CD-Loving Japan Resists Move to Online Music

Yes, because streaming services barely exist in Japan. Most of the major players (Spotify etc) have been unable to reach agreements with Japanese record companies. So digital sales are not down in Japan due to streaming.

Germany is another country where CD sales still constitute a large majority of the market. Even in the USA CD sales still represent over 40% of the total. I don't know what the % is in Australia, but I'd be willing to bet it's still well over 50%. I get the impression that the Japan situation is annoying a lot of people in the industry because they would like to ditch the CD as a format, but they can't when the second largest market (Japan) vastly prefers CDs to downloads.

 

Hallelujah !

 

One might be pleased that this statistic suggests high quality machines that play Compact Discs will likely continue to be manufactured for some time.

 

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean those high quality CD (or SACD) players will be available outside of Japan. Just look at, for example, Denon's domestic CD/SACD player lineup....not available in the USA

 

Not everyone in Japan live in tiny apartments. This may be true in high rent districts in Tokyo but that is certainly not the norm. Outside of metropolitans people live in houses.

 

Great article and nice to know that the physical digital media will not die too early

 

If necessary, I'll buy two apartments. One for me, one for the CDs. Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

However, a lot of them probably will not be made in Japan.

 

This is nothing new, unfortunately. Thanks for the link. Those Denon players look nice. I bet at least some of them sound very nice.

 

He didn't say country. He said market and Europe is pretty much treated as a single market for music distribution purposes. The UK possibly excepted.

 

I like the way you think!

(Be sure to take pictures!).

 

We love ya Japan...

 

It's hassle free just loading up a cd & pressing play.

 

Awwwwww.... my heart bleeds for them.

 

Still, have to imagine European nation states or sub regions are their own markets for the purpose of the original statement. I'm sure South America is also bigger than Japan if taken as a whole.

 

More likely he was dissatisfied with MP3's. Otherwise the hard drive library is perfect for music lovers that love to listen only and not fondle physical media.

 

Absolutly! Why do I have to get aboard some trend if I dont want to. Sometimes I feel we in this country are very behind Europe and East Asia in free thinking and the" individual" as it pertains to their own preferences. America might not have invented Liberty and personel freedom but we ran with it 240 years ago and somehow we managed to drop the ball. Good for those around us who picked up the gauntlet. John M.

 

No, a substantial part of his collection is in flacs. And not that he wants to purge it, but he seemingly needs to pick up physical copies of selected entries to be able to focus on them.

A physical copy creates a special kind of an emotional attachment, which gets established when you decide to look it up, wait for the delivery (if bought online) or bring it hastily home (if acquired over the counter), arrange a place for it on your shelf, pick it up to look at the cover or read liner notes or spin it on your stereo. Some of those steps can be shared and discussed with your friends or forum members. Another advantage is in the limited number of entries you can have, usually restricted by storage space or financial resources, which makes you curate your collection more carefully, occasionally review or trim it.

Indeed, it is all much less convenient than having everything available and sharable with one click, but as with many other aspects of life, the effort can be very rewarding. I would compare it to climbing a mountain and travelling to a remote place, where reaching the final destination is just a part of the fun. I guess that guy has just started to realize it.

 

How do you go from climbing a mountain to owning physical media over hard drive digital? Let's just say that "some" people enjoy this special attatchement to physical media, pretty pictures, whatever. Whereas some people love minimalizing their surroundings and hard drive library is perfect for them. You can still get all the pretty pictures on the screen.
You learn in life that physical possessions become a burden and to reduce those burdens is to free oneself.

 

I like having physical product as well. This is a hobby and I don't mind handling my cds and lps, it is part of the fun. Staring at a computer screen while listening to music is distracting. I was watching my wife peruse one of her ring binders full of cds and popping in cds in our garage system. It was a nice day to sit outside. No computer needed.

 

Then again, it's pretty common in Japan for there to be places where you can rent CD's, so renting one and ripping it would be stupifingly easy.

 

Or better you streamed the music out to the garage, had put it on random play, thus your we're not distracted by the need to get up and pop cd's into a player? It's all relative, isn't it?

 

Esoteric is available here.

 

Streaming means a different configuration, no thanks. I already have a nice system outside, I'm not interested in spending money on streaming. My point was my wife enjoyed flipping through her cds and making selections. Who wants random play when in the mood for a specific title.