What are you talking about?

The track listing given is not the same as what plays?

Yeh, none of the tracks correspond with what it says on the back of the CD.

i have quite a few cds that do that. cant remember where i bought them, but its very likely they were from there..

I can't understand how the tracklisting could change for one particular retailer, unless they've got an agent in the CD plant selling off rejected pressings on the side. It's not like they release their own CDs is it?

They're parallel imports from Thailand in Dirt Cheap CDs, no? Maybe a translation issue at the factory?

as far as I know dirt Cheap CD's mainly are pirated.

nonsense. prove that their pirated.

as far as i'm aware, it's simply parallel importing as barman stated, with is a perfectly legal practise.

i thought the bulk of these cd's mainly came from south america though.

Well.. maybe they are cheap because they fucked them up at the pressing plant and couldn't sell them at proper retailers like JB. IE: factory seconds.

rip dirt cheap.

wha happen?

Good riddance to filthy rubbish. I bought John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band there a while back. it ruined the album for me.

One store, or the whole chain????

these stores really changed the value of cds for me.

i have never seen a CD worth buying at one of these stores. what are buying, matchbox 20 or something?

Good riddance to filthy rubbish. I bought John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band there a while back. it ruined the album for me.

How so?

they have alot of reasonably recent stuff.

massive attack/wu tang/run dmc/sonic youth/bjork/nick cave/tribe called quest

plus most of the beatles/rolling stones/david bowie/bob dylan/random old person albums

but since i used to shop there ive pretty much stopped buying all cds that are pressed in large quantities and just downloading the rest. cds pressed in large quantities have no value to me

They definitely have some cool stuff. Bowie, Kraftwerk etc.

you lot are on drugs evidently. How can Cds sold at dirtcheap cds be different from JB cds????

I really don't get it

oh yeah, i forgot about this .. was told that the swanston st store was closing down last week, but yeah, is it just them or the whole chain ?

ANYONE ?

i think its the whole chain

i say this based on me seeing a closing down sale in sydney.

Dunno. I am still curious about the first post.

um looks pretty operational...............

you lot are on drugs evidently. How can Cds sold at dirtcheap cds be different from JB cds????

Parallel importing - a lot of their stock comes from Indonesia, Argentina, China, etc etc etc.

Also, in recent times the store's been anything but ''dirt cheap'' for a big range of titles...

Swanston St store looked pretty open the other day. I've got no issues buying from there. It's just that most of the stuff that I want there, I already have. And generally, the really cheap things there, are about the same price at JB. Generally.

I read the thread title really quickly and thought it said ''Dirt Cheap AIDS.''

That's all I had to say.

moo-core: it may look open, but it'll be closing in the very near future

as told to me by an employee

fair enough. I wonder why. It always looks busy.

I've bought a lot from that Swanston St store, nothing recently though. Three Velvet Undeground CDs, Smiths back catalogue, Bjork, Blur, Elbow... you have to dig around a bit these days to find the good stuff though.

Definitely not what they used to be. You can still get some good back catalogue stuff from there - just bought Arthur Lee/Love ''Forever Changes Concert'' CD from there for a tenner, and they have the Split Enz back catalogue as well which i've been meaning to snap up. But sadly, it seems like they're scaling back operations (i think 4 stores have closed in the last 12 months?) and therefore probably aren't getting the bulk discounts that they used to. Hence the lack of titles. Shame really, they used to have a massive range...

JB had the entire remastered Enz back catalogue for under $10 more than six months ago, while the same discs were $15 at ''Dirt Cheap''...

The few really good finds I had there were mainly eclectic ones - the Lamb best-of with bonus disc (UK import), or the few $10 SACDs I've managed to dig out from amongst the crud. But my distinct impression the last time I was in there was ''just another record store''.

what happened to the swanston st store and does the collins st one still exist?

it closed.

last i heard it was.

hipper in southbanks gone as well, or may have moved?

dirt cheap cd's victorian stores

sad, but why did they close?

rent costs? its a high profile spot. (swanston st that is)

hipper in southbanks gone as well, or may have moved?

Hipper closed at Southbank; probably due to rent, as they've been hiked rather a lot in that centre of late.

swanston st is a shit hole anyway. full of skanks and people shop lifting.

I always remember the guy at the front of the Swanston St store. He was kind of like the security guard but I always thought he owned the shop. He worse glasses and had a moustache I think. He was pretty nice. He commented on me when I bought Syd Barrett cd's.

hahaha... shop lifting in a $10 CD shop.... ''OK... I'll wait when they stock the latest End of Fashion album and go steal it''

High cost of rent is what got most of the victorian stores (as well as a couple of the Sydney ones). Their stock is LEGALLY imported from various countries, as well as locally manufactured via the major labels (ARIA & MIPI are constantly trying to catch them out), and all is above board. The CDs are not over-runs or faulties from manufacturers.

tugboat, you been to dragonfly on elizabeth st? there are quite a few signs in there aimed at shop lifters.

seriously, if you have to hire security for a music store, either move or dont bother.

yep.... so funny.... why people don't go to steal stuff from fucking HMV or JB.... I'll be missing Dirt Cheap CD...

Yeah they used to be good- not as good. I think Dragonfly has maintained itself and they have been since 2003 (possibly even longer).

I went there today..I wanted to buy some Beatles albums but they looked a little dodgy..like fakes. The album covers looked like they were printed off the internet and the Apple logo was more yellow than green. Also some albums had asian writing on the front like Yellow Submarine and Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon.

You mean, they looked like imports? Fancy that.

Why would people steal empty CD cases from Dragonfly? eediots. Funny- reading the sign near the Rap CDs.

there's a shop in southgate in melb (ground floor, near the food court, hippers gone) that has a very dirty cheap cd's style collection, though a few more dvd's then cd's.

had a collection of 20 or 30 ninja/kung fu movies for $5 each

dirty? dirt.

So the last one of these in Sydney closed their doors on Friday.

oh i thought it was just the one shop on pitt st, not the last one

THe one in Bondi is long gone. SMH reported on Friday that they were all gone.

so the parallell importantion provisions now have even less impact/ purpose.

I think digital downloads might have had most impact on them.

But if you mean as in making CDs cheaper locally, no. The sinking AUD might be the bigger determinant there.

the decision to close would have been made well before this little slump

yes, that's what i meant when i blamed digital downloads.

but the AUD has made it hard for anyone to import cheap product for the n ext few years.

oh i agree, but the parrallel importations are pretty redundant more so than ever.

You guys are way off the mark. The ''wholesale'' and Online Store side of Dirt Cheap have relocated from Sydney to Gold Coast apparently. The last store was a bit of a cash earner for the old owner (who also sold Payless to Destra a few years ago). He tired of it, and the shop leased is up for refurbishment/demolition. Ezy DVD have taken over the site short term. So you can still buy from them online.