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

@uberwaltz  Don't you live in the UK? All my friends in England still buy and listen to CDs as their primary source of music. 
Of course sales have dropped drastically, but all the stats being quoted on this thread are for US only.

I get your point and maybe selling CDs in UK retail shops 
is no longer profitable. Sales have dropped worldwide, but in Japan there is a huge CD market.

I count myself as being truly blessed at this stage of life as I can find usually 5 to 6 hours A DAY to listen to my music and usually do.

Now honestly I am not that bothered whether WalMart or Best Buy or Target etc stop selling any type of music period!

From a sense of where I normally go to buy my media.

It just so happened I was in WalMart for another reason entirely when this unfolded.

But as a general downward spiral picture of todays culture and buying mentality it still saddens me, call me an old fart, not going to change my mind on that score.

Unfortunately the internet has made some of this shift towards online everything all too easy and commonplace.

Go watch a movie called "The City of Ember".

Yes I know all doom and gloom , misery guts I am.

Lowrider.

Nope been here in the USA since 2000 my friend.

I escaped the UK!

Actually they are probably as happy about it as I am.... lol. 

But that is a good point as to differing mentalities in different countries, including buying habits and listening habits.

Heck I know one of my old friends back in the UK still watches VHS movies as he had a huge collection of them and bought 3 or 4 top quality decks to keep playing them on.

I do not even see VHS movies for sale on flea markets here any longer!

In Econ 101 you will be told that the great advantage of capitalism is competition , in fact you need only to look around you to see it abhors same .More is owned by fewer and fewer and that will continue as long as the earth lasts .

I do all my CD and LP shopping on EBay.   I usually buy used. Thousands of titles available! Most any music one wants can be found via a smartphone! And often with free shipping! No need to travel to a store and look through a limited stock. This is the 21th Century!