How times have changed. Major supermarket ditches CDs but keeps Vinyl

couple a months ago i've listened to the philips lhh 2000, always wanted that one.
now i know, why this cdp, is this much $$$.
it's presentation, 80's cd's are like vinyl. it doesnt has the resolution of the new DAC, but the lhh touches you.
that's why people want original lhh 2000, not frankenstein ones. the same caps etc. its all about the sound. the feeling, the smile

that's also about vinyl. why are original 50's/60's jazz albums that expensive???. they touch you.
new vinyl are like mp3's, they are sjit.
listen to a 70's album or a new one... with your equipment, you will hear the difference.
it's the smile

new music=cd

 

Cd like vynil!
ahahahah you are top joker..

 

A full history here https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/k-tel-the-secret-history-14334.html
You can click "maybe later" to see the full article.

Before I read anything I was thinking that the only rival to K-Tel was Ronco. I didn't realise both companies originated from the same family.
What it doesn't mention was that back in the 1970s the major record labels all seemed to think people with limited budgets would be happy with a LP full of cover versions.
Some were quite good, with people like Reg Dwight (Elton John) working on them before they were famous, but most were quite poor. I still recall a particularly poor cover of The Osmonds "Crazy Horses" on one my Mother bought with the lead "synth" line played on something sounding like a Kazoo.

Back to the article I did know that the Now series (which is still going) started when Richard Branson decided he could do better than K-Tel or Ronco. In fact on a TV programme about the series he said that he took on the person who compiled the Ronco compilations to show them how to do it.

Finally to show how popular K-Tel were here in the U.K.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/11233/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=k_tel

now I might have to buy "Street Scene" just for the cover

 

Last week on "Sounds of the 90s" Fearne was chatting to former Smash Hits editor Kate Thornton.
Reading up on her on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Thornton
I found the bit about "Candle in the Wind" interesting, especially as the 1997 version went on to be the biggest selling chart single ever, with 33 Million copies sold.
How many streams would it take to achieve that ? Imagine having to put together a tribute to Princess Diana and only being able to use the music you happened to have in your car. Maybe that focussed Kate Thornton's mind.

Back to today, with streaming I wonder if youngsters will ever appreciate music in the same way that they did when they had to save up for it and buy it ?
To them it must be like electricity, something they just take for granted, probably paid for by their parents.

p.s.

Kids today will never have the fun of buying O.M.D's Enola Gay single, being delighted in being told that you could have the 12" for the price of the 7" then having to work out how to get it home on your Motorbike when your top-box was full of college work.

 

This morning I had to go to my local Sainsbury's for something else. but to be honest I wanted to look at what was happening with the CDs and DVDs. The DVD shelves looked normal but one of the CD displays was 2/3rd empty. Annoying they had sold out of a 70s compilation I had been tempted by last time I was in before their announcement.

I don't think they had reduced prices which were pretty low anyway. My guess is that people had read the article and decided they must buy some while they can.

On the shelf just round the corner they were selling suitcases. As if those are going to be in demand this year/

Looking through what was left of the CDs I picked up these two compilations;

Brotherhood of Man was £3 while Boney M was just £2. Each is a triple album so that was £5 for six CDs. Cheaper than when you used to get a free CD on a Sunday Newspaper costing £1.50.

Discussing this with my sister she commented that before CDs became popular, supermarkets used to sell Music for Pleasure and Pickwick LPs for just £1 each. However feeding that through the inflation calculator gives a 2020 price of over £5.

Music has never been cheaper or more disposable than today.

 

Love boney m was just listening to them on YouTube

 

Rivers of Babylon was the second highest selling U.K. single in the whole of the 1970s (beaten only by Paul McCartney.

It was a shame that Boney M's creator and producer Frank Farian's next project Milli-Vanilli ended so badly (when it was found out that the "singers" didn't actually sing on the records) because they had some catchy tunes and great production.

 

While trying to0 find out the cost of a CD single I came across this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3158767.stm
How times have changed in eighteen years.
This was probably around the time that they stopped having empty cases on the shelves of the shop and the discs were stored behind the counter to stop shoplifting.

It was amusing to see in the BBC comments that someone had set up www.dontbuycds.org.
I checked it out and not surprisingly it is a dead link. I guess they felt they had succeeded.

 

Cd would have been great had they put any effort into it like an anti scratching film, they could have even made it out of thin glass or something like that and they should have had anti shock from the getgo////all the early portable sony cd players were dreadful including the king DZ 555

 

Radio Raheem you can get Glass CD's, they cost more and sound better.

 

what do i look for on ebay my friend

 

Not sure you will find them on eBay, but what you are looking for are Audiophile Glass CD's. They cost hundreds.

P.S. Just found this one

 

Whats one of those , if you are from the UK you'll get why I am laughing.
You mean Harman Kardon.

 

"Hardon Kardon"

That sounds like a make that would definitely appeal to Austin Powers

 

Despite a bit of a reprieve before Christmas when they stocked up with Adelle and Abba, it seems to have happened. I was in Sainsburys recently and the entire Discs section had been replaced with books.
Then a week later I was looking around in a large Tesco (the biggest supermarket chain in the U.K.) in Poole and despite finding Playstation Discs couldn't find any CDs and DVDs. It seems they have come to the same decision.
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...vds-in-stores-as-shoppers-switch-to-streaming

Oh well it will stop me accumulating them too quickly. I haven't even got around to taking the cellophane off these.

I'll admit that I bought the Seventies one simply because of the cool cover.

In Poole itself I went in HMV who had no shortage of CDs.
https://store.hmv.com/store/music/cd
Last year a friend bought me a very traditional Birthday Present; an HMV token.
I realised I had better spend it before it expired.
Before downloads etc there were "Record Tokens" which could be spent in any of the many Record Stores, but HMV is about the only chain left these days.

Did other countries have Record Tokens ? Of course many chains like Boots also had their own tokens, so if you got one of those you could buy discs with those, providing they had what you wanted in stock.