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Tower Records [ http://www.tower.com/ ]
For Tower Records, they are not just distributors of music, but are also handling videos and books as well. Therefore they attract additional crowds who are also interested in those kind of fields.
In their website, their layout runs throughout most of the pages and is pretty much consistent with showing the 'latest releases' and 'recommendations'. They have good control in the grid system of the website, and spacing it nicely so that the load of information won't look so cluttered or crowded. It is still easy for users to read and guides the user nicely since they would have a row of images of promos and artist's albums which acts as a 'pause' from the many text that are in the page. They have also good control of typography use, as most of it can be seen related to Tower Records because of the similar fonts that are used.
I like the fact that they put a navigation for the user to easily browse through the categories that are available such as in the Home Page, they give options for user to browse through the genre of Music, Videos, and Books. And when the user goes into the Music Page, at the same area which is at the left side of the screen, user are able to browse through either by Genre or by Formats(cds/Vinyls etc.)
Another good thing about it is that they included 'Top 100 CD Bestsellers' located at a small area of the page at the side. This enables user who are just browsing through to look for cds but arent sure of what to purchase to have a better insight of music choices that other people have chosen. This is one good advantage to deal with people who just go to the website to browse through and find out the latest trends of music.
I also like the fact that they have included a shopping cart for user to easily purchase through online and when they are done they just have to submit the order and it will be delivered to them. It is user-friendly as all the user has to do is click the 'Add To Bag' sign and it will be added to their purchases. If they do not want it, they can delete it before sending in the shipping orders.
Other special features that they have added to make the website interesting for user is that they have included a link to their own blog, where the user can get additional information about things that are related to music, books and videos.This would give user a more insightful and detailed info about things in a more casual way,instead of a more formal information delivered through the main website. They have also included newsletters which users can subscribe to to find out the latest news from them.
What I dont really agree on in the website is the additional information at the bottom part of the Home Page such as the 'Whats new around the Tower Store' and the 'Explore Great Tower Sales & Specials', since it is such a waste of space and sounds kind of repetitive of the information they have given at the upper part of the page.

Home Page

Home Page(bottom)

Music Page

Music Page(Top 100)

Shopping Cart Page