It's all about the aesthetics.

Cause most people don't know they can steal all their books online. If that ever gets out of the bag Barnes and Noble is screwed.

There's a ton of great music released every year.

On the other hand, not much of it is as great as the music from my personal glorious days of yore. There surely aren't more than 10 artists in my top 100 whose first album came out in the 90s or later. At least 75% released their first album no later than the 70s. And offhand I can only think of one artist who'd be in my top 100 whose first album was released in the 2000s.

But still, there is a ton of great music released every year.

That is an hyperbole, do I detect a hint of sarcasm? I am doubtful I will find a dozen albums a year I will like ... not like, but really like.

Is that music's fault or your own?

Plenty good music out there, you just need to dig a bit sometimes.
We simply have access to so much these days that it is much harder to filter out the garbage.

I work at B&N. We aren't doing well. There have been company wide cutbacks and hours cut. There's a bit of panic going about. However, my store at least has been experimenting with vinyl. We have the largest used book section in the company and we are buying vinyl every day. So, you don't really need a record store near me. You got us. Stupid but at least they're there. It's just the selection is limited. Upstairs you basically have to special order anything worth listening too. We got plenty of Adele vinyl though.

You underestimate the amount of "regulars" that go to B&N every single day. Seriously. They're like half our income and also a sight to behold.

Who the **** goes to Barnes & Noble every day?

I'll give you a brief run down...

• "Stuck in Saigon". A man who looks like Tom Cruise from Born on the Fourth of July who walks around the store for hours with sunglasses on, buys nothing, says nothing, but is harmless.
• Armchairs philosophers including but not limited to Frumpy, Coronel Clink, and Sleepy. They sit upstairs in our big chairs and discuss politics and history.
• Schizo Ron. Ron doesn't let us touch the books he hoards in the corner of the cafe because he's afraid we're going to steal his fingerprints. He can also be seen commonly talking to the invisible man on his shoulder.
• Tom and Charmaigne. Nice older couple that come in every night and sit in the cafe for three hours with their massive following of older single ladies and gay younger social outcasts including Patrick who smokes three packs of cigs a day and sounds like Mac's mom from It's Always Sunny.
• Edward Koch. He comes into the music department a couple times a week and asks us to look up the most obscure and hard to find classical composers that we can NEVER find. He never gets the hint that his taste is too refined for B&N. This usually takes at least a half hour to refine his search to his specific specifications.
• Tim and Kyle. This is actually quite sweet. They come in on Saturdays to buy Sesame Street DVDs. Kyle is about 22 but severely mentally handicapped. His dad is awesome.
• Boop Boop. Another mentally handicapped person with her father but one I want banned from the store. All she does and tear books off the walls and rearrange them while YELLING "boop BEEP BOOP". Her father usually leaves her to her own devices, she destroys the store, then he comes back and is surprised and yells at her and drags her out of the store. This happens about twice a month.
• Phil. He likes to talk to everything he touches in a light soft voice like he's picking out a puppy. "Ohhh look at you. You're a pretty one. How are you? Oh, I can't take you home today. Back to where you come from."

That's a small fragment.

We used to have this guy who would come into the store and get a small coffee, or maybe a pancake platter every once in a while. He would then stand, not sit, in the dining room for HOURS, like three or four, and stare at nothing. None of us found out what his deal was, nor did we care. He creeped both us and the other customers out and we just kinda wanted him gone.