In defense of the CD-from a cultural view.

This posting doesn t aim to discuss the CD-format from the perpecstive of sound-quality but from a cultural wiewpoint. I have been buying records since the late sixties and the more I learned the more my interest turned to "older" recordings. In the eighties specialty labels like Ace or Rhino started releasing older stuff in a proper way.But in all honesty-it was the CD-medium that made the unfolding of tons of great and historical music a real possibility. Boxed sets like the complete Stax singles, Elvis masters, all kinds of jazz, blues, country, rock and pop -often carefully curated almost flooded the market in the nineties. Over the last decade we have seen mega sets of the most important classical music for sale at bargain prices. I always look for quality both in design, content and mastering. So now I have a musical libary I only could have dreamed of if it had not been for the CD-format.
The cultural importance of keepin all this music alive for generations can t be over-estimated. Truth is-lot s of those sets would have been impossible to release within the older vinyl-format.
Nowadays we have the revival of vinyl, downloads and streaming that makes CD seem an almost obsolete format. That might be true but when discussing or dissing CD I'd like to defend it as a real cultural game-changer. The access to all the great music through the CD-format has certanely
changed my knowledge and preferences/listening-habits. Just as it has for many others.
So -the CD might be a slowly vanishing format but I will always be grateful about all the musical doors the format has opened over the last 30 years.

 

In the 80s the only available ALLMAN Bros LPs in Athens in Greece were their dreaded 80s Lps. Suddenly their Dreams box appeared. The rest is history.

I endorse your points 100%.

 

OP,

Was it a:
"Carefully Created Culture"
or a $$$ grab?!?!

Remember, one of the main reasons for the DVD, was to sell all the VHS titles... again!!!
[at a cheaper production cost no less]

Just ribbing you!
Like your OP.
And yes; CD got lots & lots of artists/companies to dust off their old master tapes. As well as keeping guys like Steve busy!!
A good thing for all!!

On the historical hysteria hunt, will add:
"The Complete Recordings - Robert Johnson"
a BIG seller as one of the 1st CD box sets.
When the industry realized they could sell Thirties recordings of a Blues Man it was on!

Glad vinyl is back as well.

 

Some excellent points made there. And of course you're absolutely right.

Although CD's aren't flying off the shelves like they were twenty years ago, the box set side of the format does still seem to be flourishing.

 

Tower Records those cigar case sized cd boxes ( stop thieves) they were pricey, but addictive.

 

Of course it had to do with money-that diesn t take awayvthe cultural impact releases from labels like Rhino or BearcFamily had.

 

Indeed! When the CD reissue boom got well and truly underway, it was like the proverbial opening of the floodgates: there suddenly was an unprecedented number of back catalogue titles and archival releases available. Even though it is now easy to dismiss CDs as obsolete, they were instrumental in paving the way for the current scene and all the options we have today.

 

CDs aren't, and won't be, obsolete. There will still be CDs in 30 years time. People who say this format or that format is 'obsolete' are being tricked by time and gimmickry - stuck in the moment where the latest technology is sold to them with the concept that everything that came before is now redundant because of it. It's an illusion. The same thing happened with vinyl and it's still around now.
CD will NOT disappear as a format.

 

I agree. Even now the vast majority of new releases are guaranteed to be put out on CD. I don't think they're going anywhere. Even if downloads and streaming are more popular.

 

True-options that we now takes for granted but back in the pre CD-day were nothing but impossible dreams. Easy to forget when we now on occasion nitpick about various releases. For instance I just picked up an 101 cd newly remastered collection of classical music directed by Von Karajan. A veritable treasure and I payed an unbelievable 25 dollars for the whole set. The normal price is around 100 dollars itself cheap enough. What would the price have been -if possible-to pick up a similar item on vinyl?

 

I think the CD hit that cultural sweet spot with consumers. It's physical, durable, portable, focused (up to 80 min of music), flexible (can roll your own), transferable (to digital files), small (like a paperback book), back-up-able, easy to loan or borrow, and "supposed" to sound great (let's not argue that point). That balance is what got me in the audio game many years ago.

Although society has "moved on", it's a great time to be a CD-based audio hobbyist (cheap software and hardware). Also, in our attention-deprived world with instant access to everything, I like how CD playback keeps me focused (at least with music).

 

You pretty much nailed everything I was going to say.

 

I love the sound of the hybrid SACDs that I have discovered since joining this board, and the classic look boxes that I have purchased in the last few years are just magical. I can't remember a better time to be "into" cds.

 

Life improved for me significantly when it was suddenly possible to buy the entire back catalogues of minor acts from the late sixties onwards, all thanks to the CD format.

 

All things considered, the CD is simply the best format there is.

 

I would have been fine to continue with records and tapes (to record the records, not pre-recorded tapes).
But for the general public, cds have been a good thing. They were a little expensive in the beginning ($15? for a cd?...)

 

Hi, my name is Jeff and I'm a CD Based Audio Hobbyist.

 

A batting practice fastball to the "ELL PEE elite". I hope they swing and miss.

I agree 100% by the way.

 

Just yesterday I had a conversation with a 20-something girl at work. First she was chiding me for still actually listening to 'albums' (not to mention using an iPod!) but then she told me a story about buying a CD for her nephew and his not knowing what it was or what he was supposed to do with it. She was surprised that this medium she had grown up with was already completely obsolete. I said welcome to the club. Things change more rapidly than we can even process them but I am grateful for the CD era. It's kind of amazing that we're already feeling nostalgic about it though....

 

That s one of the things CD made possible

 

100% agree with the OP. Like the second poster, from Greece, I do remember the kind of sorry state of affairs in the early 80s. You had to go crate-digging if you wanted to get your hands on any kind of music that wasn't a big seller in the 60s or 70. I mean, of course you could still get hold of reissued Beatles or Led Zeppelin LPs, but once you tried to order an album that wasn't nearly all that successful - no luck, even if it was originally released by a major record label.

The CD as a medium opened the floodgates of previously released music. Yes, maybe for greed and profit in the first place, but I'm certain that right now there's a far bigger chunk of previously released or 'archival' music available than there was ever before. And that's in no small part because of the CD. Recently, I had to remind a younger music lover from my circle of friends that most of what's available on streaming services is there because of the invention of the small silver disc. It may have become the CD's downfall in the end, but for music lovers this a one great advantage.

 

No nostalgia at all. It never went away.

 

I didn't get into Jazz until I was in my mid 20s during the mid 90s CD boom. This allowed me to pick up not just one Ornette album on Atlantic, but ALL of them. I did the same for Mingus, Bill Evans, Coltrane, Brownie, Rolamd Kirk, Duke Ellington, Miles... I know that may take something away from the Album as a listening experience, but it was wonderful for me.

 

My thanks to the OP for starting this thread, but it's a shame CDs even need to be defended whether on a sound or cultural basis. We all know they sound wonderful when coming from good sources and are not futzed with, even if some of us don't care or want to admit it.

 

Looking back in time...it took some effort to find alternate sources of music beyond the mainstream. I had to do things like record off the radio, borrow from friends, search various music stores (not easy living in nowhere), use mail order outlets, etc. Today, things are flipped around. We have access to essentially all music ever recorded at our fingertips. Now the same effort is used to curate music into digestible chunks. Somehow, acquiring those albums I value on CD and having them on a shelf is the end result of that effort.