Future of the CD format

Well that's only if you want to listen to everything once. I also listen without purchasing because the whole point is I'm trying stuff out. Frankly, I used to do that with illegal downloads.

 

Dismissing entire large swaths of music because of sound quality is certainly your prerogative- no one HAS to listen or like anything- but it's a mentality I can't relate to.

 

I think we're saying the same thing here. I use lala to explor but never purchase through lala. If I hear something I like, I then purchase the CD, but not through lala. That's why I think it's a bad model. They're providing me with a service, but not reaping the benefit of my purchase.

 

Most of my friend threw their CDs in the garbage, and use only Spotify these days. At social gatherings they create a Spotify playlist,that you can add you own personal favorites too. I guess its alright, but it can be very frustrating when you only get to hear ten seconds of one song before someone wants to hear something else.
I always get shocked looks when I say that I still buy CDs.

 

That's so rude. When we had dance parties there would be twenty people up dancing and three people insisting they wanted to hear something else. And I thought Scandinavians had better manners than Americans. Silly me.

 

5%? It's probably more like 0.5% or maybe even less than that. The point is, as a business model, downloading is still a glint in the eye of the music industry.

 

No they dont.

 

Agreed!
I download the album and if it´s the usual sonic nightmare, I do not buy it.

 

I think music that's marketed to the mainstream by formerly platinum-level artists gets mastered worse than most. I don't buy too much truly popular pop music, but I took a punt on Springsteen's Magic a couple years ago - I hadn't bought anything of his in a long while. It did sound dreadful. I never really got all the way through it and it's a good example of an album that inflicts sonic fatigue and all that. But I rarely hear other CD's with that level of agressive compression.

 

Hi there

What do you think about cd's ? I am still buying cd's..kind of old fashioned I think..in hifishops is streaming upcoming. Within how many years they dont'make regular cd's and is everything on download for streaming ?

kidn regards

 

We are all aware of the gulf of difference that can apply to various turntables/arms/cartridges employed to listen to a vinyl recording.....Does the same apply to CD players when it comes to deciphering a digital stream?

 

If you think vinyl is anything but a strolling player in the current scheme, then you've probably overestimated the format's importance. Nice to see it back, but it's low level numbers.

CDs will be with us for a while yet. Especially now that the labels know they can offer premium boxset packages for one album, some outtakes, a live set, a booklet and call it an even £85!

Secondhand stores will offer CDs for years and the pickings will be ripe. Much like vinyl.

Yes, steady decline, better streaming services, but with us for a while yet.

 

I don't even consider CD a format anymore. Just a storage medium - and not a very efficient one at that. Once ripped, it's just a folder of files. I don't get rid of the original media, but I sure don't get it out to play.

For that matter, I doubt I'll be buying any more new vinyl if I can get the tracks in high res.

 

I do think the hardest part of downloads is remembering which ones I bought and where. I've finally started tagging rips by the source where necessary.
I have from time to time bought downloaded formats where I owned the CD for whatever reason if I thought the CD was inferior.

I also have to admit that while I am staunchly anti-piracy, I will chase down a download if it's a rip of an lp I own and the download is a labor saving instrument rather than theft. I don't think that those of us who are loyal buyers with thousands of LPs, CDs, DVDs, BD, etc. that download a copy of a beloved LP that is on the shelf are responsible for the demise of the industry.

 

The audio/video cassette must have sold a lot of units over the last 40-50 years..

 

5 years later, the Walmart selection pretty much blows.

 

The CD should have matured by now into the next generation physical, studio resolution, best mastering (or even multi-masters), multi-media, etc. format. Instead, we are left with half-cooked solutions like SACD, DVD Audio, iTunes, Pono, HD Tracks, etc. So music companies will continue to pimp-out their back catalogs to keep the format alive. Personally, I am biased toward CDs since it has been my format for nearly 30 years. I have stopped buying new ones (any of them really) unless they are properly mastered (fat chance). Else, I enjoy my new toys (turntable and vinyl).

 

I have hated the Jewel Box since Day One. Remember the early, competing cardboard fold-out? I liked that much better. But just like cassette boxes, the unforgiving jewel box was one drop away from shattering into a useless piece of junk. I found early on that it was easier and safer to carry 60 lp records than 60 cd's in jewel boxes...with each step, they became more unstable until inevitably, the tower would collapse into a crashing mess of broken, shattered plastic. I hate them. The only use that I have for them is to burn something for my father, or for play in the car. But since the cd player in the car died, I don't even worry about that. Good riddance to a pestilence on the music industry!

 

I love early cd presses for a dollar or two. Plus, I have a perfect hard copy if my computer disappears.

 

You're guess is as good as anyone's. As long as people buy them they will be made. In the UK there was a big deal that vinyl sold more than 1 million discs last year but the 'dead' format of CD's sold 55.7 million, and album downloads under 30 million.

 

Over in Japan - CDs still rule just like they did in the 90's. Until those cats decide to move on - I see the CD being around for a long long while yet.

VP

 

CD's rule in my world, too.
For real listening, they are my preferred format: more physically connected than a playlist, but without the wear of vinyl.

 

I love that nobody wants old, well mastered, great sounding CDs. I buy them and play the hell out of them. To me, vinyl is a format for one thing; songs that were only issued on vinyl.

 

Definitely!