RIP CDs: Mourning the passing of the format (article)*

Interesting local read here. Note: LAtimes has a pay-wall.


Spotify is fine. But let's mourn the passing of CDs

 

'Reports of my death have been widely exaggerated' - the CD.

 

Well before the pitchforks come out, I love my CD's. And actually this year I've probably bought 5x more used CD's than vinyl, which is a major switch for me. Buyer's market so bang-for-buck is at an all-time high.

But this line from the article is not longer correct : "CDs sound better than streaming files". First off, high-res lossy streaming is already very close but lossless streaming IS the same sound quality as CD.

It's a shame that Ameoba is downsizing, but it's due to lack of demand I'm sure. At least they aren't shutting their doors completely.

 

It's too bad about the store. I've found some awesome stuff there, though I've always preferred the San Francisco location for selection and quality. Probably just luck of the draw, though.

 

It's odd to me that the article implies that Amoeba is intentionally downsizing. I don't think that's the case. The property owners have sold the space and Amoeba's lease is up. They're moving because they have to. Even if they're downsizing their CD's to make room for other inventory, there will always be TONS of CDs available at Amoeba Hollywood.

 

Clarification: As discussed in some other threads, Amoeba is downsizing to a smaller format store + ganja dispensary.
This leads me to a brilliant idea. I propose that Bags Unlimited comes up with a 'paper sleeve' that you can actually roll into a joint.

 

Is the article accurate that the floor space is being reduced / being used partially for non-music items (the marijuana dispensary)?

 

I know CDs are a huge part of audiophiles systems, but I'll pass. My TT way outperforms CDs on a $500 CD player. But I am sure if I would invest about $2K in a CD player & D/A converter I would get close if not equal to the TT. Records are enough for me at the moment, but perhaps I will upgrade.

 

Not a fan of them adding a pot dispensary to the record store. I realize that the two hobbies often go together, but I've never liked record-hunting in head shops, and this will be one step further than that.

 

Yes. There's more T-shirts and knick-knack items like coffee mugs in there than I've ever seen before, but honestly I barely notice that there's less CD's. The CD aisles are endless like they've always been.

 

I wouldn't make too much of LA Amoeba's downsizing. Their current store is ENORMOUS, and according to this article, the new location will be 15% smaller, so still quite sizable. And LA Amoeba's CD section is massive, so reducing the size is probably just necessary.

The Berkeley Amoeba - their flagship store - which was already significantly smaller than the Hollywood store, reduced its size this year by probably more than a third to make room for a pot dispensary, and it's still plenty big. The most noticeable hit in inventory was the discount CD selection, which went down from about 4-5 aisles to about 4-5 bins! But other than that, the inventory doesn't appear to have shrunk in any meaningful way. They're just being a lot more selective about the discount CDs they put out.

 

As I mentioned in my post directly above, the Berkeley Amoeba added a pot dispensary to its location, but they made it a completely separate store. They walled that section of the store off, and the pot dispensary has its own separate entrance the next door down the street. Perhaps they will keep the two separate like that at the new Hollwood location.

 

Right. Notably in the LA store, the discount CD selection has INCREASED considerably. It would make sense that they want to move the less desirable titles out as much as possible before they change locations.

 

History repeating itself? Lots of music stores evolved into marijuana accessory stores. In my local mall, the dedicated music store was sandwiched between two anchor stores that sold the same bestsellers cheaper. Eventually the music store turned into a head shop with records scattered about.

 

I ripped all my CDs and I don't have a CD player anymore. A lot of my CDs are available in Tidal so even my files remain largely unplayed. When I have a vinyl version, that's what I listen to. I only listen to a CD ripped FLAC when I want to listen to a CD not available in Tidal. I might still buy CDs and I bought a lot last year, it may still be a good way of buying music, but as a way of playing music CDs are not my choice anymore. Unfortunately, because I kinda like them, they are a big part of my 20's that's now buried in a box.

 

CD's are kinda going through the same thing vinyl was 20-30 years ago. It's not looked at as current by the masses. People who buy the most music are downloading, and, to a lesser degree, vinyl. So cd's sit, and there are some great deals to be had. For those of us that still like physical product, they still offer the same benefit of vinyl that they did originally, ie, size. But people are buying less of them, and there's a ton of them sitting in used bins these days so a store like Amoeba can't keep paying for space that it's not really using. The stores that I trade with now prefer vinyl over cd, unless the cd is rare. But I'm still buying them if the title I want doesn't exist on vinyl(which is often). And these aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Unless somebody makes me a good offer

 

My local can’t give their CD inventory away. It’s been “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” for as long as I can remember. Now, they told me they sell more cassettes than they do CD’s!

 

Love CDs and buy more all the time, both new and used. Still my favorite format for a host of reasons. Nothing wrong with vinyl and lossless downloads either, but I consider CD my main format still.

 

I’ll still take a cd over a cassette anyday

 

I enjoy my cds, most of which I have transferred to hard drives, but I play records most of the time now. Having said that, I’m not selling them for a quarter a piece. I still play them downstairs in my office. But they are secondary.

 

It must be true. I remember reading that vinyl records were dead in 1987 and those reports were entirely accurate.

 

If the following is any indication, sure, CD sales are shadow of what they once were, but the decline is tapering rather than dropping precipitously like it was for LPs back in the late 80s early 90s (and still, that format survived). Not at all worthy of an R.I.P. call or "Passing" suggested by the LA Times.

https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/

 

I would say that these days I'm almost exclusively in CD purchasing mode unless I see a used vinyl LP that I want, I went to Sonic Boom earlier looking for some new releases and saw that Kamasi Washington vinyl was going for $74.99!!! vs $29.99 for the CD, the Lp was putdown in a hurry. The new GHOST LP has been nothing short of a pressing nightmare and so on, I can't justify the cost combined with the other issues inherent to new vinyl releases. I guess that once CD's are truly dead and buried I'll be streaming in High-Res (hopefully).

 

As I always ask with these articles, what will die first - physical music media or the print media? I've bought more CD's this year than newspapers.