Havana 3am - "The Hardest Game" on Letterman

[Chuck Mangione]

[youtube][/youtube]

[Rat Patrol]

PLONK PLONK, PLONK-PLONK PLONK PLONK. . .

[Silent Majority]

Paul knew how he liked a band to look, didn't he?

[Dr. Medulla]

Paul looked like he was containing a mean piss the way he was bouncing around.

[JennyB]

Remember those old cd boxes? Those were terrible.

[Dr. Medulla]

Remember those old cd boxes? Those were terrible.

Those things sell for stupid amounts now. I have a friend in Rochester who makes regular trips to a record store that is sitting on hundreds of them, unsorted, originally priced. He knows which ones fetch even stupider prices (figure this out: some Dennis DeYoung solo album in a long box is especially prized) and sifts thru then sells them on eBay. Scarcity creates its own market, no matter how fucking stupid.

e.g.: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Staying-Alive-So ... _500wt_922

[JennyB]

Remember those old cd boxes? Those were terrible.

Those things sell for stupid amounts now. I have a friend in Rochester who makes regular trips to a record store that is sitting on hundreds of them, unsorted, originally priced. He knows which ones fetch even stupider prices (figure this out: some Dennis DeYoung solo album in a long box is especially prized) and sifts thru then sells them on eBay. Scarcity creates its own market, no matter how fucking stupid.

e.g.: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Staying-Alive-So ... _500wt_922

Well, dangit, I never should have given them back to the record store to supposedly recycle.

[Dr. Medulla]

Remember those old cd boxes? Those were terrible.

Those things sell for stupid amounts now. I have a friend in Rochester who makes regular trips to a record store that is sitting on hundreds of them, unsorted, originally priced. He knows which ones fetch even stupider prices (figure this out: some Dennis DeYoung solo album in a long box is especially prized) and sifts thru then sells them on eBay. Scarcity creates its own market, no matter how fucking stupid.

e.g.: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Staying-Alive-So ... _500wt_922

Well, dangit, I never should have given them back to the record store to supposedly recycle.

Do you know the reason why longboxes existed in the first place? Record stores didn't want to carry cd's because all their racks were for vinyl. They flat out told the record companies that they wouldn't sell cd's because of the cost to buying new racks. So the compromise was to create this huge hunk of cardboard so that you could still fit a cd in without it sinking all the way to the bottom. A combination of consumer protest and—omigod—cd's were making more money than vinyl (albeit deceptively so—most of it was people buying on cd what they'd already bought on vinyl) eventually sort-of led to acceptance (tho some stores still have longboxesque security boxes). The history of the record industry is a bunch of dumb assholes getting rich in spite of their best efforts not to (hell, even the record companies initially resisted cd's because they didn't want to confuse the public with multiple formats).

[Flex]

Do you know the reason why longboxes existed in the first place? Record stores didn't want to carry cd's because all their racks were for vinyl. They flat out told the record companies that they wouldn't sell cd's because of the cost to buying new racks. So the compromise was to create this huge hunk of cardboard so that you could still fit a cd in without it sinking all the way to the bottom. A combination of consumer protest and—omigod—cd's were making more money than vinyl (albeit deceptively so—most of it was people buying on cd what they'd already bought on vinyl) eventually sort-of led to acceptance (tho some stores still have longboxesque security boxes). The history of the record industry is a bunch of dumb assholes getting rich in spite of their best efforts not to (hell, even the record companies initially resisted cd's because they didn't want to confuse the public with multiple formats).

In some fairness to the record stores, our own store had to buy a new rack recently and its surprisingly expensive. My boss basically had to halve his grocery shopping for a month (and he's frugal to begin with) to be able to pay for it. And that was for one new (well, used) rack. I'm sure the chains could have replaced all their furnishings in one go, but for a lot of indie places it would have been a fiscally insane proposition, even given that back in the day these stores were making a lot more money (racks also cost more then).

[Dr. Medulla]

Do you know the reason why longboxes existed in the first place? Record stores didn't want to carry cd's because all their racks were for vinyl. They flat out told the record companies that they wouldn't sell cd's because of the cost to buying new racks. So the compromise was to create this huge hunk of cardboard so that you could still fit a cd in without it sinking all the way to the bottom. A combination of consumer protest and—omigod—cd's were making more money than vinyl (albeit deceptively so—most of it was people buying on cd what they'd already bought on vinyl) eventually sort-of led to acceptance (tho some stores still have longboxesque security boxes). The history of the record industry is a bunch of dumb assholes getting rich in spite of their best efforts not to (hell, even the record companies initially resisted cd's because they didn't want to confuse the public with multiple formats).

In some fairness to the record stores, our own store had to buy a new rack recently and its surprisingly expensive. My boss basically had to halve his grocery shopping for a month (and he's frugal to begin with) to be able to pay for it. And that was for one new (well, used) rack. I'm sure the chains could have replaced all their furnishings in one go, but for a lot of indie places it would have been a fiscally insane proposition, even given that back in the day these stores were making a lot more money (racks also cost more then).

Granted, it's always more difficult for the mom and pop operation, but I suspect the record industry has rarely taken their concerns into account largely because they'd have less of a lobbying voice. The heard resistance almost certainly would have rested with the chain stores.

[101Walterton]

Remember those old cd boxes? Those were terrible.

Those things sell for stupid amounts now. I have a friend in Rochester who makes regular trips to a record store that is sitting on hundreds of them, unsorted, originally priced. He knows which ones fetch even stupider prices (figure this out: some Dennis DeYoung solo album in a long box is especially prized) and sifts thru then sells them on eBay. Scarcity creates its own market, no matter how fucking stupid.

e.g.: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Staying-Alive-So ... _500wt_922

Well, dangit, I never should have given them back to the record store to supposedly recycle.

Do you know the reason why longboxes existed in the first place? Record stores didn't want to carry cd's because all their racks were for vinyl. They flat out told the record companies that they wouldn't sell cd's because of the cost to buying new racks. So the compromise was to create this huge hunk of cardboard so that you could still fit a cd in without it sinking all the way to the bottom. A combination of consumer protest and—omigod—cd's were making more money than vinyl (albeit deceptively so—most of it was people buying on cd what they'd already bought on vinyl) eventually sort-of led to acceptance (tho some stores still have longboxesque security boxes). The history of the record industry is a bunch of dumb assholes getting rich in spite of their best efforts not to (hell, even the record companies initially resisted cd's because they didn't want to confuse the public with multiple formats).

Id never even seen one of those until I bought a Permanent Record import from the US.

[daredevil]

I tore up hundreds of longboxes. They seemed like a disposable part of the packaging and not worth keeping.

[JennyB]

Remember those old cd boxes? Those were terrible.

Those things sell for stupid amounts now. I have a friend in Rochester who makes regular trips to a record store that is sitting on hundreds of them, unsorted, originally priced. He knows which ones fetch even stupider prices (figure this out: some Dennis DeYoung solo album in a long box is especially prized) and sifts thru then sells them on eBay. Scarcity creates its own market, no matter how fucking stupid.

e.g.: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Staying-Alive-So ... _500wt_922

Well, dangit, I never should have given them back to the record store to supposedly recycle.

Do you know the reason why longboxes existed in the first place? Record stores didn't want to carry cd's because all their racks were for vinyl. They flat out told the record companies that they wouldn't sell cd's because of the cost to buying new racks. So the compromise was to create this huge hunk of cardboard so that you could still fit a cd in without it sinking all the way to the bottom. A combination of consumer protest and—omigod—cd's were making more money than vinyl (albeit deceptively so—most of it was people buying on cd what they'd already bought on vinyl) eventually sort-of led to acceptance (tho some stores still have longboxesque security boxes). The history of the record industry is a bunch of dumb assholes getting rich in spite of their best efforts not to (hell, even the record companies initially resisted cd's because they didn't want to confuse the public with multiple formats).

Yeah, I remember reading that.

[Heston]

They weren't very good, were they?

[Wolter]

They weren't very good, were they?

I honestly find them pretty dull. Not bad, just not very special.