Apparently I’m one of the last to notice that CD Spins in Davis Square is closed.  It looks like it’s been that way about two weeks, and even though I’m in the neighborhood almost every day, I just today noticed this scary sign in the window.

It reminds me a bit of the sudden closure of Corners Framing in Cambridgeport.  It’s not just that they went out of business, it’s that they were forcibly put out of business.  That implies a disorderly, unplanned exit from the world of commerce.  Indeed, you can still see some inventory in there.

I don’t know if the whole chain is gone or just this store or what precisely went down, but it certainly looks like another nail in the coffin of the physical media music business.  In fact, I’m having some trouble recalling the last time I bought music on CD for myself, and even more trouble figuring out the last time I was actually in a music store for that purpose.  Tower Records is gone from Harvard Square, HMV too. Mojo and Cheapo are gone from Central.  I guess folks buy CDs online or just download music directly.

Like many, I ripped all my CDs to MP3 some time ago.  Perhaps unlike many I still have the CDs, (but not the jewel cases) not so much for backup (although that’s a good idea, isn’t it?) but because I believe it would be wrong to sell them or give them away when I’m still using the music.  If more people shared my reservation, would the used CD business have dried up sooner, or later?