Article About Not Killing off the CD.

Really?? I didn't know anyone who had a record cleaning machine or had a high end turntable.

I don't get this "backing my day we had the best quality and we took care if our records" nonsense. People had crappy turntables 40 years ago too. Look at all the beat up records in all the pawn shops for proof

 

Don't forget that some dealers 'polish' their scratched CDs with professional polishing machines so they sometimes look new when viewed casually.

I usually avoid these when I can because I think heavy polishing actually damages them and they sometimes skip in my CD player.

 

I discovered the hard way some cd's lacquer gets sticky if you get Isopropyl Alcohol on the label side. So Dawn and warm water seem to work pretty good to get finger prints of the label side and patted dry with a microfiber cloth.

 

Some machines will make the surface wavy if over done and diffract the laser making it mistrack. I have a Print Pal store locally and the gentleman I spoke to said the three machines they use cost around 3000.00 each and made in Germany. I've had some thrift store cd's done and tried really hard under a light to make out any swirls left behind and I just don't see any. For two bucks a pop I feel it's a great deal. Consumer models are a buyer beware situation I have seen some of those "repairs" that ruin your disc.

 

It's not laquer. It's polycarbonate with a thin layer of aluminum.

The reason alcohol will destroy the label side is because it has little to no protection like the play side does.

 

Perhaps its because he's listening on a boom box. My Drake CD sounds bleeping great.

 

yes! I neglected to state that...play side only...91% dries fast and works like a charm.

 

True dat. When I was 15-16 - pretty much ALL of us beat the living crap out of our records . It was only when a buddy of mine had me over to his place one day and showed me his older brother's new "stereo". After listening to about 4 albums in a row - it was then that I decided enough was enough and immediately started saving my paper route money etc to buy something like that. Took over a year but I finally did it! My trusty Technics SL-D2, a Pioneer SA-6800 and a pair of Toshiba speakers and I was in heaven!

I also remember like it was yesterday - placing some of the records I had trashed previously onto my new "stereo" and thinking - "What have I done" ?

But yeah - we treated our records like ass.

VP

 

I definitely agree here, but I think that is a great addition to physical product, not a replacement for it. I can't tell you how many folders of digital-only tracks languish on my hard drive. It's simply easier to disregard and/or ignore the ephemeral stuff. At least you have the chance of passing over something that hasn't gotten much love on a shelf and going, "Oh, I haven't heard that in a while. I should give it a spin."

This is kind of an apples-oranges comparison. I think the fair comparison would be, "Which of these formats could withstand the abuse?" Granted, there's not such a thing as a functioning CD player that damages the play surface of a CD to compare to cheap turntables essentially lathing vinyl records, but I can promise you that throwing your records, sans-sleeve, in the back seat of your car and letting them sit back there for an afternoon or two wouldn't leave you with a playable disc. CDs can survive that kind of treatment, albeit there are still limitations to how much abuse they can take.

 

They cover the foil side with a layer of lacquer or varnish to protect the aluminum and seal it. Check out the How It's Made Video.

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=u-tube+how+its+made+cd's&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

 

Runicen wrote the following:

I've gotten around the issue of songs I haven't heard in a while in my digital collection by using the following: (1) Using shuffle, (2) a function called SensMe on my player which automatically groups songs together in channels [such as Lounge, Dance, Mellow, and Upbeat], (3) using the SensMe function in Media Go (my music management program) which will generate random playlists by selecting a song and then generating playlists of related songs based on mood and tempo, (4) tagging my songs as "Music" so I can just listen to music if I choose, and (5) tagging songs that I'm familiar with so I can create playlists of songs I'm not familiar with.

Runicen also wrote the following in the same post:

Properly handled, CD shouldn't even need to be cleaned, while careful handling is a main requirement of vinyl. It's one of the reasons I was glad to see the introduction of the CD.

 

As it is now - this was all high end enthusiast stuff back then.

I had no idea about alignment and no discwasher. I did brush the stylus now and again (usually when it looked fuzzier than my 3-day beard) and look to see if it was chipped - that was about all. Everyone who listened to music pre-CD had to be "into vinyl" - unless it was some sort of tape you liked.

 

A friend of mine gave me about ten vinyl records he had gotten from his dad, random titles his dad had accumulated over the years in various places. When I went to catalog them on my discogs collection, I had to pull them out to get dead wax info, and almost all of them were beat to hell and back. Deep scratches across the grooves, giant tears on the sleeves, all sorts of damage.

So no, I doubt you'll find many glove box vinyl records, but that doesn't mean that vinyl is somehow superior for not being portable. What a bizarre argument.

 

It's the mastering, not the format

 

The market will determine whether a format succeeds. Vinyl is more than alive and well. Problem with CD is it offers nothing that a digital download or stream can't - that's the reason it appears to be fading. A CD is no more than a collection of digital files on a physical media device. Such devices are disappearing from our world - not just in music but in movies and really anything that involves digital files of any sort. Technology moves on.

 

I think both vinyl and CD's are alive and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Handling and playing both formats offers a physical and interactive experience that you can't obtain through streaming or downloading.

 

Although cassettes were common when I started collecting music, I went with vinyl because it offered the best commonly available sound quality despite its disadvantages. To preserve my vinyl records and for convenience I'd make a cassette copy of each vinyl record and with preparation and the good equipment I could get excellent results and enjoy my music without having to deal with the issues of vinyl.

 

CDs offer several things that digital files don't; known mastering information, the ability to own and not rent the item, liner notes and artwork, and a backup if your digital files are ever deleted.

 

Hard drives can be backed up. Mastering info can usually be found for downloads - and may not be obvious on a CD before opening it (which may render it un-returnable unless defective).

The actual digital file - CD or download - is the same. Just like software is the same whether downloaded or on a CD ROM. That's my point. The other stuff is experiential - and the market will determine whether that is something enough people care about.

 

That is purely experiential. The actual music, sound quality and digital file are identical. Just like a software program is identical whether downloaded off the Internet or installed from a CD ROM. That's why IMO the CD will probably have a hard time remaining relevant as anything other than a niche product.

 

The sound quality and digital file can be identical, but realistically, most purchases of downloads are vastly inferior quality. Not that the average listener is as discerning as any of us.

 

You seem to have missed the point of my post completely.

The point I'm making is that their is an interactive process with playing vinyl and a CD. Both are physical objects that can be held and looked at, both have covers, liner notes, production credits, etc.

I just don't understand the argument that playing a CD and reading the booklet is radically different than playing an album and looking at the cover.

I believe that CD's still vastly outsell albums and have for the past 20 or so years. Even with the current vinyl 'revival', and the decline of the CD, it's very questionable whether vinyl sales will ever catch up to CD sales.

Ultimately, both formats may become 'niche' products, but I think both formats will be around for quite some time.

 

I agree both formats will become niche products. Really, I think they pretty much already are. The vast majority of the general public "consume" their music via the internet.

 

This has not been my experience. In many cases a download may offer higher resolution than the CD (HDTracks, Pono etc). Whether that is important to you or meaningful is a whole other discussion. The trusty ol' CD will always be limited to 16/44 but time has marched on - for audiophiles in terms of resolution and for the general public in terms of portability and convenience.

 

There is still plenty of money to be made in CD sales. Though units of downloads outstrip CDs, combined sales of downloads barely matches CDs:

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2014/02/40-years-of-album-sales-data-in-one-handy-chart/

Streaming of course is an x factor but that isn't about music ownership, it is a replacement for radio.