Going the way of the LP record and the dodo bird, Tower Records is becoming the latest in a line of record stores that are closing down.

It used to be you'd go to a place like Tower or Strawberries or Sam Goody (or name your local record store) to check out the new music, pick up an album (later a CD) and see what the band looked like, etc., but that's all doable now on the Internet (minus the tactile sensions).

Is this progress? Or just lost youth?

Are there lessons to be learned?