We knew it was going to happen eventually but …
Reminds me of when I went to best buy after about a year after steam took over pc game sales …
the half of the store that had the pc games was gone… there was a tiny section that was still selling left overs like sims expansions the half step above shareware "50 hit games collection " bargain bin stuff
when I bought gta 5 and my laptop only pc game they sold in store in disposable cardboard displays was the elder scroll remastered box set
The luddite in me is sad since I still bouight CDs until I got a new car that forced me to stop (literally doesn’t have a cd player), but the pragmatist in me says that’s how life is.
If I want to buy a CD for whatever reason (maybe I have a portable CD player that’s not internet-capable), Best Buy’s decision makes me think about two things:
1 - I won’t be wandering through a Best Buy looking for a CD and “accidentally” buy a new TV
2 - I’ll be on Amazon ordering a CD and perhaps buy a new TV from t hem
Seems like a dumb move on their behalf, if it’s generating any foot traffic at all.
Best Buy still has major appliances, smart phones, TVs, and computers. Barring another recession, they should be okay for at least a little while.
CDs are quickly on their way to being obsolete. I haven’t bought a CD in two years and that was only because I found it was cheaper for me to buy and have the CD shipped to me from Amazon than it was to download the whole album to my computer. What I have a problem with is having to rely streaming services and YouTube for my music. I prefer to at least have my MP3s stored on my computer or MP3 player where I can still listen to them without having to worry about my internet or WiFi connection cutting out.
For a brief era, mainly during the 90s, Best Buy was magical. They had a far better selection of CDs than anywhere else in town, a great source for mainstream releases, rarities, and bargain bin treasures. But it’s been years since I’ve been in one. The things they still carry that I care about, I’d rather just buy online.
Just to add to the OP, Target is only now accepting CD’s to sell on consignment now. Meaning they only pay for the ones they sell, and the rest go back after a period of time (2 months I’ve heard).
Not that corporations don’t make bad decisions, but I imagine Best Buy has the data to be able to see how many people come in to buy a CD and then also buy something else and see that it’s not worth it to keep them.
The demise of the CD is awesome for me! I pick them up for astoundingly little moola then digitize them into my car’s media storage. I can download my collection to a USB and listen to it elsewhere.
Last summer my car was broken into. They snagged my radar detector and GPS, but left my collection of over 500 CDs – they’re antiques now.
Apple Music and Spotify allow you to download your subscribed music and play it offline on both computers and mobile devices. I think Spotify allows you to download 3,333 songs whereas Apple downloads are unlimited.
Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music allow you to download your subscribed music for offline play to mobile devices only.
On that basis, they should probably stock onions as well.
I remember when Best Buy started selling CDs for ~$10-$12 a pop which was much cheaper than the $16-$18 they cost from the independent music stores. Pretty much ran them out of business. End of an era now, I guess.
So far Best Buy has managed to stay relevant and profitable in a world in which most of the other electronics retailers have been driven out of business by Amazon and the like. Partly this is because Best Buy matches prices and partly because they offer an in-person experience that’s still valuable when buying consumer electronics.
And you’re sort of wrong that “CDs are on their way to being obsolete”; they’re already obsolete. In my experience if you buy a music CD on Amazon, they let you download MP3s of the tracks immediately, even before the CD gets to you. So it’s sometimes cheaper to buy a used CD from Amazon than to buy the album in digital format from Apple or one of the other digital providers.
Same for pc games …in the one here the front half of the store was music and pc games … there “bargain bin” was 12 racks long and was just last years games…
put it this way- I work for an auto manufacturer. we’re rapidly deleting CD mechanisms from many of our vehicle lines. I expect that they’ll be gone as standard equipment by next year. perhaps with the option to add an external one in the center console. I think CD players will disappear even faster than cassette players did.
honestly, in the age of smartphones and USB flash drives, CD has little reason to exist. It had a good run; let it go.
This is going to devastate unheralded musicians. Go to any concert by a local group and they’ll be selling their CDs. People will enjoy the music and buy them on impulse.
Streaming doesn’t help them; it would take hundreds of streams to make the money of one CD sale.
People will not buy them when they get home. And downloading to your mobile device is constrained by the size of their memory.
I often go to free concerts by local acts, and usually buy one of their CDs. It’s still the best was for an unknown band to promote itself.
You can buy promotional USB drives for pretty cheap. For an album, it was could be a 1GB drive or even smaller. There’s your CD replacement and while CD players are on their way out in cars, they all seem to have USB sockets these days.
Or, as I received at one show, cards with a scratch-off section and a unique download code underneath. Though the USB drives gives you a more immediate experience.