AMOEBA PRESS
Check out this archive of articles about Amoeba Music!
  1. *
    April 24, 2008
    The Best of Rock 2008 : Best Record Stores
  2. *
    March 1, 2008
    The 64 Greatest Things about LA
  3. *
    February 16, 2008
    Amoeba Records Names Sierra Club's Angeles Chapter As A Charity of Choice for 2007!
  4. *
    December 1, 2007
    Buy, Sell, Trade. Amoeba Remains The Relevant Record Store
  5. *
    October 1, 2007
    Metal Meccas: Los Angeles' Amoeba Music
  6. *
    February 5, 2007
    Eschewing MP3s for a Modern Music Bazaar
  7. *
    January 25, 2007
    In the Classical Aisle
  8. *
    October 24, 2006
    Amoeba Music's Simple Formula
  9. *
    July 27, 2003
    Indie Record Stores Surviving: Finding Unique Ways to Lure, Keep Customers.
  10. *
    July 20, 2003
    From A Store With 300,000 Titles, A Big Lessson
  11. *
    May 16, 2002
    At Indie Music Shop, A Guide Via MP3's
  12. *
    January 10, 2002
    The Roving Eye: You Mean Max Kaminsky In On CD?
  13. *
    November 1, 2001
    Amoeba Music
  14. *
    February 19, 1998
    The World’s Greatest Record Store?
Los Angeles Business Journal
January 10, 2002
The Roving Eye: You Mean Max Kaminsky In On CD?

By Conor Dougherty

Anyone browsing through the aisles of a music store faces the same quandary: Dare I plunk over 20 bucks for selections I might not like?

Amoeba Records, the Bay Area institution recently opened in Hollywood, is rendering moot such concerns. The store offers listeners a chance to sample a portion of its CD inventory for as long as they like (within reason).

"Our idea was to have it be like walking into a friend’s house and perusing their record collection," said Karen Pearson, a co-owner of Amoeba.

About 12,000 titles are available on the listening stations and Amoeba eventually wants to make available up to 200,000 titles.

Listening stations are not new, but Amoeba aims to go beyond the more limited offerings of the competition. The ports have incorporated scanners that allow shoppers to listen to virtually any CD in the store. The selections are stored MP3 files on one of two networks located in-house.

Pearson said the listening stations are updated weekly and require substantial upkeep. They also have seen their share of glitches, from not-so-user-friendly software to design flaws that make it difficult to scan certain CDs into the computer.

The new store is the only one in the three-store chain with the system so far. Pearson said the store’s substantial size, 43,000 square feet, made it easier to incorporate the new idea.