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The BBC and several national newspapers are reporting that HMV is expected to go into administration as early as Tuesday.

If true, this means that after 6,500 Comet job losses and 2,000 Jessops staff losing their jobs, several thousands look as if they going to follow from HMV.

Very sad for those employees. And also very sad for those consumers who bought gift vouchers just before Xmas from Jessops two weeks before they went kaput. Yet to be seen if the same applies to HMV. However, anyone with an HMV gift voucher would be wise to get a wriggle on and get down there asap.

Sad indeed.

You have to wonder what the "high street" is going to look like in 10 or 20 years time. Will there be such a thing?

Yes indeedy.

HMV has just announced that the news is correct and they will be appointing administrators asap.

4,300 employees could be affected. I find it difficult to believe any company would be interested in buying the chain given HMV have had problems for years and apparently lost ?37million in the last 6 months. I can't see a long queue of people wanting to buy.

Sad to see HMV go but the shops are tired designs and they simply cannot compete with the juggernaut that is Amazon. Add in downloads and all but the most specialized record shops are doomed. In my City HMV are the only alternative to the minute selections of safe musak in Tesco and other supermarkets. They have no interest in pandering to anyone who doesn't watch The X Factor or listen to Radio 1...

Then again we come to Amazons tax status which is another reason a high street chain can't compete against it.

Partly their own fault if it's like what they did in Sheffield and Manchester. 10-15 years ago they resided in decent sized stores but moved to bigger 'megastore' premises with 2 or 3 floors of stuff, right at a time .mp3s were really taking off with the likes of Apple starting the iTunes store.

If they'd downgraded they may have survived.

Feel sorry for the staff, though. Mostly young kids who'll now have to find another job in the current climate. Sad.

They can sell through Amazon, of course.

I realise this is of no comfort to the thousands of workers who'll be signing on in the next week or so.

Thats a damn shame.

Its one of my favourite things about visiting central London. Rifling through the books at Foyles on Charing Cross Road and looking through HMV at Picadilly Circus

You know youve been around for a long time when you see so much change over the years

I'm very surprised this story has been announced in mid-January, the month following-on from their busiest most lucrative month. I did quite a lot of my Christmas shopping in the very HMV store the news cameras have been outside today, the one in London's Oxford Street, and it was so busy in December you could hardly move. It is three floors and each floor is enormous. The queues at the tills were never ending.

There has been a big change in the last few years in the way people listen to music. For many now the iPod, iPhone etc are their only music player so if buying for themselves they choose mp3 downloads rather than CD's.
I suspect most CD's now bought are as gifts hence now Christmas has passed there was a massive drop in actual fresh sales, as against purchases with gift vouchers that generated no new income.

Another factor is CD's / DVD's are different from most products in that is nothing to see / feel instore before choosing which to buy so no benefit from buying instore rather than online at lower prices.

I feel sorry for anyone who has now worthless gift vouchers. Once the 'cat was out the bag' yesterday it was inevitable they would be invalidated today rather then next week before a surge of holders could exchange them over the weekend.