Although Plan 9 Music is closing one of its two stores in Charlottesville, it's a different story for its Carytown location.

The Charlottesville music shop near the college campus had been struggling in recent years, said Jim Bland, who owns the Richmond-based chain.

Nationwide, CDs are being passed over in favor of downloading music online. A University of Virginia technology study released this year found that 77 percent of the student body owns a digital music player, such as an iPod.

Plan 9 will continue to operate its store in Albemarle Square shopping center, and no full-time staffers from the Corner branch will lose their jobs, Bland said.

The Plan 9 store in Carytown is not affected by the closing, said general manager Jay Leavitt.

"The Richmond store is doing fine, actually," Leavitt said. "It's doing really well. We're hanging in there strong."

While acknowledging that CD sales have been flat or in decline since the iPod revolution, Leavitt said the Carytown store sells a diverse selection of products, including used CDs, new and used DVDs, posters, T-shirts and especially used vinyl records.

"You can't download vinyl. Kids have really gotten into it, and new records are being released every day," he said.

Nationwide, CDs still account for the bulk of music sold, but one study says downloaded music will pass CD sales by 2012. A report released in February showed that nearly half of all teenagers bought no compact discs in 2007, accelerating the music industry's transition from CDs to digital downloads.

Apple Inc.'s iTunes music store, which sells only digital downloads, passed Best Buy Co. to become the No. 2 U.S. music seller. Apple now trails only Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which mostly sells CDs.
Information from The Daily Progress in Charlottesville was used in this report.

Times-Dispatch staff writer Dan Neman contributed to this report. Contact him at (804) 649-6408 or at DNeman@timesdispatch.com