Zavvi Rock/Metal vs. HMV Rock/Metal vs. Tower Records Rock/Metal

Motley Crue

Arguably the countries leading stockists of Rock N Metal in a maintream sense its this trio of stores who have been offering most of us our Rock and Metal albums for the past few years.

My question is this though, who has the best section, and not only in terms of price but also in terms of availability (new releases, reissues, back catalogue), staff knowledge, reliability (you know you will find that obscure black metal cd here on the day), choice (e.g. section is stocked with 5 Metallica albums as opposed to just one), location (section is always easy to find in the store) and generally what do rock and metal fans feel?

You can also talk about imports if you like to, who gets them in the fastest, who can find exactly what you are looking for....who knows whats what about the music you like.


This is not a consumer report or some kind of customer knowledge thread, or something consumer wise, its to try and find out what rock and metal fans like or dislike about the companies mentioned above and whether the stocking of their preferred form of music is done to their satisfaction

Doctor J

HMV and Zavvi seem to have the same CDs at roughly the same prices. Tower's selection is by far the best.

Having said that, they're all still wildly more expensive than buying online still. Amazon ftw

Karl Hungus

Aye, I'm in the same boat as Doctor J, I'd buy online mostly.

chin_grin

Sound Cellar.....:D

GhostInTheRuins

HMV and Zavvi usually have a shocking selection, so out of those three Tower is the best.

I tend to buy nearly all of my music online but in some cases sentinel/sound cellar.

Pyr0

I only listen to obscure Black Metal and Death Metal bands, none of this mainstream garbage !

F*ck the man ! :pac:

But seriously, I find Tower Records to be the better of the three in terms of selection and availability and in most cases price.

chin_grin

Ok if I really had to choose. It'd be Tower. Just because it's the only place I've seen a good few Sunn O))) and Weedeater albums!

EDIT: Except for online of course!.....Gawd I'm tired.

ENN0

I work in Zavvi Liffeyvalley and have to say our metal section is muck! Its been reduced to half its size since the stores refit...and when the store closes the staff get to throw on some music while we clean and I can never find anything good from the metal section(big metal head here)!

Doctor J

ENN0 wrote: »

big metal head here

Careful what you say about your employer, you would be easily recognised with that big metal head of yours :pac:

Oral Slang

Never buy metal in any of those stores. Again, buy pretty much everything online or when I'm at gigs & festivals. If I was buying in Dublin though, I'd either use Sound Cellar or Sentinel.

Motley Crue

Doctor J wrote: »

Careful what you say about your employer, you would be easily recognised with that big metal head of yours :pac:

Too true, I ended up in a similar situation myself a few years back, and ended up getting sacked for something I'd written online in innocence that the company felt differently about. Sadly they did not see that there was no malice intended.

Acacia

I remember asking where the metal section was in Zavvi , liffey valley ( when it was Virgin) and was dismayed to find that the 'section' was merely one stand/display with only one album available- Limp Bizkit's newest musical travesty! :pac:

I agree- Tower is the best for selection and price.

lord lucan

online,play or amazon.

come to think of it i can't remember the last time i bought a cd in a store?!!

anti-venom

I rarely use record stores any more. Online is far easier and cheaper. Even buying vinyl usually works out cheaper online despite the postage costs.

Whenever I'm in Dublin I usually head to Sentinel or Sound cellar to pick up something. I much prefer these to any chain stores. It's good to support your indie shops and they're more knowledgeable, helpful and usually better stocked. The world would be a darker place without the indie record stores but they're fast becoming redundant as viable businesses.

GhostInTheRuins

They're called 'shops' lads

mp3guy

I buy online usually, way cheaper. Only thing I'd buy in a store would be an impulse buy since it's on "discount" at €10.

Malice

I'm the same as lord lucan, I have no idea when I bought a CD in a shop. All my purchases have been online for the last few years. All the more so since I discovered the wealth of comparatively obscure music available from areas like Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

PattheMetaller

malice_ wrote: »

I'm the same as lord lucan, I have no idea when I bought a CD in a shop. All my purchases have been online for the last few years. All the more so since I discovered the wealth of comparatively obscure music available from areas like Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Can you recommend websites? I use www.progrock.co.uk

GhostInTheRuins

PattheMetaller wrote: »

Can you recommend websites? I use www.progrock.co.uk

Play.com and ebay are the two I use the most

Patricide

Deffinatly gotta be tower records. Love zavi for books though, lots of sem obscuro rock and metal books/biographies you wouldnt find most places at decent prices.

Malice

PattheMetaller wrote: »

Can you recommend websites? I use www.progrock.co.uk

Sure! For more obscure stuff the best way I've found to go about things is to check the band's MySpace page to see if there's a record company page or an official site that allows you to buy their albums. Sometimes you might have to send a few e-mails to get what you want .

For less obscure stuff I recommend CDON.com which is based in Malmo in Sweden and as a result is an excellent resource if you're into Scandinavian metal. I have also used EMP Online for various things as well. One thing about EMP Online is that they send you a printed catalogue every so often which can be handy for something to read.

Sephiroth_dude

I think that hmv have a better metal section than zavvi,they get in import stuff(although its normally very expensive).

RoosterIllusion

I'm in Cork city. The metal sections are a ****ing joke. Play.com seems to suit me down to the ground.

Patricide

RoosterIllusion wrote: »

I'm in Cork city. The metal sections are a ****ing joke. Play.com seems to suit me down to the ground.

Just be glad you arent down in tralee........

Mushy

RoosterIllusion wrote: »

I'm in Cork city. The metal sections are a ****ing joke. Play.com seems to suit me down to the ground.

Oh, I always moan to some of my friends who work in Zavvi down there. Even though I prefer Tower, I can nearly always find stuff in HMV or Zavvi that I want. My latest experiences of cdWow are awful for now, I don't mind paying the extra few euro to have the cd in my hand rather than waiting like 5/6 weeks for it.

GhostInTheRuins

Mushy wrote: »

Oh, I always moan to some of my friends who work in Zavvi down there. Even though I prefer Tower, I can nearly always find stuff in HMV or Zavvi that I want. My latest experiences of cdWow are awful for now, I don't mind paying the extra few euro to have the cd in my hand rather than waiting like 5/6 weeks for it.

CDwow are a disgrace, I don't go anywhere near them anymore. After waiting about a month for a couple of cds to arrive I had to email them to see what was going on, turns out the cds weren't in stock and they weren't going to be getting them in either, I wouldn't have minded so much if they bothered to tell me.

LD 50

Tower definatly. They have a decent selection, and fairly cheap. But as far as I know there's only the one in Dublin. Zavvi has prob the worst selection, but it's prices have gone down since it changed it's name. And HMV is sorta in the middle, but more expensive.

But then again, it depends on what stores you're talking about.

Motley Crue

LD 50 wrote: »

But as far as I know there's only the one in Dublin.

I've been out of the country for the last 6 months but unless I am mistaken there is one on Wicklow St, off Grafton St, and another on the 2nd floor of Easons on O Connell St....its ok, not as good as Wicklow St, but they are there.

superconor

Meh, I prefer to buy independant.

Max_Damage

Rapidshare have the best selection IMO......

redenemyjoe

I just started as a Christmas temp in Zavvi and dear lord there is nothing more depressing than stocking the 'metal' section.

The only thing warranting accomodation on the aisle is Down, Metallica, Pantera, you get my point.

I had to stock the shelf with Green Day and Coheed and Cambria as well as Gym Class ****ing Heros....****!