Koester: Downloading Destroying Our Business

[Lazaro Vega]

No doubt. Hip staff.

[Ken Dryden]

No one is going to convince me that any download is going to approach the sound quality and the durability of a commercially manufactured CD of the same music.

Download fans, I hope you aren't too disappointed when your hard drive, Ipod or CDRs no longer function.

[Chuck Nessa]

No one is going to convince me that any download is going to approach the sound quality and the durability of a commercially manufactured CD of the same music.

Download fans, I hope you aren't too disappointed when your hard drive, Ipod or CDRs no longer function.

This is not much of an issue to tons of folks. Only the "elite" complain about sound.

[paul secor]

No one is going to convince me that any download is going to approach the sound quality and the durability of a commercially manufactured CD of the same music.

Download fans, I hope you aren't too disappointed when your hard drive, Ipod or CDRs no longer function.

This is not much of an issue to tons of folks. Only the "elite" complain about sound.

Seems like these days only the "elite" complain about music quality too. Most young people (say under 35) that I know don't care much about either. They'll accept whatever garbage music or garbage sound is handed to them. I'd bet that the lack of interest and lack of familiarity in music with substance is probably a bigger problem for Bob Koester's business than downloading.

[ghost of miles]

Just a note from someone on the "inside"...We're not unaware of the amateurish look of the website, and the various other problems you have all described. But those of us who deal with online and phone orders here in the store have no way of changing anything around here. It's embarrassing to deal with on a day-to-day basis, but believe me when I tell you that we've done everything we could think of to convince the people in charge that the website needs to be fixed. Since that's not going to happen, if you want to order from jrm, call our toll-free number. Things will work out better that way.

Right on--I've had nothing but incredibly positive experiences with phone orders from JRM. (Half the time I feel guilty b/c I'm yakking too much about the music I'm ordering.)

I think Eric's post about indie stores is pretty spot-on, too. A friend of mine just opened an independent store here in Bloomington called Landlocked Records. So far he's mostly catering to vinyl fiends, indie-rock and jazz fans, and just about anybody who wants to eschew the Borders circuit. He's willing to special-order anything, and gives decent prices too (I just bought the Nat Cole Bear Family box through him). Also incredibly knowledgeable about music and loves to talk about it with people. He has one partner and no payroll at this point, though he may hire a part-timer soon; most importantly, he's worked in indie stores before and has a ton of friends who are making a point of buying there and spreading the word about the place. So I think he's going to make it, but on the basis of personality, location, good customer service, and low overhead--a combination not easy to achieve.

[JSngry]

When Rod (rostasi) ran his K-29, I bought everything from him, and even bought some things I might not otherwise buy, just because it was such a coolass store and I trusted him to carry good shit. The only time I was disappointed was with a Jim Hall MusicMasters side, which he took back and exchanged w/o any hassle whatsumever.

Now, when K-29 ceased operations, I was cast adrift in the waters of the chains. Salvation was found only in the then-burgeoning used store market, when there was a used CD shop every quarter mile on every street in metropolitan America (every 5 miles in rural and semi-rural areas). It was mandated by law, and as laws go, it weren't bad.

Then I discovered the Internet, and that, as they say, was that.

[Jim Alfredson]

Business is business. It's all about carving out your own niche, servicing that niche extremely well, and changing with the times. You can blame your poor sales on downloading, the internet, a sluggish economy (all of which may be true) and just sit there and complain about it or you can do something about it.

[Hot Ptah]

[Ken Dryden]

Listening in the car definitely isn't the same experience as listening at home, as my Miata lets

in lots of outside noise. But I can tell the difference between downloads and manufactured CDs

(on my home system...not in the car, I needed to edit that point to be clear!).

JRM has been easy for me to deal with the few times I've made purchases from them, though I usually

spend a hundred or two when I shop with them. The internet site needs some work (something true for

many retail stores) but their phone service has been excellent, prices reasonable and shipping has been speedy.

I think most of us would like to know the personnel and songs on a CD prior to buying on line without having to cross check with an outside reference site.

Edited May 11, 2006 by Ken Dryden

[Noj]

...my Miata...

[nemo7]

off.