Very pleased about the large new Rough Trade emporium, due to open next week near Brick Lane. With 5,000 square feet of floor space, it's a veritable indie megastore. To help you visualise that, our country is 130,365 square miles; multiply that by 27,878,400, the amount of square feet in a square mile; divide that total by 5,000 square feet... it will take up 726,873,523th of the surface area of England. That's a big shop.

The aim, according to Rough Trade stores director Stephen Godfroy, is to "deliver something we feel has been missing in this country for far too long - an environment that celebrates music as an exciting art form, not just a commercial commodity - but on a scale that is a departure from the traditional perception of an independent record shop". I doubt it will recreate the bookish intimacy of the store's original outpost in W11 - but the sheer range of records it will be able to offer is a huge draw, the credentials are impeccable and more importantly, it's nearer my house.

I hardly ever enter record stores any more. I'm either sent CDs in a work capacity, download odd new tunes off blogs or order stuff in from the internet. Downloads have obviously damaged disc sales, but more than that, even for those who prefer to have a tangible CD or LP of music with cover art and liner notes, it's the "long tail" the internet offers - the millions of small-selling niche items places like Amazon can afford to stock or supply - that appeals. Each time I enter HMV and Virgin Megastore, I'm appalled at the homogenity of what they offer: the top 40 and a few shelves of cheapo items from the canon. Happily, the internet appears to be killing off these high-street dinosaurs. However, it might yet allow the specialist shop to thrive: if they can provide atmosphere, a sense of scene and well-curated stock - a Rough Trade album of the week is always worth a listen.

It's a negative attribute that makes the record store, all told. In the age of the Hype Machine and Amazon, it seems highly eccentric to buy a CD before you've heard a note of material. I used to do it all the time, basing my decision on a clever piece of cover art, an evocative review or a dimly remembered recommendation. Now, if something doesn't please you on first stream you don't bother following it up; before, you had madeentered another space to make an investment in a product and if you didn't like it you tried to. I would assume the band knew more than me and had something to teach me; appreciating most of my favourite albums - like Slint's Spiderland, Bowie's Low or Nico's the Marble Index - has involved engaging with them on their terms. I listen to far more music now, but perhaps less attentively. I think the first thing I'll do when the Rough Trade store opens is go in an buy a handful of albums by bands I have never heard of.