Vote

Browsing online is not as much fun as browsing in the stores.

As a volunteer DJ, I also get freebies and there are garage sales, but most purchased CDs & yes, vinyl comes mainly from the fabulous Music Millennium in Portland, Oregon.

I buy the stuff. I want to own a hard copy. I want it without compression and I want it now. I'll get something online only if I can't find it in the stores. Sadly, that's becoming steadily more common.

I think that the fact that I stated "None" says it all. Higher prices, the general lack of good music in stores and lack of resources to preview CDs before purchase are significant factors.

If I can find the CD I am looking for at my BMG Music Club it's a better buy...they always send me certificates for any CD for $5.99 plus shipping ($2.79). Otherwise I find a lot of the CDs I am looking for on Half.Com or eBay at a fraction of the price. There is so little adult oriented popular music today so I am fortunate that I love jazz and still have plenty to choose from at a good price if I do not patronize the local brick-and-mortar. Having grown up buying LPs for 25 years at Tower Records I wish it was the other way.

My biggest brick-and mortar experience these days is buying used LPs at the local Sally Ann thrift stores.

In Greenville, the only real choices are Horizon and Earshot records. Both have good variety and some vinyl. Anything not purchased here came from eBay, the major mail order houses, Internet, and Fisheads (Japan).

How would I classify my local record show/swap-meet? I spend at least 75% of my music budget there, on used LPs. Most of the rest of my budget goes to used LPs elsewhere, with CD and new vinyl purchases being fairly rare.

There's a brick-and-mortar retailer in my area? Where? Oh, you must mean K-Mart with it's fine selection of Kenny G Christmas CDs. Sorry if I haven't been paying attention (and my hard earned money). I'll get my music some other way, thank you.

I checked 60%, but my discs from the brick-and-morter store (Cheapos) have nearly all been used.

If stores had s greater selection, I would buy more there. The trend is to have less and less inventory so I'm afraid my purchases at local stores, and likely my overall purchases, will drop. The hands-on experience is preferable to me.

All the music I bought last year was from some friendly brick-and-mortar shops. Unfortunately for them I download most of my music, I don't buy it. There is a lot of free, legal music on the great wide web.

Unfortunately, I have succumbed to buying classical CDs from certain sellers on eBay. I do go out of my way now and then to buy something from my neighborhood stores.

About half. I belong to a couple of clubs that offer discounts online, and if I can get a good deal on enough CD's to overcome S&H charges, I will order them via the web. I would prefer to browse and look, before buying, at a retailer that has a wide selection: maybe I'll see something I want but wasn't looking for. Tower Records has a small store in the lobby at Disney Hall, and whenever I go to a subscription concert I will usually buy a CD or two while waiting for the the music to begin. Interestingly, there are many small specialist shops in downtown LA that cater to our large immigrant population (mostly Latino music) and these appear to be thriving.

No one in my area carries a good inventory of classical CDs or records. I buy all online at Tower, Music Direct, etc.

First, I think we should support record stores, if they are enterprising and interesting places to go. Second, I find it enjoyable to rummage through a store's stock for interesting music or talk to staff (if they're good), and though I might have had something definite in mind, there is always the serendipitous pleasure of finding something one hadn't expected to find. Besides, a good store will order things in for their customers.

Planet Music in Virginia Beach usually has, or can order, what I want. Why go elsewhere?

I place an Amazon order for the discs I give away at Christmas time, but the 100 or so discs I buy for myself each year come from local stores, or sometimes direct from the artist at a performance.

I went from 100% brick and mortar to nearly 100% Internet music purchases (hardware and software) in five years. The human touch is all but disappearing in our world, and I am very sorry for this state of affairs.

I am basically a classical music listener. I have been buying DVD Audio and SACD multichannel. The stores do not carry many titles in this area. There are precious few titles, anyway.

A major factor driving Internet CD purchases is the huge explosion of indie releases, in increasingly segmented genres that bricks 'n mortar stores can't possibly keep up with. Then again, previously mainstream genres like classical have become niche markets. My neighborhood has a wonderful record store (Sound Garden in Baltimore's Fells Point) but they can't keep up with the increasing niche-ification.

This includes a lot of used CDs and LPs.

I buy online alot, though eBay used can be pretty cheap. I'm not into the iTunes downloads, ripping a used CD is cheaper.

I buy classical and love to browse

The only reason I purchase any music online is because it is either very hard to find, because it is rare, or it is very hard to find because it is an SACD or DVD-A title. The most important reason I purchase my music from the brick-and-mortars, is because i can't wait to listen to my new music!

I buy about one CD/LP per week. About 90% are bought on eBay, Amazon, or garage/rummage sales.

Absolutely none. I buy all my music online--mostly, but not entirely, from iTunes. I can't even remember the last commercial CD I bought. I do however purchase entire CD programs fairly often, and burn them to CD myself for playing on my big stereo, which is not yet connected to a hard drive.

I only buy CDs and my response, 10%, excludes the very few and ultimately disapointing CDs I bought at Startbucks because I don't believe that is the sort of brick-and-mortar store this survey had in mind. I promise not to buy any more music at Starbucks. The most significant reason for this low percentage is my current focus on buying SACD and my local retailers' failure to carry SACD and/or to shelve them separately. It's just easier to buy online or browse online and then make the purchase over the phone.

I prefer buying online as its cheaper, saves time, and I can listen to the music before buying. Also, I'm a stickler for quality recordings and I just can't get them in India.

I tend not to go to pick up a title I've heard or read about. I usually jump online, and often buy it used from a 3rd party on Amazon. Going to the record store (Tower) is sort of a pilgrimage for me. Two or three times a year I'll go and buy several titles, usually without knowing in advance what most of them will be.