Of general interest, I suppose, and maybe another nail in the coffin, but Amazon has revised its two music store categories from "Music" and "MP3 Music" to "CDs and Vinyl" and "Digital Music". Not much of a functional shift, but symbolically lumping CDs with a largely obsolete medium while generalizing their description of the downloadable stuff does not bode well for the CD market.
Of general interest, I suppose, and maybe another nail in the coffin, but Amazon has revised its two music store categories from "Music" and "MP3 Music" to "CDs and Vinyl" and "Digital Music". Not much of a functional shift, but symbolically lumping CDs with a largely obsolete medium while generalizing their description of the downloadable stuff does not bode well for the CD market.
With all due respect, vinyl sales are going up yearly since 2009. CD sales have been dropping at alarming rates. While the CD is offers profits for the labels, they will keep it going until sales fall off a cliff.
I don't buy vinyl all that much but I disagree it's an "obsolete" format. What Amazon has done is address the perceptions of the marketplace. Vinyl and CDs are the physical formats and digital implies they may be moving into more than MP3s so that's not so bad. Let's hope they offer up hi-def and lossless music. If I have to buy music digitally, I hope it's offered in at least 16/44 lossless.
Of general interest, I suppose, and maybe another nail in the coffin, but Amazon has revised its two music store categories from "Music" and "MP3 Music" to "CDs and Vinyl" and "Digital Music". Not much of a functional shift, but symbolically lumping CDs with a largely obsolete medium while generalizing their description of the downloadable stuff does not bode well for the CD market.
With all due respect, vinyl sales are going up yearly since 2009. CD sales have been dropping at alarming rates. While the CD is offers profits for the labels, they will keep it going until sales fall off a cliff.
I don't buy vinyl all that much but I disagree it's an "obsolete" format. What Amazon has done is address the perceptions of the marketplace. Vinyl and CDs are the physical formats and digital implies they may be moving into more than MP3s so that's not so bad. Let's hope they offer up hi-def and lossless music. If I have to buy music digitally, I hope it's offered in at least 16/44 lossless.
20.000 vinyl records were pressed & issued in 2010, and I'm sure more were pressed in the years since. A lot of people are getting into vinyl these days. CDs will eventually become like vinyl: boutique collectibles for people like you and me who actually wish to enjoy a physical "artifact" instead of a downloaded jpg and a file stream.
What a great improvement! I hated it when mp3 & CDs were lodged together, often giving the impression you could still buy a title that was OOP only to find just the download on offer.
I prefer just a "music" category. So now I have to look under two different categories in order to see if a score was released? I don't buy mp3's by choice, but I do as a last resort.
I prefer just a "music" category. So now I have to look under two different categories in order to see if a score was released?
Agreed. Music is music.
Agreed but there are people who DO NOT pay attention to the categories and may buy a CD thinking it's the digital album. Amazon is catering to two different types of consumers.
As a matter of fact, most of the new vinyls are pressed from a digital 24-bit studio master, so I would like to rank 'm as digital as well.
How is it stupid? One category is for the two dominant physical music products, one for digital. Makes sense to me.
I was fooling around, hence the smiley. Although cd's *are* digital too, so they should be in the 'digital' category as well.
Sorry, I guess I should have noticed that. To answer your question...no. I shouldn't have to look around for a digital album nor should I have to mess around trying to figure out if it's a CD or not.
Since Amazon isn't an actual store like the ones we all lived in back in the day (RIP Tower!) they need to be clear what they are selling. You'd be surprised how many people would buy the wrong thing if it wasn't laid out to them the way Amazon is doing it now.
In the end, it's all music but it's also about making sure the site is clear what they are selling to the consumer.
I prefer just a "music" category. So now I have to look under two different categories in order to see if a score was released?
Agreed. Music is music.
Agreed but there are people who DO NOT pay attention to the categories and may buy a CD thinking it's the digital album. Amazon is catering to two different types of consumers.
If that's the case, they should have more categories. Somebody might accidentally buy a vinyl!
The point is, I think 'digital' is an odd name for the category. They should have gone with 'non-physical' (might be weird) of 'download'.
And: how hard can it be? Just show the darn cover with all the buying options. Something like 'available as' and with icons for a cd, a vinyl and a download. Heck, they can throw in an 8-track while they're at it.
I prefer just a "music" category. So now I have to look under two different categories in order to see if a score was released?
Agreed. Music is music.
Agreed but there are people who DO NOT pay attention to the categories and may buy a CD thinking it's the digital album. Amazon is catering to two different types of consumers.
If that's the case, they should have more categories. Somebody might accidentally buy a vinyl!
The point is, I think 'digital' is an odd name for the category. They should have gone with 'non-physical' (might be weird) of 'download'.
And: how hard can it be? Just show the darn cover with all the buying options. Something like 'available as' and with icons for a cd, a vinyl and a download. Heck, they can throw in an 8-track while they're at it.
"Digital" is so generic as you pointed out. And the current setup is repetitive. Once again a new system that requires more clicks of the mouse. They should go with "Music Downloads" and "Music Physical Media". Or just go with "Music CD's" and lump LP's and Cassettes into the group. But one music category is all that is necessary.
I prefer just a "music" category. So now I have to look under two different categories in order to see if a score was released?
Agreed. Music is music.
Agreed but there are people who DO NOT pay attention to the categories and may buy a CD thinking it's the digital album. Amazon is catering to two different types of consumers.
If that's the case, they should have more categories. Somebody might accidentally buy a vinyl!
The point is, I think 'digital' is an odd name for the category. They should have gone with 'non-physical' (might be weird) of 'download'.
And: how hard can it be? Just show the darn cover with all the buying options. Something like 'available as' and with icons for a cd, a vinyl and a download. Heck, they can throw in an 8-track while they're at it.
Digital isn't that odd. Digital is a marketing term after all.
In our business it's digital then physical. When I am discussing a release or doing a deal we specify digital and physical in the legal terms.
In the world of digital it's downloads, streaming, on demand and many other ways to deliver content to the consumer.
I don't agree about having more categories. CD/Vinyl is pretty much cut and dried. When you look up a release in CD/Vinyl you get the physical options. When you look up a title in digital, you get tracks and album.
I prefer just a "music" category. So now I have to look under two different categories in order to see if a score was released?
Agreed. Music is music.
Agreed but there are people who DO NOT pay attention to the categories and may buy a CD thinking it's the digital album. Amazon is catering to two different types of consumers.
If that's the case, they should have more categories. Somebody might accidentally buy a vinyl!
The point is, I think 'digital' is an odd name for the category. They should have gone with 'non-physical' (might be weird) of 'download'.
And: how hard can it be? Just show the darn cover with all the buying options. Something like 'available as' and with icons for a cd, a vinyl and a download. Heck, they can throw in an 8-track while they're at it.
"Digital" is so generic as you pointed out. And the current setup is repetitive. Once again a new system that requires more clicks of the mouse. They should go with "Music Downloads" and "Music Physical Media". Or just go with "Music CD's" and lump LP's and Cassettes into the group. But one music category is all that is necessary.
While I do not disagree, keep in mind they have to dumb it down. There are people who don't pay attention to what it is they are buying. To deal with complaints/returns/etc means more time and money.
I don't think there is a way they can do it that will make anybody happy honestly.
All day I've been unable to select Music in the drop down menu and it's been very annoying. But after reading the above I was able to find it under Music, Movies & Games, and then selected a sub-category like CD & Vinyl, which I'll have to get used to from now on.
how hard can it be? Just show the darn cover with all the buying options. Something like 'available as' and with icons for a cd, a vinyl and a download. Heck, they can throw in an 8-track while they're at it.
Exactly.
Even under the old set-up, they had cross-links to the MP3s when you clicked on the CD link. (That was often the only way to find music samples.) I presume that the cross-links will continue, whether you find the title first under the CD/Vinyl category or the Digital category.
