Anyone still buy CDs?? Sound quality Q

[Nololob]

I still buy cd's all the time and I can't see me changing ... mind you I said that about vinyl. As a collector though I like the idea of something physically real, something in the hand.

I more like the smell of the paint in a brand-new CD. But I do agree with you - a physical copy is more exciting than mp3.

 

[Sox]

^^ Yeah the whole package, the artwork, the booklet ... kind of like the old gatefold albums it was the whole deal, it was why you bought them IMO.

 

[Riff Raff]

I seriously doubt they will completely scrap discs. That would be stupid, **** having it as only digital, that would only encourage more piracy, why would people buy digital if they know they can just do it for free, sounds like a dumb idea to me to have only digital music.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Oh No They Didn't! - Say Adios to CD's!

Quote:
You read it well. The major labels plan to abandon the CD-format by the end of 2012 (or even earlier) and replace it with download/stream only releases via iTunes and related music services. The only CD-formats that will be left over will be the limited edition ones, which will of course not be available for every artist. The distribution model for these remaining CD releases would be primarily Amazon which is already the biggest CD retailer worldwide anyhow.

3 weeks ago we heard it for the first time and since then we have tried getting some feedback from EMI, Universal and Sony. All declined to comment.

The news doesn't come as a surprise to those who have been working in the business. In a piece that was published in a q&a with the Alfa Matrix people back in June 2011 in the 1st issue of "Matrix Revelations", our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker said the following when asked if a CD would still exist in 5 years: "Yes, but in a different format. Normal CDs will no longer be available because they don't offer enough value, limited editions on the other hand will remain available and in demand for quite a few more years. I for one buy only limited editions because of the added value they offer: a nice design, extra bonus gadgets, etc. The album as we know it now however will be dead within 5 years, if it isn't even sooner. I predict that downloads will have replaced the CD album within the next 2 years. I don't see that as something negative, it just has run its course, let's leave the space to limited editions (including vinyl runs for bigger acts) and downloads instead."

It's a move that makes completely sense. CD's cost money, even when they don't sell because there is stock storage to be paid; a label also pays money to distributors when CDs get returned to the labels when not sold and so on. In short, abandoning the CD-format will make it possible to just focus on the release and the marketing of it and no longer focus on the distribution (since aggregators will do the work as far as dispatching the releases to services worldwide) and - expensive - stock maintenance. In the long run it will most surely mean the end for many music shops worldwide that only stock and sell CD releases. In the UK for instance HMV has problems paying the labels already and more will follow. It makes the distribution of CDs no longer worth it.

Also Amazon will benefit from this as it will surely become the one and only player when it comes to distribution of the remaining CD productions from labels. Packaged next to regular album downloads via its own Amazon MP3 service it will offer a complimentary service.

The next monument to fall? That will be printed magazines as people will want to consume their information online where they also read most of the news.

I don't believe this personally. All I get is a blog with no source links with quotes by anyone official. 2012 is coming right up and this would show up on more than just a blog site IMO. It would be HUGE news. Sorry, I don't buy it.

 

[Riff Raff]

I don't believe this personally. All I get is a blog with no source links with quotes by anyone official. 2012 is coming right up and this would show up on more than just a blog site IMO. It would be HUGE news. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Even if it was true, in my opinion it would just increase the rate of illegal downloads, I mean the choice of buying or stealing digital would be too great a temptation for the consumer to resist. Sure some will buy it but I think no cds would be a greater negative impact on the music industry.

 

[gcczep]

^Yes the article sounds highly speculative and conjecture at best. Meself, I don't trust anything to be downloaded. I'm always dubious about downloads quality wise. I don't delve too much into the specs or if that is even indicative of acceptable resolution.

 

[overkill86]

^^ Yeah the whole package, the artwork, the booklet ... kind of like the old gatefold albums it was the whole deal, it was why you bought them IMO.

I'm right with you man. I've never stopped buying CD's and will never stop. The artwork and the booklet are a big part of it. I'm just passionate about music, and I love going to my local record store and buying used CD's (or rare CD's) that I didn't have a change to get when I was a kid.

 

[Titokinz]

I don't buy NEW Cd's, if I'm at a thrift shop or a garage sale and see some good tunes I'll pick it up. I go into music stores and scoff because some "digital remaster", "25th anniversary", stuff like that is rather expensive.

 

[Lynch]

Ever not find a song you were looking for on Itunes?

Travis Tritt - Homesick


'nuff said

 

[Lynch]

For what it's worth, you'd have to physically GIVE me the cash to purchase songs from iTunes and then I might just pocket the $ and pretend I got it from Apple.

Eff'm. Brilliant marketing by that company though, to have put out an inferior product and sell less than normal quality songs and have people clammoring for what they have and asking for more of it.