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There will soon be a total of seven HMV stores in Ireland, with the latest store joining the ones already open at Henry Street, Dundrum Towncentre and Liffey Valley in Dublin; Crescent Shopping Centre in Limerick, at the Quays Shopping Centre in Newry and Donegall Arcade in Belfast.
There are also 37 Xtra-vision and HMV stores opened around the country. This dual venture will see a further 11 locations opening over the next month.
HMV went into receivership at the beginning of 2013, and was acquired in April of that year by Hilco UK. The move was thought to be worth €58.9 million.
Hilco had previously acquired the HMV Canada business in 2011. When HMV Ireland’s 16 stores were closed in early 2013, 300 jobs were lost. However, work was soon underway to restore the brand.
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And there was Golden Discs trying to get its foothold back in the market again with a new shop in Grafton Street and their re-opened shop in the Stephens Green centre. Wonder if there will be enough business for both of them on Grafton St and Tower Records facing BTs.
The problem with iTunes is your only paying for thr licence to play the song on an apple device. That’s why it’s so cheap. There’s a huge debate of who actually owns the digital content? Just ask Bruce Willis!
There’s not actually a huge debate, you don’t own anything you buy on iTunes, Apple just lease you the music. So you’ll never be officially able to pas your music collection on to your kids or whatever.
Besides, New cds are only in the 12-17 price now so it’s better value to just buy.
Technically David, you can still pass on your collection but it’ll have to be on your iPod/Pad or laptop and they’ll only be able to listen to the music on 10 apple devices or burn the playlist 7 times. Bit of a pain in the ass if you ask me. Still can’t beat owning the physical cd/record or whatever.
Please get your facts straight. All iTunes music is DRM free with no restrictions. You can move the music anywhere you like and can convert them to mp3 if needed. Only Apps and Movies have DRM.
That’s only since Feb 13 and you need to convert older files to drm free one by one. Still awkward to move a large music library to another non apple device. Still can’t beat an original cd which was my point originally
Oh and I agree that you can’t beat owning an original CD. However there is a lot to be said for buying albums cheap on iTunes and burning a perfectly good CD from it if you wish.
The licence, not ownership aspect applies to all copyright material.
When you buy a CD or an LP, or a paper book, you may own the media but you have only licensed the actual content.
ITunes is no different other than there is no physical media to be purchased.
It’s nonsense to suggest that music downloaded from iTunes is locked into the Apple system. They’re not selling you a license, they’re selling you an audio file to use as you see fit. If you buy music from iTunes you own a copy of the song for your personal use, which is all that 99% of people need. The 1% who need to use the music professionally or in a public place (radio presenters, sound engineers, theatre staff etc.) source their music elsewhere. Of course Apple encourage you to use their system and products, but they can’t force you too.
This line of argument comes from the same kind of people who think that a subscription to Sky or UPC is the only way to watch television, despite the fact that the majority of channels are available free of charge on Saorview and Freesat.
If you’re unable to pass your music collection on, it’s your own fault for blindly taking Apple’s advertising as gospel and not taking the time to understand how the technology works. If you’re in any way technical it’s very straightforward to use music bought on iTunes outside of Apple’s programs and products.
On Windows machines every song you download from iTunes gets saved to a folder within the My Music folder (My Music → iTunes → iTunes Media → Music) and you can move it wherever you like once it’s there. If you need it in a non-Apple format just right click on the song in iTunes and select “Create MP3 Version” and that new file is saved in the same place.
Shock and horror, you could even buy your music from another service such as 7Digital, eMusic, BandCamp or Amazon MP3!
Alan Lawlor is of course correct in saying that you never own the intellectual property that is the song/book/film you’ve downloaded, meaning you can’t legally edit it, make copies of it to sell at a profit or make copies to save your friends/family having to pay for a copy.
What you pay for is the right to possess a purchased copy for your personal use, which you may consume in a manner of your choosing. Once you possess your copy of a song, you can listen to it on whatever device you like. Saying that you have to play the song on an Apple product is like saying that if you buy a CD from the Sony Music label, then you have to play it on a Sony CD player. Of course you don’t!
I should say that of course not everyone is technical enough to be able to work around Apple’s system which understandably favours their own software and products. However if you are not technically minded then you shouldn’t be making technical claims that you can’t back up.
Apple work extremely hard to make their system as simple as possible for the average user. Non-technical people should be thankful to them for that. If Apple’s system is too restrictive for you (as it is for me) then quit complaining and learn how to work around it instead.
Lads seriously, there’s a shedload of software out there that rips your entire library out of iTunes. I used it recently when I switched from an iPhone to an Xperia. Bit behind the times!
The cafe in Tower charges a fortune for everything. It’s probably single-handedly subsidising all of whatever’s left of the music and video store industry.
High time music/entertainment shops tried a bit of innovation and broke with the tacky warehouse-stock model they have landed themselves in last few years. I don’t see the point. They should be creating more of a meeting point/venue where other things can happen around. Daytime gigs, coffee shops, one off stuff only available offline.
High time they dumped CDs. If they pushed Vinyl again and also crucially cheap cool record players there would be far move of a buzz about music again – it would be a new thing to most kids. Likewise download stations instore for kids who don’t have credit cards, and throw in free downloads and promotions, mixtapes etc.,
The problem is all they see is the CD – the physical unit of sale, rather than what they are actually selling. The store itself needs a radical re-design as something that is far more than 4 walls and a bunch of boxes.
You hit the nail on the head there, music in its purest form is about people gathering together to enjoy a performance. Downloads are cost effective and convenient, but the true music fan needs more than that. They need tangible reasons to set foot in your premises. Record stores (I use that term advisedly as in my opinion a “music shop” is a place where you buy instruments, sheet music and recording equipment) need to capitalise on the social element of music by having in store performances and seating areas with CD players and iPod docks where people can sit together to listen to and discuss music.
To add to your idea about “download stations”: There’s nothing like flicking through shelves of CDs enjoying album artwork and scrutinising track listings, but as CDs seem to be on the way out, why not replace the CD boxes with pieces of laminated card that have the same front and back as the CD box but with a barcode or QR code on them? You can bring the card to the counter and pay for the music and then either receive a physical CD from the cashier or go to a computer to scan the code and load the songs onto your iPod/MP3 Player.
Another point you touched on is the fact that children and teenagers don’t have Credit Cards to buy things online. It’s only right that children can’t be trusted to pay for things “on credit” like adults do, but I see no reason why all children shouldn’t have Debit Cards. Instead of giving their children physical cash as pocket money, parents could set up a standing order to transfer an allowance from their bank account to their child’s Debit Card. Then the child can either get cash at the ATM or buy things online with the card details. Now that Ireland has finally done away with the restrictive Laser Card system in favour of Visa Debit, it’s incredibly easy to pay for things online with a Debit Card.
Yep, people like myself prefer to have original physical copies of CD’s, games etc. However most online places including iTunes are DRM free so you do own the music and can do whatever you like with it. I have no idea why people keep saying you are only leasing it. I own the music I have downloaded from iTunes and I have burned copies and shared with my family.
There’s no competition. Physical has lost. It just hasn’t admitted defeat yet. There will always be a place for shops selling vinyl, and even cds, but that place is no longer on the “high street”. Sure even amazon and the equivalent has them well and truly beat when it comes to selling physical product. Warehouses will always be cheaper to maintain than stores. And that’s why you’ve seen DVD rental shops, Music and DVD stores, and bookstores close by their hundreds in the past decade.
Ah but Marc, we’re more chill here in Galway.
(Also, the train! D’ya think I’m made of money. Have you priced the train from Galway to Dublin, it’s poison dear)
Ya and OMG is totally overpriced and geared towards the tourists now with tacky souvenirs and leprechauns and T-shirts with silly slogans and oh ya they have CD’s which are mad dear.
Err, did you not read the above comments Paul? Since Liz had already agreed with me, then how could you think I was mistaken? http://www.omggalway.com/
Of course they are. Just like their other stores. It’s how they are making a profit. Unfortunately, staff morale is at a serious low but that’s not a concern to them.
How very tech and future. They are to open with no employees, self checkouts, instant downloads, futuristic security, slick wallpaper, cool t-shirts, blue octopus singing woman with beautiful voice… Well played DVD guys. What is a Dvd again?
Looking forward to browsing through Tower’s Vinyl collection – probably buy one or two. For everything else I have Spotify. I am willing to do my bit to keep these stores open even if it means paying a bit extra as the experience of flipping through all that vinyl is worth it.
As much as I still like to buy cds and collect vinyl, HMV need it get their act together, although they’re a lot cheaper then tower and golden discs, they still haven’t got a patch on Amazon and ebay. Vinyl is on the up in a big way, they should focus on plugging that element and ditch DVD sales.
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