Cd Music Buying

[ljstanley54]

Apologies if this topic already exists. I did a search and didn't find anything.

Anyway, I'm fairly new to BKK and whilst I've discovered you can buy pretty much everything here I have yet to find a way of buying music CDs. Yes there are a few places in Pantip, MBK etc selling Maddonas greatest hits type copies but I haven't found any "proper", for want of a better word, places. Also my other main source ie the internet seems to either not deliver to Thailand or to at least charge a lot for doing so.

Any advice on this? Thanks

[kiakaha]

loads of legit CD sellers....try Siam Paragon for starters.

[cudaproject]

Go to Paragon shopping center.. not sure which floor.. maybe 4th... But there is one particular legit music shop, which sells 100's of decent CD's, everything from the Beatles to Beethoven from the Happy Mondays to Hendrix! and even Madonna's Greatest Hits.. if that's your bag..

[Ulysses G.]

Bangkok had a few Tower Records for a short time with tons of GREAT music, but buying non top-40 tunes has always sucked other than that.

There are a few small places around with some classic rock, alt. country and 80s, 90s and current alternative rock, but not enough to keep me happy.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[Seizhin]

I must admit there are lots of difficulties for people to get foreign albums.

Their foreign CDs selection are too narrow, and it's really hard for a reasonable J-album that I want to pop up.

I've even tried requesting them to import the certain albums, but after waiting for a month, they told me that there's no such album.

I've really given up in getting foreign albums unless they're very famous.

[oifarang]

I thought Tower Records went into liquidisation.

[Ulysses G.]

Not when they were in Thailand.

[waveydavey]

There's a shop on the top floor of Emporium of all places where you can occasionally pick up some decent western stuff

I can also recommend a really small place called DoReMe in Siam Square. It's near the Siam BTS on the same side of the street as the Lido theatre, opposite Siam Complex but a couple of blocks back, if that makes sense. The woman who I think owns it is a really nice person as well.

Edited May 8, 2008 by waveydavey

[PattayaParent]

B2S in any Robinsons or Central department stores have forign CDs although they can be limited in choice.

But other B2S stores in malls have a good selection.

They're not just a book store.

[ljstanley54]

Thanks everybody. Looks like I was right it's not so simple if your tastes are anything left, or right, of centre. B2S is OK but fairly limted IMHO. DoReMe sounds interesting though so I shall attempt to follow Wavydavy's wonderful directions. I know where the Lido is so that's a good start. I think the place in Emporium, CD Warehouse? has gone. I was there last weekend and there's a cheap sports store there now.

I noticed that some of the HiFi places sell a limited range of CDs but again it's certainly not as good as this place:

http://waterloorecords.com/

Now that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

[banyahorn]

there are plenty of [cough] free [cough] music sites on the net.

you can d/load a cd, listen to the music and if you like it you can go out and 'burn', sorry, 'buy' it.

then you delete the d/loaded copy of course.

yo ho ho...

[waveydavey]

Thanks everybody. Looks like I was right it's not so simple if your tastes are anything left, or right, of centre. B2S is OK but fairly limted IMHO. DoReMe sounds interesting though so I shall attempt to follow Wavydavy's wonderful directions. I know where the Lido is so that's a good start. I think the place in Emporium, CD Warehouse? has gone. I was there last weekend and there's a cheap sports store there now.

I noticed that some of the HiFi places sell a limited range of CDs but again it's certainly not as good as this place:

http://waterloorecords.com/

Now that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Good luck with your searching. You're correct it is a problem trying to find anything other than mainstream stuff in Thailand.

Sorry about the duff info about the place in Emporium - it's been about 6 months since I last went to BKK. Coincidentally I'll be there this weekend and I'll be paying DoReMe a visit on Sunday. I hope they haven't closed as well! Last time I was there I bought 'Rather Ripped' by Sonic Youth, 'Pawn Shoppe Heart' by the Von Bondies and 'The Best Of Blondie'.

[ade100]

If you have to resort to downloading, you can download almost anything from mp3fiesta for next to nothing. As far as I am aware this is a perfectly legal site. (If anyone knows anything to the contrary, please don't spoil my blissful ignorance :-))

[oifarang]

Emporium used to have a Tower Records but after the liquidisation it was bought by another retailer and indeed that has now also closed.

[aehn]

Finding good cd-stores is hard even in western countries nowdays, as someonwe said, even the giant Tower Records had to close their stores.

Even in New York City, which used to be one of my favorite places to shop for hard to find cds is now going downhill, alot.

[waveydavey]

Went to DoReme yesterday and it had the shutters down. Don't know if it was just closed for the day or permanently which would be a shame.

Then went to the place on the 4th floor of Siam Paragon which other people have mentioned. It has a pretty decent selection, probably as good as you're likely to find in Thailand. I did find it amusing though. I found one album I wanted (reissue of Sonic Youths' Daydream Nation) and they had 2 copies, one labelled 990B and one at 500B. I queried this at the counter and the guy said the 500B one was for the Thai market and the sound quality probably wasn't as good (#@*!). He swore they were both genuine though......

[kmart]

I take a run over to the place in Pattaya (Royal Garden Plaza; top floor) to stock up on music. The place used to be a Tower Records outlet, but is now known as "CD Warehouse" or something now (?).

They have a reasonable selection of stuff other than boy band crap and Eagles Greatest Hits. vol 354, usually.

Other than that I have a fast download speed on ****wire Pro.

[pampal]

Limewire cannot be beat and it's all free

www.limewire.com

[Tomkagai]

I take a run over to the place in Pattaya (Royal Garden Plaza; top floor) to stock up on music. The place used to be a Tower Records outlet, but is now known as "CD Warehouse" or something now (?).

They have a reasonable selection of stuff other than boy band crap and Eagles Greatest Hits. vol 354, usually.

Other than that I have a fast download speed on ****wire Pro.

Thats closed down too...maybe moved...but the shop is Royal Garden is boarded up...

[steveromagnino]

I take a run over to the place in Pattaya (Royal Garden Plaza; top floor) to stock up on music. The place used to be a Tower Records outlet, but is now known as "CD Warehouse" or something now (?).

They have a reasonable selection of stuff other than boy band crap and Eagles Greatest Hits. vol 354, usually.

Other than that I have a fast download speed on ****wire Pro.

Thats closed down too...maybe moved...but the shop is Royal Garden is boarded up...

pretty sure CD Warehouse has shut up shop.

The age of the CD shop is nearing an end, it is a dying business.

[MrSnrang]

They'll come back when they make prices more reasonable and stock a wider range; until they do I'll keep downloading stuff that i would never find in stores here or couldn't justify paying 500 baht for.

[siam2007]

CD WAREHOUSE in Emporium was the "last of the Mohicans" in the entire kingdom.

now its gone..... forget about buying international CDs that are NOT in the top-30 everywhere.

the TOWER RECORDS shop in Kuala Lumpur`s Mid-Valley-MegaMall suffered the same fate.

on the top floor of Mid-Valley-Megamall, as well as on the top-floor in the adjoining brand-new Mall THE GARDENS, there are branches of a small but well-stocked CD-chain called "Rock-shop" or something like that (sorry cant recall the exact name right now, but the information desks will know). they have about 5 or 6 branches around KL. thats the last resort for Cd-Lovers nowadays. found some real little gems there, a MISSION OF BURMA - CD, and some NEW MODEL ARMY - CDs....

if that doesnt help: head to Singapore.... they STILL do have (but for how long?) the huge HMV-Megastore at Orchard.... arguably the biggest CD-Shop in South-East-Asia.....

or, if u can make it to HongKong, go to Tower-Records at HK Island....

but that's all that is left for such oldfashioned B.O.F.'s such as me...... the MP3-kiddo-download generation has managed to kill the business for international CD' in Asia....

[steveromagnino]

but that's all that is left for such oldfashioned B.O.F.'s such as me...... the MP3-kiddo-download generation has managed to kill the business for international CD' in Asia....

Not just Asia....dying worldwide. Same as Betamax video tapes etc.

New format, new players, CD is dead.

If you have any doubt, download that classic big Dillinja bass line style dubplate 'vinyl's dead bruv. Everyone's playin' MP3s' can't remember whose tune.

For what it is worth, I never rated CD Warehouse or Tower. Total rubbish in most sections. HMV Singapore or Japan, now those are CD stores.

[Ulysses G.]

For what it is worth, I never rated CD Warehouse or Tower. Total rubbish in most sections. HMV Singapore or Japan, now those are CD stores.

CD Warehouse was lousy, but Tower Records was WAAY better than HMV or any other music store in Singapore!

[Michel1980]

Apologies if this topic already exists. I did a search and didn't find anything.

Anyway, I'm fairly new to BKK and whilst I've discovered you can buy pretty much everything here I have yet to find a way of buying music CDs. Yes there are a few places in Pantip, MBK etc selling Maddonas greatest hits type copies but I haven't found any "proper", for want of a better word, places. Also my other main source ie the internet seems to either not deliver to Thailand or to at least charge a lot for doing so.

Any advice on this? Thanks

I agree there allot of bad copies to, but there is always a little shop that has GOOD copies. Listen to them with headset i always go to the same one. Madonna hits is a mainstream thing nothing special to get that one in good quality.

Serenity dub albums for instance now thats a hard one to find. Or king of my empire, claude challe albums. thats what i dont call mainstream, madonna is mainstream should not be so hard to find.

Now this may sound weird. But is also depends on what kind of stereo you listen music on.

the better the stereo is, the more likely you will hear the flaws in the record coming back in youre livingroom.

[Michel1980]

but that's all that is left for such oldfashioned B.O.F.'s such as me...... the MP3-kiddo-download generation has managed to kill the business for international CD' in Asia....

Not just Asia....dying worldwide. Same as Betamax video tapes etc.

New format, new players, CD is dead.

If you have any doubt, download that classic big Dillinja bass line style dubplate 'vinyl's dead bruv. Everyone's playin' MP3s' can't remember whose tune.

For what it is worth, I never rated CD Warehouse or Tower. Total rubbish in most sections. HMV Singapore or Japan, now those are CD stores.

Pure nonses...cd is death

MD,DAT,BETAMAX (was not audio is father of video (VHS) DCC, ectra ectra the ALL failed to get the cd of the throne.

THis will also go for the famous mistake ever SACD Blueray will never hack it as a musical medium.

Because its allready here for YEARS. The flood the market with old crap then the come with the so called blueray. It was allready here for years BEFORE it ever hit the european market. And even now its a so so format. That is mainly used for the gaming industry.

Only ppl that dont give a crap for the GOLDEN midway on quality..will make sure that the cd will die one of these days. Iff you come to think of it the best quality we have ever know is vinyl. Why? because its a UNCOMPRESSED medium. The groove of a record is miles long, and uncompressed. The cd is bits and bytes and still widely used and sold.

Thing is now you buy these crappy midisets with a fancy usb port and plug in a mp3 player like the stinking ipod. Compare that crap to real quality and you will find "audiophiles" that know what quality is about use...

either vinyl or cd (the gold midway) to listen to. Its just a matter of how critical of listner you are. Until today the cd has not be proven absolete comparted to ALL THE OTHER BY NOW FAILED mediums that ahould have killed this medium. It will happen on of these days...but this time still belongs to the cd..

[Cuban]

CD is dead - long live DRM - NOT !

[aehn]

..... the MP3-kiddo-download generation has managed to kill the business for international CD' in Asia....

nah, this is not a specific problem in Asia, its global.

[Maigo6]

I found just about everything I ever wanted on Torrent sites, certain albums are just not available anymore, but on Torrent sites can be downloaded.

When I was in Tokyo I had a very fast internet connection and downloaded 8800 tunes onto my iPod!!!!

Edited May 21, 2008 by Maigo6

[steveromagnino]

Only ppl that dont give a crap for the GOLDEN midway on quality..will make sure that the cd will die one of these days. Iff you come to think of it the best quality we have ever know is vinyl. Why? because its a UNCOMPRESSED medium. The groove of a record is miles long, and uncompressed. The cd is bits and bytes and still widely used and sold.

Thing is now you buy these crappy midisets with a fancy usb port and plug in a mp3 player like the stinking ipod. Compare that crap to real quality and you will find "audiophiles" that know what quality is about use...

OK, this is coming from someone with a classical music training, option to become a full time jazz musician, part time DJ and perfect pitch.

I like to think I have ok ears...and I do enjoy listening to good sound on a quality sound system. But at least for me, 192bits or whatever the units are is just fine for the majority of music; unless it is a full orchestra or jazz performance, recorded in a studio, then the music+sound quality is fairly average, to me, straight away. Obviously rock, pop, boybands, etc are all musically mostly devoid of merit warranting anything other than a run of the mill sound system.

If I want a real listening experience for drum and bass or house, then it comes down to the club's sound system, and what they bring in.... the tracks themselves these days are mostly being played out of a computer using MP3 format anyhow; the age of dubplates is over. There is almost no way you can get a decent drum and bass sound at home short of installing a club type system. I mention Dillinja because he created the Valve drum and bass sound system I think. You need a club, not a car or some tiny lounge system, to appreciate the power of some ed rush and optical or wha'eva.

There are a few performances, probably, that warrant a so called audiophile level system. But since 99% of the world doesn't have the system of that quality, and doesn't care that much, is it any wonder CDs are dying? Recalling one friend with one of these massively expensive hand built sound systems.....they proudly showed me their system set up and all fully wired...thing of beauty...until they started playing Foreigner...I mean that is like going to a sailing regatta with a TP52...then racing on a Macgregor 26.

They break. They aren't portable. They take up space. They get scratched. They are expensive. They are a pain to distribute. The industry sells lists of songs people don't want to buy, packaging the good with the bad.

Every year CD sales are dropping. Every year video sales drop too; people are going to DVD but that is starting to die as well. Now it comes to on demand, hard drives and virtual shops with downloads.

The age of the CD is coming to an end....like the cassette tape. Sales dropping every year in almost every market are testiment to that.

You cannot fight progress.

CDs will end up like vinyl is today; a classic niche format that people love. But it cannot hope to compete with the power of the downloads and MP3 culture.