Japan Still Embraces CD Media- Resists Digital Music

Interesting article. CDs are alive and well in Japan. They have 89 Tower Records outlets! Man I used to love Tower Records.
The article cites cultural reasons- possibly the attachment with collectible physical media.
Having done business there on several occasions, I would also mention the honesty and conscience of their culture. Example- my colleague left his smart phone / PDA on the train during a commute (several years ago). His personal and business life was on that device and he was very anxious. The next day he went to the ticket counter and his phone was right there waiting for him.
Witnessing how many thousands of people rode those local trains (the station at Hon Atsugi) it seemed like a minor miracle that he recovered the phone.
Maybe digital never took off in Japan because they never adopted the "file sharing" so many American youths did to start the digital revolution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/b...apan-resists-move-to-digital-music-.html?_r=0

 

That is a bit counter intuitive. I would think in a country where space is at a premium physical media would be one of the first things to go. Maybe it has to do with Japan jointly developing CD technology in the first place that there is an attachment.

So Tower Records is on my list of things to do when I go to Japan.

Just read that 2/3 or music sales in Germany are CDs, so Japan is not the only one.

 

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/cd-loving-japan-resists-move-to-online-music.382228/

Covered.

 

I m turning Japanese I really think so!

 

Eh, what? CD is digital music.

The 16/44.1 PCM audio data on a CD is exactly the same as the 16/44.1 PCM audio data in a FLAC file.

 

Me too...I like physical media.

 

Have you seen the hi-fi kit they like out there? Multi-arm Garrards or broadcast EMT turntables, massive vintage tube amps, huge Tannoy horns, blue-face JBLs, Altecs or even Western Electric theatre horns etc. The rule of thumb seems to be that if the kit physically fits through the door and there's enough room left for a chair it's a job well done. I have so much respect for Japanese audiophiles: they have exactly the right attitude IMO!

 

Maybe the space issues are more confined to the bigger cities?

 

I believe SACD is popular over there as well. True?

 

I believe so, along with Blu-Spec Cd's and and those HD discs (K2 and XRCD).

 

That's cool...

 

I haven't lived in Japan in over ten years, but a decade ago, CDs were very expensive, but very popular. There were rental stores all over Japan. These rental stores also sold blank CDs, which were also very expensive. Here is an article about it. One good place to *buy* CDs if you didn't want the latest release was either get old stock from one of the rental shops like Tsutaya, or to go to a "recycle" shop.

http://gakuran.com/cd-rental-in-japan/

As far as file sharing is concerned, Japanese file sharing law is extremely harsh and it is enforced by both law enforcement and ISPs. File sharing is a criminal offense. You can go to jail for ten years for sharing a file and for two years for merely downloading one. It seems that every few years they round up folks and make examples of them, so electronic file sharing is not as popular as it would normally be. Why would copying CDs be OK, but file sharing not be? My guess is that it is because the people who made the blank media could make a good profit off of the system if people copied CDs, and came up with a way that all parties could be satisfied. No one makes money off of file sharing.

 

Check this page out!

http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Vanguard/index/index.htm

 

I like horns too....but not when they are the size of range hoods!

 

Wow, JBL 4350s in those small rooms. Amazing!

 

I guess that explains that then. Copying is relatively small scale private use vs. the massive scale file sharing can become- guessing why the discrepancy.

Holy schmokers them cats be crazy! You can tell who wears the pants in the Japanese society. WAF? I don't think so!

One room looked like it had a personal electric power station in the corner.

 

A lot of very, very smart folks in those countries.

 

Yeah !, I've linked this guy's site a couple of times on the forum as well.
Take the time to click on every little link he provides as they open more and more doors to a veritable onslaught of vintage Hi-Fi.
It's quite staggering !
Each of his six rooms has a link to it, and the separate systems he runs and it just continues from there !!