In my next “Sightings” column, to be published in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, I take a look at the financial woes of Tower Records and the wider implications of music downloading. One frequently overlooked effect of downloading on the culture of music is the extent to which it discourages in-store browsing, and the serendipitous discoveries that can only be made by wandering at will up and down the aisles of a deep-catalog record store.
Or can they? Is it possible for an online store to replicate the experience of browsing–and if not, does it matter? To find out, pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Journal, where you’ll find my column in the “Pursuits” section.