rin ng economic crisis tsaka bukod sa piracy may downloading n rn ngayon eh kaya humina tlaga un sales ng mga cd. At pareho tau tol ako i still keeping my collections of cassette tapes parang treasure n rn kc un. Mahirap ng makakita ng mga tapes sa panahon ngayon kasi phase out na.

forg/jecoup said...

Hay nakakalungkot talaga :(