On the CD Side of Life

Compact-disc lovers fight the downloadable future at the new Tower Records store

Spencer Patterson

Remember when you actually had to leave your home to pick up the latest album by your favorite band? When you played music on those silver, coaster-sized platters with holes at their center? When you had to buy an entire album to get the one song you really wanted?


Tower Records is banking that not only do plenty of folks recall the compact-disc era, but most still prefer the format to the downloadable alternatives available at the tips of their fingers (not to mention the comfort of their pajamas).


Last weekend, the retail music chain—which closed a store on Maryland Parkway not five years ago and filed for corporate bankruptcy in 2004—opened a new Southern Nevada location along the perimeter of Henderson's Galleria Mall to go with the larger Wow store on West Sahara Avenue.


And judging from steady crowds at the store's grand opening, not everyone is ready to toss their CDs into Lake Mead and embrace the downloading revolution.


"I don't even have a computer," says Gary, a 52-year-old Henderson resident, clutching a stack of Rolling Stones discs. "You can get viruses downloading music. And besides, I like just browsing in a record store."


Obviously, no one has bothered to explain anti-virus software to the man. But Gary's other point is well-taken. Pointing and clicking doesn't quite compare to the physical act of picking through music racks, however attached to your mouse you might be.


Then again, Tower's smattering of pre-loaded listening stations hardly rivals the array of song samples available online, and you don't have to put those germ-ridden headphones anywhere near your ears.


Allen Rodriguez, Tower Records CEO, points out that music downloads accounted for only 2 percent of the 666 million albums sold in the United States last year. Ignoring the demonic significance of that sales figure for the moment, it still doesn't account for millions of songs and albums snatched online sans payment, the trend that really has record labels and music chains sweatin' to the oldies.


That's why a stroll through the new Tower yields not only new releases by Madonna, Kenny Chesney and Guided By Voices, but also a Slash action figure, DVDs of the first four seasons of Good Times and "Learn to Play Drums With Metallica" sheet music. Within the last few months, Tower has even begun selling video games and, ironically, digital music players.


"Probably 58 percent of what we sell is music. It may even be less," Rodriguez says. "We just have a customer base that's very comfortable coming to us, knowing that we'll take good care of them. And if it's a part of pop culture, we're going to offer it here."


Though the Virgin Megastore closed its doors early this year, and longtime Downtown outlet Odyssey Records called it quits in 2004, Greg Marquez, operations manager for the new Tower, sounds confident his store will buck the trend.


"People started rolling into the store, even before we were (officially) open," says Marquez, an eight-year Tower employee who has spent the past 15 months at the Wow store. "Even during construction, people I thought were part of the crew would come in. They thought we were open, and they were trying to do some shopping."


To be sure, Tower offers CD choices not available at the big-box store directly to its rear, Best Buy. Where Tower had more than 70 John Coltrane titles available on Saturday, Best Buy had just eight. And a search for Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti yielded nine albums at Tower, and only a confused look from a clerk at Best Buy.


But the new Tower has limitations of its own. Classical music—once deemed important enough to merit its own room when the chain got started—lines just two short walls. And if you're hoping to find a wealth of selections by indie acts such as the Fall or Low, Big B's and Zia remain the area's best bets.


Still, for compact-disc holdouts, the arrival of a big-name store has to come as good news that their collections won't soon go the way of vinyl LPs or cassette tapes. Especially if CD devotees can begin adapting to the changing musical landscape around them.


"It's still an experience when you come into a store, so I don't download music,'' offers Deanna, 21, of Henderson. "I still listen to my CDs a lot, especially when I drive. But I also have an iPod, and I put songs from the albums I buy on that."

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