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Belly Up for a Song: Want to make the bar scene but don’t like to drink?

Try the new CD Listening Bar in the Westpark Shopping Center in Irvine. But don’t expect much conversation. At this “bar,” 20 customers at a time are so engrossed in listening to music through headphones that conversation is limited to the mouthing of lyrics.

The new store is an outgrowth of a successful venture in San Juan Capistrano that was started by two former UC Irvine fraternity brothers who decided people might want to listen to new and used compact discs before they purchase them. It is not a particularly new idea. Record stores typically offered listening booths in the 1950s. The CD Listening Bar, however, updated the notion for the ‘90s.

“People want to know what they are buying, and we let them hear it first so they are happy with their purchase,” said President Jeffrey C. Walker.