I can't tell the last time that I've ever bought a physical music album from a store that sells them. The availability of music online and being able to purchase or flat out download it using some means or ways have more than likely hurt sales that stores use to be able to achieve. Are you someone who doesn't buy albums in stores anymore? Do you just purchase songs you like or do you buy full albums online? Or do you just not buy music at all anymore?
I have not bought music CDs for many years now, however I still make purchases of songs that I really like through iTunes, to support the artist. Music is readily available through streaming sites like Spotify as well, which also give a small cut to the artists. I try to use these channels instead of resorting to piracy channels like torrent websites.
I frequently buy albums because I enjoy looking at the art work of the cover, and the fact that I can just walk over to my CD rack and look at my collection. I am don't like to do a google search for the lyrics of the songs that interest me, but rather put a CD in to my CD player, lie back and read the lyrics inside the CD while I listen to the music.
I actually bought a tangible album as recent as almost a year ago. It was Lady Gaga's ARTPOP. Very good album. I still listen to it sometimes. I just prefer holding an album, as opposed to having a digital album. For single songs, though, I'd go for digital downloads.
The last CD album I ever bought was way back in 2004, and it was a album by the rapper Ludacris - yep, still a fan of the guy, because I like his personality. Haven't bought another tangible album since, because I've shifted to downloading albums instead, which is far easier to use and takes up no space but memory space inside my music playing device's hard-drive. Buying physical albums, are only for people who collect these things as a hobby or business reasons, which I have the time for neither -well, maybe I may try the latter reason in the future, when I have excess amount of money to buy and trade vinyl/tape/cd/8-track albums.
I really don't buy albums much anymore and the only time I'll really shop in a store for music is if I'm visiting somewhere like Seattle or LA and checking out a local music shop. There's often fantastic records that you can find that might not necessarily be online. But for most people, it doesn't make sense to go a physical store when access to music is so easy online with things like Youtube and Spotify.
I haven't bought any album ever since I got married and that was almost 20 years ago. I used to have a collection of tapes (yes I'm old) and also a collection of CDs. Now I only have a collection of MP3s on my computer, mostly music transferred from my CD collection. I learned that the Vinyl is making a comeback and I'm very interested in starting a collection of that soon.
There was a time when I'd buy an entire album if I liked a certain artist's music. Because back in the 2000's they at least put in some effort to make great songs. However as the quality of music deteriorated as the years went by, I started buying singles. I'd buy only the best songs in an album. That way, I'd buy lots of great songs from different singers and save[d] some cash. So to answer the OP's question: the last time I bought an album was back in the year 2005.
The last one I bout was probably nearly a decade ago. I don't remember exactly which album I purchased last but I remember still using CDs about 8 years ago which doesn't seem all too distant to me now but whenever I look at how much has changed it certainly changes my perspective. I don't like buying CDs anymore because it's just not convenient to bring them around and I always tend to misplace or lose them because I'm a bit disorganized.
The last time bought an album online was a few weeks ago. The last time I bought an album in the store was probably earlier this year in February I think. It was the soundtrack to Waiting To Exhale but before then, I can't really tell you. I don't buy albums often in the stores anymore. I buy movie DVDs more than CDs when I am in the store. I bought 2 DVDs this year but overall, I usually get a lot of my media content online. I opt for eBay or Amazon because of the 3rd party sellers offering discounts on these items.
I only buy CDs when in it comes to classical music. Some online version would not cut it. For albums...I have not bought an album since ever. I have never truly liked POP music, though there are exceptions. My parents though have a healthy collection of CDs tucked away in our cabinet back home. However, they now usually just stream music instead of buying.
I'm a huge music fan however I'm a bit ashamed to admit this but i don't really buy albums. I normally just download them online. Well, i did buy an album once, i think the last time was back in 2011/2012 when i bought Ed Sheeran's '+' album which was totally worth it. I don't know what came over me, i guess i just love Ed Sheeran so much that time that i wanted to support him. He wasn't so mainstream back then. I haven't bought another album since.
I don't buy any music at all anymore. There are so many ways to listen to it now, I just don't bother. But mainly because I already own all my favourite music.. I have 100s of discs I bought in the 90s and a small selection from the early 2000s.. but none since. Can't stand most new stuff and if I do find music I like, I can still listen to it whenever I want without buying it.
I have not actually bought a physical album for several years. I used to have a whole stack of albums when records were the popular thing, and then I sold them when things changed over to cassettes, and then to CD's. Now all of those old records are worth money as a collector's item, and I have wished that i still had them to sell for a good price. Now, I have music online, either from iTunes or Amazon music. I also enjoy listening to Spotify and Pandora; so , for me at least, there is not real reason to have an actual album of music.
Usually I don't buy albums because even though I have a list of favorite artists, I'm more of a random song person. I did buy a physical album on the 12th though because it was Nick Jonas. I know he has a lot of popularity with his new music but I still wanted to support him anyway. Plus I thought maybe I'd find some art work in it that I liked. I definitely don't do that for most artists but with a Jonas I make an exception. Yeah I know I'm showing my gender with this one haha.
