MFSL SACDs at Barnes & Noble

I happened into the Barnes & Noble in Union, New Jersey yesterday and was surprised to see three Miles Davis MFSL SACDs -- Kind of Blue, Sorcerer, and My Funny Valentine: Miles Davis in Concert. Even more surprising is that they weren't all the same price. My Funny Valentine was $22.99, Sorcerer was $31.99, and Kind of Blue was $44.99. On the one hand, Barnes & Noble recognized them as audiophile discs since they were all priced higher than standard CDs, but on the other hand, they adjusted the price by title as they do with standard CDs. Odd.

Have you seen MFSL SACDs at Barnes & Noble stores?

Two other things that were unusual about this store in Union. First, they had a deeper jazz section (CDs) than the typical Barnes & Noble. Second, they did not have dedicated $4.99/$7.99/$9.99 CD sections. These discs were mixed in the genres, and it seemed that there weren't many budget CDs. It seemed as though this store missed the music department reorganization that took place at other stores several years ago. That said, they did have the expanded vinyl selection seen at other stores.

 

Had the same experience at my last visit to B&N... the budget cd section is gone.

In addition, they had no one working in the music section so I had to set off the alarm to go to the front counter to pay for my David Bowie cd.

PS - have not seen MFSL SACD's there yet.

 

The budget CD section is gone? That was the only good section of the store!

 

They are still there but mixed in with the other cds (which I don't like either).

 

It's funny that you mention the alarm. I bought a Johnny Hartman CD set at Barnes & Noble yesterday and found that one of the discs was badly scratched. Knowing that this store only had the copy I bought, I went to a different store today to seek a replacement. No one was working in the music department, so I had to set off the alarm twice to get someone to come over.

The store I went to today also had the budget discs mixed in with the rest of their stock. This store did not have MFSL SACDs.

 

This has been happening more and more often from what I can tell. I am in a Barnes & Noble typically at least once per week and they've mostly stopped having a dedicated cashier for the music section at all times.

I have not yet seen any SACDs but I don't browse the Jazz titles.

Their budget section was the best of its kind since it offered a deeper array of cheap CDs than even Walmart's haphazard bin selection. I'm not sure mixing it in with the regular stock is a great idea.