CD Shopping

This past week I needed gifts for both Father's Day and Hubby and Dad's birthdays.  Mom suggested a couple of country artist's CDs for Dad and I was thinking of getting the "Crazy Heart" soundtrack for Hubby.  We'd recently watched the movie and thoroughly enjoyed Jeff Bridges singing a few really good country songs.  So shopping I went. 

First stop, Walmart West in the town where I work.  It's a smaller store, but carries a little bit of everything.  Little is the important word here.  Their CD selection was one shelf-section long and all genres of music were mashed together; George Strait with Shontelle, for instance.  I wonder if George knows Shontelle.  (I don't, but she's listed at #17 for the week of July 3, 2010, in the Hot 100 on Billboard.) 

On to my local Walmart.  Surely the larger store would have some Vince Gill CDs.  Wrong.  Their section of CDs was one section longer than the Walmart West, but again, every artist mashed together.  No Vince.  No Statler Brothers.

Irritated and beginning to figure this out, I headed to Best Buy.  Viola!  A large section of music CDs separated by genre and there it was...the Country section!  Oh, this was exciting.  I'd hit the mother lode.  And there was the Vince Gill tab.  And there were Vince Gill CDs.  Two.  Out of all of this award winning country star's CDs they had two.  I looked them over and made my selection based on the fact that one of the CDs included the song Mom had mentioned in particular.  And under the "S" section was the Statler Brothers and a CD that included all, or most all, of their greatest hits.  And for Hubby, I found the "Crazy Heart" CD under "Soundtracks".  (I had actually seen a tab for"Jeff Bridges" at one of the Walmarts.)

At home I began wrapping the CDs for Dad and took one last look at the jackets before putting them in Happy Birthday paper.  Under the price sticker that I oh so carefully removed was a green square instructing the store shelf stocker to "file under Vince Gill".  That made me look at the CD a bit more carefully.  Lo and behold, it's not Vince singing.  It's some other unknown artist and musicians picking and singing Vince Gill hits on a tribute CD to Vince Gill.  Aargghhhh!  I put it to the side.

There are a three points I'd like to make at this time. 

One: (This is what I figured out at my local Walmart.)  The younger generation with their iPods and mp3s are taking over the music market and leaving those of us with CD players in the dust.  This irritates me.  I enjoy putting a CD in the CD player and listening to an entire album.  I also enjoy sliding a CD into my car's CD player and jamming along as I ride to work.  I have an mp3 player, but I don't want to have to carry it with me in the car and the battery life is miserable.  I evidently also have small ear openings and have not been able to find a pair of ear buds that fit comfortably.  I don't have that problem with my CDs. 

Two:  The assumption can be made that the loss of CDs also puts people out of work.  From the jacket designers to the photographers to the jewel case makers to the clerks at Best Buy that suggest you go to their website, where they have a larger selection from which to make my purchase.  I want to shop at a store, not online where I have to pay shipping and handling and then wait a week or more to receive my purchase.

Three:  Put tribute albums by unknown artists in their own section titled "Tribute Albums by Unknown Artists", not in the actual artists section.  That CD was returned for a refund.  When I want Vince Gill, I want Vince Gill.  (I'm guessing that's what Amy Grant said, too.  *sigh*)