ESAN MUSIC SHOPPING (A REVIEW OF FORMATS AVAILABLE IN THAILAND)

If the usual supports for music tends to slowly disapear in Thailand (replaced by youtube and official downloadable songs and abums) Esan music is available in many formats and some of those can seem a bit exotic for the occidental records collectors. Let's have a look at those...

Phimpha Phonsiri on various supports: tape / CD / VCD / mp3 CD...

TAPES: It's been the most common format available in the 80's and 90's (as well as the historical format of the production of modern lam). If the production stopped in the early 2000's (though the most recent tape I have is from 2007) some shops  still have some brand new ones from old stocks. (30 to 60฿ for new tapes).

VINIL: Mostly on the second hand market even though there is a small production of new records (mostly for what is called "indy" but also some over priced re-editions of very common cheap CD's). (400/800฿ for second hand LPs).

CD: Still a common format, it's interesting to see the different kinds of CDs available on the market (a logo on the cover usually tells you what it is):

AUDIO CD: Standard (80/150฿ new).

MP3 CD: Great value and very convenient format (usually made from back catalog recordings) those can contain up to 10 records. (from 50 to 200 ฿).

VCD:  Cheaper than DVDs they can even be extremely cheap (as low as 20 ฿) when they offer old material (such as concerts previously available on VHS). VCDs can contain live performances, video clips and off course the very popular karaoke versions. (from 100 to 200 ฿)

DVD: Not as popular as VCDs.

USB KEY: Pretty new on the market those usually contain compilations or back catalog recordings (lots of vintage stuff). (around 150 to 200฿ for 100 songs).

PORTABLE MP3 PLAYERS: It started with some very cute fancy Chinese religious music players before the music industry got into it. Those can contain up to 1000 songs in the built in memory and it's usually possible to add your own content via a usb or flash card. It's currently used for old classics as well as molam and luk thung. Some record companies have done a great job on the design. This format is widely promoted right now on music T.V channels. (around1000/2000 ฿).

PORTABLE VIDEO TABS: Another new format that seems to mostly target the older karaoke fans.

That's all you can expect to find at most records stores. The next post will feature a format I did not mention here, some really nice music...

some fancy chinese mp3 players