Vice: Does Anyone in the World Still Buy CDs?

I still do and I am running out of space...

 

I doubt a thrift store. Yes, CDs can be dirt cheap, but it's often titles nobody wants.

 

The hybrid SACD was launched at the wrong time. Had it come out in the early 90s, then it could have been a success.

 

could CD's (with a bit of a technological (and perhaps size/portability) enhancement become "cool" again in 10-20 years?

 

I think going with some taller, thinner speakers and giving me a deal on those Harbeths will free up some space!

 

Wow, very impressive.

 

Wow, are those in any order?

 

No way and shipping would cost a bomb

 

Only about 40%. It's very hard work...

 

I became unemployed over 6 months ago & that put a dramatic slow down on my purchases. I ran out of space ages ago.
I have a pile at least that size awaiting for shelf space to magically appear. I'd take a photo but I can barely move in my music room.
Only advantge of being unemployed is the additional listening time available in the day.

 

LOL. I still buy them and I love how many great used CDs are out there now. I will keep buying and filling out my collection just like I did when the crowd was buying CDs and I was loading up on great dirt cheap vinyl records in the late 80's and early 90's. Hopefully I will get my collection near complete before the hipsters come along and "discover" CDs and the price skyrockets. Shhhhhhh....don't tell anyone.

 

Buy every month 5 a 6 cd's The format is not dead yet.

 

It has to be our little secret.

 

I'm rapidly acquiring all the CD's I really wanted back in the 80's and early 90's, which I couldn't afford. I'm also discovering lots of new music due to the cheap prices. I'm getting the best masterings with help from members here and this feels like the GOLDEN AGE of the CD consumer. We have the power!....sorry to sound like He-Man!

 

It’s possible, but the ‘superior sound quality’ banner CDs were sold by in the 80s has been wrecked by bad mastering. Plus, many people view them as I did 78s in my youth...Old fashioned and just not necessary anymore. The packaging could be upgraded or totally redesigned.. People love something pretty on their shelves. However, some lovely box sets to one side, individual CD packaging nowadays is often horribly minimal. No booklet in some cases. No lyrics. Barely any sleevenotes... It’s like buying cassettes in the 70s again.

 

Relieved to know I'm not alone. It's such a hassle to make room for new discs on my shelves that my new ones just end up in piles.

 

Isn't that the ultimate goal of CD/records collecting - to finally be able listen to them when we are unemployed or retire... Good luck, and hope you'll find a good job soon...but until then enjoy listening to your collection. I continue to buy CD's and I rarely have a chance to listen to them (especially with all those wonderful gigantic bargain classical CD mega boxes - I couldn't stop buying those, hoping that I will be able to listen to them if I retire one day, and before losing my hearing abilities...

 

The real problem is that in reality the piles are basically the "still to listen to" piles.

I'd post a photo but I can't work out how to do it.

 

Very true about poor mastering on many CDs but I can remember vividly that the market was flooded by poorly mastered vinyl records by the early 80's. A lot of vinyl fans forget how much garbage was around before the steep decline in vinyl sales. Now there is a nostalgic view of vinyl as always being so wonderful. CDs run the quality spectrum as well. The poorly done CDs will be forgotten and one day they will talk about how how much more "intimate" the CDs were than downloads or streams because they had liner notes and lyrics and were in a pretty jewel case.

 

Sorry to hear that mate. Hope you ll get employment soon. At least you guys have plenty of space down under. Over here, most ordinary folks take 20-30 years to pay for a tiny flat.

 

Only trouble with that is when you retire you’ll have more time to seek out new stuff, so you’ll carry on buying and never ever catch up with playing the old ones.

 

Are you buying new, second hand or a mixture of both?

I still buy new CD's with the occasional used one that i see in charity shops (the vast majority I see in charity shops are junk).

The majority of people on this thread are talking about buying loads of used CD's for next to nothing.

Nothing wrong with that of course, and I would do the same if I could see anything worth picking up, but it's not going to prolong the CD as a viable format going forward unless people keep buying new CD's, and the appetite for that seems to be getting less and less.

 

Thanks for the good wishes re employment, unfortunately it is starting to look more like unplanned retirement.

Yes space isn't really an issue. My house would be regarded as quite large in many countries around the world whereas it's just average in our & surronding suburbs.

 

I buy brand new and/or remastered CDs after research (usually here) can tell me something positive about the mastering... sometimes, I take a chance if there's nothing to be found in regards to the mastering, especially favored artists... I also haunt the used stores for 80s and 90s CDs... I average 5-10 CDs a month...

 

I was buying 10 - 15 CD's per month. Mostly new although I am always on the look for used CD's. The type of music I am chasing seldom turns up in used CD stores & even less likely in charity stores.
Almost everything I see in charity shops is junk in poor condition.

Although the record labels (all 3 of them) continually carry on about the fall in CD sales it is still a sizable industry.

The thing that bemuses me is that the sale price of CD's in Australia still continues to be excessively high.