Is it just me or has the modern world become addicted to Amazon. I know there are many other sites but none has captured the collective imagination like this 'store' has done. Even if you don't buy much, which admittedly I don't, it is the ultimate in window shopping. Egad ! one could sit at southernmost Tasmania and order a CD from the UK and give or take a few days, be happily listening to it a week later. I always think there will be a place for the high street shop. The joy of touching your purchase before you buy it, the immediacy of the transaction, after all as we have seen, radio, TV and the internet have not put the good old newspaper out of business. But there is something fundamentally addictive about Amazon. And swipe me, if Amazon hasn't got it, then there will be someone out there offering the product in the Amazon Marketplace, often deep discounted. Like having Wal-Mart and Saks Fifth Avenue in the same building. Now there is a scary thought !
January 18th update
Well its come true. With the fall of Comet, Jessops, Blockbuster and now HMV its seems like all the bricks and mortar music stores are collapsing and Amazon reigns supreme. There is also the issue of CD's sold in supermarkets. But truly the world is changing and we must either get on board or change and become niche market players. The shops that seem to survive on the high street now are those providing coffee and tea. Maybe a coffee shop in all HMV stores would have been the answer. People now need a reason to shop the high street beyond just product, at least that's how it seems to me. Still the demise of HMV in particular seems sad to me. Pity they could not have adapted. This story is not finished.
