Topic: UK music sales decline for sixth consecutive year

[Clive]

Music sales in the UK have fallen for the sixth consecutive year, according to the British record industry's trade association.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12120789

[Rik]

That's because there's very little music around.

[sam]

Rik, you poke hard don't ya :p

As for this - does that include MP3 sales? Cause I bet they are soaring. Still I hate to buy MP3s. I like to listen to music on them but I want to own something in my hands. Then again I recently started using Steam for games cause its much cheaper and I never see a disc there. I tend to go, listen to music (in some online method) and if I like it buy it... eventually (now I have money) and wait for it to not be stupidly priced.

[Simon]

It's certainly hitting the high street stores hard.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12117510

[Rik]

Rik, you poke hard don't ya :p

It's my age, Sam.

[pctech]

I buy a lot of music through iTunes as singles because a lot of the labels I buy from mainly distribute electronically now.

Also trackitdown.net is sometimes useful too for new releases.

[Simon]

I find iTunes a bit expensive.  You can get the same from Amazon or Play for about 20p per track less, which is quite significant if you download a lot. 

[Rik]

Plus it's MP3.

[pctech]

Main label I buy from, JOOF recordings seem to charge the same on both.

[Simon]

Play MP3s are at 320mbps, so virtually as good as lossless. 

[Rik]

Or, when you get to my age, you can't tell anyway. Actually, one place I think that benefits from MP3 at any age is the car. The compression lowers the dynamic range, while CDs, imo, are totally unsuitable as you're forever adjusting volume.

[sam]

I quite like play.com for mp3 download - no extra stupid software required. You buy it and download it, simple.

[Rik]

The Amazon downloader bugs me, you seem to have to install it every time you d/l. Weird.

[sam]

weird.

[Simon]

Yes, that's why I prefer Play for downloads.