What a sad world we now live in.......

Did they stop selling dial telephones and Elcassettes as well?

Don't knock dial telephones - at least they work in a power failure when land lines don't and after cells run out of juice.

I still buy CDs to rip to my server and keep them as safe back-ups, but I guess the same thing happens with downloading - unless your digital backup crashes, gets stolen, or corrupted.  All of my buying is new/used online at prices that generally beat any retail source quite handily.

Ironic that while the CD is now on the way out, vinyl LPs seem to be actually increasing share a bit - and they are a 'safe' storage medium. 

With the right equipment, and not necessarily the most expensive, you cannot beat or duplicate analog sound reproduction, ie LP’s. There is just something inherently special and warm about playing a well recorded record. I mostly own and play older original copies of 1950’s and 60’s records, a lot of them bought on both Ebay and local thrift stores. Some of these records were scores and virtually unplayed, while others were a bit of a disappointment . In general, with a proper turntable and cartridge etc I think my records sound better than any download or streaming medium. I probably continue to buy at least a half dozen or more records every month, even though I say no more, enuff etc....lol. I will also buy a cd or 2 or 3 when I see something I dont have. I grab these mostly from yes...my local Walmart! They still have a pretty decent selection for the time being. If I dont find what I need at Walmart, I buy on Amazon or Ebay.  Right now I play my records on a pro-ject the classic sb using a hana el low output mc, playing through a pro-ject tube box ds. A great combo for not an outrageous amount of money. 

@larry5729: What I don't like about streaming is the "verification" problem - particularly of data sourced from analog tape. What generation was used for the data conversion? The master tape, the second copy, the third copy ... ? Analog tape is certainly prone to degradation by making multiple copies! Digital recording, no! I tend to favor recordings from the pre-digital era (before 1978).

It's about how they run their business.  In today's world, much of business is moving online.  So many retailers going out of business.  But, those who embrace an understand the new reality are doing well.  Best Buy, for example almost went the way of the dinosaur.  But, adjustments in their marketing model have helped them come back strong.  

Walmart is a bit of a dinosaur.  They are trying, but don't really get it.  

Also, if you shop online with Walmart, be careful about security.  My credit card was copied and stolen, and I can track it back to only one place because I don't shop with this particular card very often.  It was at Walmart.  The brick and Mortar store.  I will never shop with them online due to this, and the fact that the sellers are not actually Walmart.