Track hunter: London

It's been a long time since Track hunter: Volume 1 but here's a small guide to finding cheap music in London!

First off, I have to admit that I'm not a vinyl fan. Some people argue that vinyl and FLAC audio are the best ways to listen to music but either my headphones aren't very good or these people have some ridiculous 5.1 systems to listen to stuff with because honestly, I really don't hear a difference. It's probably lucky for me though, since vinyl is often expensive and comes in limited numbers, so it save me trying to hunt down rare and pricy pressings. Additionally, lots of music I like doesn't even get a vinyl release and as I said before, if it does it's usually in tiny numbers. Lastly, there are SO many cool vinyl record stores in London, it's kind of a blessing in disguise that I don't have to walk between them all, emptying my bank account. So this little guide will be helpful if you'd rather have a CD like me and probably isn't so helpful if you want yourself an LP.

My go-to place in London has to be Fopp on Tottenham court road. This place has tons of new CDs for £3 or less. It stocks new stuff too but that goes for closer to what you'd normally pay for a new CD. It's not super-huge but still has enough stuff to make me easily waste an hour or more rummaging around. They sell vinyl, DVDs, blu rays, books, posters, t-shirts...The usual stuff too, a lot of it for dirt cheap considering that it's right there in central London.

Another place you might not have thought to check is CEX. My local CEX used to have a music section but lamentably it's been ousted. CEX just off Oxford Street on Rathbone Place (Next to the post office.) still has one downstairs which always surprises me with £1 gems (I got Ken Ishii's Jelly Tones and Bic Runga's The Beautiful Collision from here - Both things I'd never have expected!) Again CEX is an entertainment place, so you can find cheap pre-owned DVDs, games and blu-rays there too.

London has it's share of Poundland shops and charity shops which are always a good place to look for used and cheap music!

Sadly, that's all for Track hunter: London! There was an AWEOME little place right next to Camden tube station with a rack of £1 CDs but after my last visit a year ago, it seems to have either gone out of business or just happened to be closed when I passed by. (Wishful thinking...)

If you know of any other places for CDs in London though, comment away! I'd love to see what I can turn up!