| rev:text
| - This is one of those stores I find an excuse to go to the College/Spadina area for, especially since getting into jazz.
The book and record collections seem good but I go here, like all stores of its ilk, for used CDs*. (Somebody please wake me up when the 80s-90s end!)
I had stopped in prior to this jazz phase and it was usually a 50-50 chance I'd find something. Nothing anything terribly rare or WOW! Wait. Wait just a second. That is lie. I found a Klaus Schulze double CD here (Essential 72-93) for $16.99. So yeah, there is treasure to be found here.
My first stop in for jazz left me very impressed. There were a good dozen gems up for grabs. Interestingly, the next one yielded zip. I think there has been one visit since and that bore fruit. So yeah, this shop is most certainly in my regular rotation for scrounging.
Prices--I feel like this is one of the cheapest shops in the city for your average used CD by a buck or two. I might be wrong--haven't analyzed it or anything--but if memory serves, it always seems like I'm getting a slightly better deal here.
I've never tried to sell anything back.
The shop owners (guy and girl--guessing they are married) are nice and friendly and will chat if you want to. I like the idea of supporting them. My guess is that they are locals and have been so most of their lives.
Highly recommended!
-------------
*2nd bonus Boxing Day 2013 rant of the day!
If you have been reading my reviews--I have no idea if anyone is--this site really needs a view counter--then you know by now that I'm way into buying used CDs. When most people have gone back to proper records, or forward to MP3s, why am I still stuck on CDs?
A proper response to such a question would probably take the form of an essay and perhaps not a short one. So here are a few summary points:
1. Nostalgia. This is the medium I grew up on. As a preteen/teen, back at the end of the 80s and until the 90s, vinyl was dead. A lot of albums were only released on CD. In fact, I still remember long boxes. There was no vinyl culture, at least not in suburban Los Angeles. The CD was king and naturally all of my purchases were on this format.
2. Ease. CDs can take a beating. They are easy to clean. And easy to store! Compared to records they are smaller, hold more music and last way longer. A CD, from 1985, assuming no scratches, sounds identical today. Playing records actually destroys the surface of the record, albeit microscopically. The idea of a record NOT lasting forever boggles my mind.
3. Availability--well, mostly. While there is lots and lots of great music that will never make it from old records onto a CD, there is no shortage of excellent music on CD. And right now, with everyone moving their collections to MP3, it is a golden age for the used CD buyer. You can find nearly anything you want, in good condition, for a good price.
4. If I don't pay for something, it is hard for me to take it seriously. I just can't "love" an MP3--they just seem worthless to me. They don't exist. They are just 0s and 1s. (I know CDs are too but on top of a physical format).
5. There is no joy in collecting MP3s. Ok, I guess there is some aspect of having to hunt down various sources but you don't have to leave your living room. As a CD collector, I have to get out there and get my hands dirty in the used bins. Or I have to track things down online. "Nothing worth having comes easy", right?
6. CDs are like the best of both worlds. They sound as good^ (no pops, clicks, hiss, skips, etc.) as MP3, are as easy to use as MP3s* but are still a physical medium. You still have to handle something. You still get to go to your collection, find a CD to play, insert it into the player and press play--while not as tactile as vinyl, your hands still get to do something. (I spend my entire working day in front of a computer--no need to spend any more time in front of one once I get home)
7. CDs (like records) are finite. That is, you press play and listen to a single album, as it was meant to be heard. This is a hard one to explain to non music geeks but some of us actually don't like, at least not all of the time, the idea of non stop music in the form of random tracks that were only recorded as singles.
8. CDs, unlike records, are fuss free when it comes to playing as well. No need to adjust, no concerns about your tonearm or cartridge. You just press play.
^Yes, yes, yes. I am very familiar with the argument that CDs sound "cold" and not "warm" like a record, especially in the early days of CDs. With a tube based amp and a modern, audiophile level CD player, this argument has largely gone away. Besides, many people argue that the CD sounds better as it can store more of the "data" (higher res) and bring out that performance when played on good equipment.
*OK, CDs are not portable like MP3s. I can't argue this one--and this is why even I have an old iPod for travel.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)