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# sad times, but hey, it's progress, probably*

*isn't progress, it's shit
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:16, archived)
#
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:20, archived)
#
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NnhN6gG_CE
(I helped save b3ta! Ghoti Fingers, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:24, archived)
# O_o
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:29, archived)
# Genu PFFFT!
(I helped save b3ta! taters Bah weep grahnah weep ninibong, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:32, archived)
# FLANTASTIC!
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:39, archived)
# oh hell yes
(I helped save b3ta! alpaca muffalo bozzerella, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:46, archived)
# Art for internet fannies.
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:50, archived)
# *sadface*
Does this mean I have to draw fannies?
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:54, archived)
# You DON'T want to draw fannies?
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 0:07, archived)
# May cause trouble...
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Tue 15 Jan 2013, 0:18, archived)
# Doggie made a puddle.
(I helped save b3ta! FeralCatMan Unusual disease collector., Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:10, archived)
# My tables, they shine.
(I helped save b3ta! atomic A-bomb-a-nation, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 0:08, archived)
# What's the gramaphone on then?
{:-p
(I helped save b3ta! FeralCatMan Unusual disease collector., Tue 15 Jan 2013, 0:32, archived)
# Singing into an online music identifier
just isn't the same as embarrassing a teenage member of staff.
(I helped save b3ta! Jabberwoc misses D.R. and Quinch, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:21, archived)
# Awww
Crikey, that picture really reminds me of my dog when he was a pup.

(I helped save b3ta! Flowerpot No longer has the vapours thanks to DTH, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:40, archived)
# ^_^
(I helped save b3ta! prodigy69 broke b3ta and made everyone leave, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 0:46, archived)
# We were jus sayin, will there be any shops at all?
(I helped save b3ta! edjogs Collared doves are shit., Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:45, archived)
# never really understood why they started selling shitty headphones and toys instead of CDs
(I helped save b3ta! alpaca muffalo bozzerella, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:46, archived)
# desperation
they couldn't compete with the tax dodging Play, Amazon and co I guess
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:46, archived)
# yea i suppose
i don't normally give a shit about shops, but i've got good memories of sifting through the HMV bargain bins when i was a teenager in search of some cheapo gem...
(I helped save b3ta! alpaca muffalo bozzerella, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:49, archived)
# everyone (of merit) has good memories of a record shop
HMV oxford street was a mecca to me when I was a nipper
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:51, archived)
# I did buy a 12" of Moloko's 'Sing it Back' from there.
Otherwise, I have nothing to offer.
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:55, archived)
# You were once the HMV dog?
(I helped save b3ta! Happosai _,,,,_(O ; o)_,,,, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 10:14, archived)
# Oddly, my local independent is going great guns.
I went through two HMVs the other week and they had nothing I was looking for.
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Mon 14 Jan 2013, 22:53, archived)
# That, in my humble opinion, was the point when HMV stopped being a record store.
When you couldn't find what you wanted and more significantly, couldn't discover anything new. Unfortunately there's no place for niche if your business model is stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap*.

HMV Media Group were utterly dreadful employers in their later years. Sad to think about the reality their employees are facing though.

*I don't believe they wanted to go down this route but needs must I guess.
(I helped save b3ta! Pig Bodine., Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:21, archived)
# Good analysis here
croydonmunicipal.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-hmv-can-save-itself.html
(I helped save b3ta! Zuowan, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 10:01, archived)
# Ironic though that 15 years ago, the little independant record stores were closing down because of HMV and Virgin
It's just a sign of how things have gone.
(I helped save b3ta! h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:03, archived)
# 90 years ago HMV was that little independent store
it's always going to be survival of the fittest/better at dodging taxes

I'm more bothered by the fact that it's probably the end of Fopp (for the second time)
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:13, archived)
# ^this^
I'll shed more tears for Fopp than I ever will for HMV
(I helped save b3ta! Joe Scaramanga with a G-double-O-D vibration, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 8:55, archived)
# You only pay corporation tax on your profits
...so the corp tax avoidance doesn't really come into play, as they will have paid the same corporation tax as Amazon, i.e. bugger all tax on bugger all profit.

HMV did, however, try to get out of paying VAT by importing goods through Gurnsey.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_Added_Tax_(United_Kingdom)#Avoidance.2C_evasion_and_fraud
(Super Jet Shoes, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 20:51, archived)
# Yes... it's sad.....

(I helped save b3ta! paranoiaman, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:09, archived)
# I'm disappointed, I was waiting for the dog to be blown off the screen,
preferably through several posts.
(I helped save b3ta! FeralCatMan Unusual disease collector., Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:13, archived)
# Huh, time to check the news, too many hmv posts
Aw. Still, makes more room in the highstreet for pawn shops, takeaways and places to buy mobility scooters..
(I helped save b3ta! Antubis right round, like a record, lion, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:12, archived)
# don't forget the coffee, there's always room for another overpriced coffee shop
haha, which reminds me, the HMV in Cambridge (and I'm sure other places) has a built in coffee shop :D
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:14, archived)
# had.
now the big coffee shop in cambridge has a few CDs going cheap
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:18, archived)
# I'm not sure they sold CDs
it seemed to be all Dr Dre headphones and IPads when I last looked
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:21, archived)
# Dear Lord
I don't think even people tripping on overpriced coffee are daft enough to buy Dr Dre headphones, which so far as I can tell are mushily bass-heavy headphones whose parts cost about six quid, sold for £120.

Maybe the coffee shop will flog off some iPods.

Actually I was in that HMV perhaps a year back, I don't remember a coffee shop :( It might have made the experience slightly more pleasant because it was a horrible place to be otherwise.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:28, archived)
# they moved it, it's not in the main shopping centre any more, it's over by the Grafton shit hole
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:29, archived)
# Oh, right. Shows how recently I've been in Cambridge
Thinking about it it might even be two years.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:31, archived)
# Which was a stupid decision on HMV's part.
The Grafton Centre is, as you say, a hole. I prefer going to the Fopp now instead, even though it's much smaller. I'm sure they're missing out on custom by no longer being in Lion Yard.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 10:51, archived)
# dre headphones: fragile.
got my son a pair at crimbo, snapped yesterday. oh well, he'll have to look like jack duckworth for a while...
(polished turd 404 pixels wide, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:39, archived)
# I got some Audio Technica ATH M50s for my birthday
They're fantastic headphones, albeit somewhat pricey. Call me old-fashioned but I quite like headphones with pretty much a flat response.

Don't have a famous name on them though.

Apparently the Motorhead phones are pretty good.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:46, archived)
# don't forget Betfred and Paddy Power
I know it's wishful thinking but I'd love councils to try some things to encourage the high streets to fill with independent shops again. Maybe relief of business rates, free parking after 2pm etc. Our council tax has been frozen for three years - I'd much rather start paying a modest increase if the council used the money to promote local business.

At our college we used to run business startup courses and they were always absolutely packed, so the demand and the inspiration is there - it's just the tough market conditions and huge rates that prevent them from starting.
(I helped save b3ta! h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:22, archived)
# the council's approach to encouraging retail growth in the city centre
is stopping ikea from building a store anywhere near sheffield. ever.
(polished turd 404 pixels wide, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:45, archived)
# I shall say here what I said elsewhere
I seem to recall buying CD's from HMV as well in the last twenty years, but because of the internet have seen prices reduced to the point where the music industry has been shown to have been a thieving scoundrel. Unless it's something particularly specialist, I don't expect to pay anything more than about a fiver for a CD. So price rigging or what? Why was I paying upto twenty quid for a CD ten years ago? I'm not even exclusively bought into amazon; the internet can provide you alternatives to high street prices which are great, such as specialist shops. All this is far more convenient than having to deal with Oxford Street, and the shop's limited stock. It can't be as specialist as the internet. And i'm shrugging at it's passing. Except for the bummer to the staff of course. Bad luck guys, but sign of the times.

Perhaps the days of musicians and rock god salaries are gone. It's curious, when I was a teenager I was consumed with an obsession of heavy metal, but there is more going on with life now. The internet has changed everything, and there is no turning back. Music doesn't seem to hold the same value as it once did, short of bothering to go to a concert, to which you still can't avoid buying a physical ticket for, if that's your thing.
(I helped save b3ta! Jahled Three shades of black, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:24, archived)
# Music holds the same value to me as it always has
headphones on in a dimly lit room at night masturbating furiously listening to something that sends shivers down your spine at how complex and beautiful it is, can't beat it, worth every penny.

I think music does more than a still image or a film ever can because it provides more room for your imagination
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:28, archived)
#
This did that to me first time I heard it: youtu.be/NLURgkx5eqg

Still does, most times.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:30, archived)
# a bit too bumford and sons for me
I've been listening to Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden on loop this evening, still blows me away. Think I might have paid £15 for that in HMV the day it came out, worth 10 times that the number of times I've listened to it since then.
(I helped save b3ta! HappyToast Groat froth, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:37, archived)
# Idlewild are not Bumfucker and Friends!
Even when Woomble is going off on one on folk. I even bought the Mumford and Sons album (probably from HMV) and rarely have I been more disappointed by something I was assured was "modern folk" (it's not), "fantastic!" (it's not), "harmonious", "ethereal" and all of that rot. Pah.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:43, archived)
# absolutely
I like Woomble (Secret is my Silence is a good bit of songwriting), but prefer Kris Drever
(I helped save b3ta! mozza, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 9:55, archived)
# That is certainly a very good album :)
Probably Patrick Spence is my favourite on there. "Interesting" fact: when you look at who played on that Idlewild track it turns out it was actually the band from the first album, so Drever's on guitar along with Jones and I'd put money on it being cowritten by Drever and McCusker.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 10:57, archived)
# Funny you should mention Spirit Of Eden
I suddenly thought of it last night for the first time in many years. Probably time to listen to it again I think.
(I helped save b3ta! mofaha ┐( ˘_˘)┌ ʅ(́◡◝)ʃ, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 3:16, archived)
# That and Laughing Stock never gets old.
I had no idea what to think about either at first, which is usually a good sign to me. That is as powerful as music can possibly get as far as I know.
(Smoked Oysters Yes, magick helmet! And I will give you a sample!, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 5:55, archived)
# Fair enough, and I agree to be honest
but it genuinely seems to be less of an importance these days. I tend to only to really have interested in nostalgia from the past. Nothing much interests me that is current
(I helped save b3ta! Jahled Three shades of black, Mon 14 Jan 2013, 23:34, archived)
# Who cares?
HMV must have put an awful lot of independent record stores out of business. Fuck 'em.
(I helped save b3ta! 4Q just lurking, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 2:57, archived)
# That's a good point


...but I do feel sorry for the poor sods that worked in the stores.
(I helped save b3ta! Halibut If you think education is expensive, try crack., Tue 15 Jan 2013, 8:23, archived)
# I concur with 4Q:
if anything I wanted to hear wasn't in their 'charts' or sales, they couldn't find their arses with both hands and a search team, and they made it obvious that they couldn't give a fuck about trying to find it either.
(I helped save b3ta! uncle bastard is twanging a dan moi, Wed 16 Jan 2013, 17:15, archived)
# Couldn't care less about the actual HMV stores
being as they're overpriced, corporate grief-holes with absolutely no understanding of music.

BUT, they do own Fopp... and I care about Fopp. Fopp is the last real, physical shop that I get that rush of 'ooohhh... I'm going to buy myself something good' excitement from. So yep, sad times.
(Mr Eraserhead Why aren't you a lemon?, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 8:55, archived)
# Nicely!
Tis very sad :( Place has gone to the shits
(I helped save b3ta! Ninj, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 9:22, archived)
# meh.
I'd have more sympathy if they hadn't been pulling one of those "gift cards are worthless after X years" stunts.

Yeah, in my book, that's stealing my families cash; and will NOT earn you any goodwill from me. I could just about understand some sort of gradual balance erosion to account for the colossal cost of storing a few bytes of data all that time; I could tolerate it if the balance had gone to charity; but not helping yourselves to the lot without notice. Gits.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 13:58, archived)
# yep
the timing was obviously planned;
1. get everyone to shell out for gift cards over xmas as presents
2. stop accepting gift cards asap for maximum profit
(I helped save b3ta! Spunky McPunk not dead yet, Tue 15 Jan 2013, 14:09, archived)