When will "Physical Media" Sales Stabilize?

I know I'm old but...

I really enjoy having the physical media in my hands. I love LPs and CDs. I just don't get downloading music, or just only downloading very specific songs off an album, on an ipod, like the exact songs you specifically enjoy. It's the whole album, not just one song. But I guess "the times they are a changing".

Not only does downloaded music sound much worse than CDs...but what fun is that???

It's fun to look at your collection of music. It's fun to look at someone elses collection even more!

Here's my ipod, here's my music. That just seems crazy to me, and not much fun at all. But it's a 'new world order'. Here's my 12,000 songs on my ipod. So what. But it is very usefull in certain situations. Like if you constantly travel. Sure beats carrying all your music and everything with you. That's the only benifit I see.

Play the music, look at the album cover art, read where it was mastered, who mastered it, when it was recorded, read the data, it's all part of the 'experience and fun'. The fun is having the album in your hands. It's your album. It's in your collection. It's part of the total experience. It's a connection. It's you. Look at anyones collection and you can tell exactly where they are coming from. Physical Media is enjoyable.

But that's just me. And the rest of us 60s-70s guys, in general.

There will always be eBay to make new and used purchases. That's where I get 98% of all my music anyway. I rarely have had a problem with LPs and never had a problem with a CD.

If the younger generation doesn't want physical media, it's their thing, no problem. My nephew would much rather listen to music over his ipod with earbuds and go on the computer, multi-task, that hear a real stereo with big box speakers anyway. I really don't think he can sit down very long to just listen and enjoy anyway. It's a different generation with different musical goals. I think they just listen to music as backround noise while multi-tasking and doing something else.

So be it, more physical media for us at a cheaper price!

 

+1.

 

Yep, about 85 watts for a Mac Mini, plus maybe another 10-15 watts per hard drive, then maybe 50 watts for a small-sized monitor. Most people have room lightbulbs that use a lot more power than that, unless you listen to music in the dark.

You want a major power suck, check out your air conditioner, your refrigerator, or your clothes dryer. Each of those is good for well over 800 watts. The biggest is an electric oven: up to 12,000 watts (depending on size). Check out this link to Appliance Typical Power Usage.

The bottom line: criticizing somebody who uses a music or video server because it uses 100 watts is silly and specious, in my opinion. Physical media is dying for a lot of reasons beyond just power consumption or servers.

 

Good post. That's why i am taking up lots of LP's of all the great material that I wasn't able to enjoy when I was younger. And I enjoy reading the info on the album, the artists and what their vision was when they wrote the songs.

I have nothing against those that prefer downloaded songs and their portable players, as I have a portable myself only for road and traveling use. When I am at home I enjoy full quality sound with full-size speakers. Just yesterday afternoon I fired up my RTR and played one of the reels I had with test songs I had recorded onto. Mann was that sound full and dynamic, something you will NEVER hear on an ipod or mp3 player. You can bet that the younger generation never even heard of an RTR, let alone knowing how to operate one.

Anyway, I will stick with having physical media as much as possible.

 

Extremely well-said! I don't know that I have ever agreed more with a post.

 

+1.

For the car (unless I don't have time to update it) my ipod is the way to go in the car.

Is it ideal? No but it's not any better or worse than having cassettes in the car or, worse, having to copy CD-R's for everything and carrying those around. It's much more portable and easier.

 

Sorry but many untruths. Ive heard downloaded stuff that was hard to tell from CD. Its not bad as you are thinking. Its FAR easier to store, and access. There are very valid reasons for having music stored this way, beyond travelling.

Im guessing "old" isnt your problem so much, but lack of wanting to try something "different" than you are used to. Im guessing if you really gave this "newfangled stuff" a try, you would see that a whole huge world of music can be stored and listened to so much easier. You can jump to ANY song in a matter of seconds, with no physical interaction or time wasted.

Ive found storing music this way to "Allow" me more time to simply sit back and listen, instead of rituals involving getting up and down and taking discs out of holders and this and that. It removes all the wasted time and effort and allows one to simply listen


The ULTIMATE 5000 CD Carousel!

 

+1

 

But that's one of the things that makes it all worthwile

 

Just recently picked up a restored Pioneer RT-707 and drug out some old tapes I had in storage. Magic I tell you, nothing like a good RTR

 

High bitrate MP3 / AAC gets a bum rap in these parts, and I don't think they deserve it. Especially AAC's. I honestly find it hard to tell a high-bitrate AAC from a lossless CD. I only rant about lossless because if I'm paying for digital music, I want it in a format that I can transcode without data loss.

As for the "ritual", I have a personal solution for this but it's still in the early stages for me. Scan the liner notes / labels and use a tablet for reading the notes as you listen. It's not unlike the real deal -- and in the case of CD's, might actually improve the experience a bit as the CD art / liner notes can then be magnified (I don't know about you, but CD booklets are getting harder to read with these old eyes of mine).

 

Physical media sales will plateau after the big box retailers drop them (except for a small novelty/new release section) all together. The remaining independent music/video stores allready primarily cater to collectors, not the casual listening public. Therefore, they will remain with only a little more attrition. And people can snicker and act surprised when they see you with a new a cd circa 2017.

 

Ironically, as soon as I'd almost finished ripping my entire collection, my computer crashed. No, I'm not saying I lost all that work, just that it's impossible to access the external drives until I get my computer back. It also is apparent that the place I took it to doesn't particularly want to work on it (it's an old Mac, with the hard drive in the domed base, apparently a bitch to access, and the drives are now hard to find).

The even bigger irony is that, while I am still in my collectors' mode of buying records, I spend less time listening to them than ever before. No turntable upstairs and other interests that keep me away from home most evenings have really limited my listening. Maybe when I set my new entertainment center up this weekend and finally get a turntable upstairs for the first time since last February, I'll be spinning again.

 

YeaH but!

What does all that have to do with only buying real CD's? I'm a huge fan of audio servers, and have even built a customer "high end" version. It's the only way to listen!

Still, I would never buy downloads, when for the same price I could own the CD.

I like to have my cake and eat it too!

Turning down a CD to buy a download is like buying a streak dinner, and having it served on a floppy paper plate.

 

+1

The ONLY negative to CDs in my mind is that they are a petroleum-based product (as is the vinyl format), but since I tend to keep my CDs until I tire of the music - something that usually takes years if not decades - I am not going to worry about their geological origins or the recycling issues.

 

And for people into the hi-res formats, but especially the hi-res multichannel formats, IMO discs will continue to be a viable music carrier, because can you imagine trying to download a six channel 96kHz/24bit full album?! AFAIK hours (or days possibly?) with the typical broadband connection.

 

Which begs the question: Are you more interested in the steak or the plate?

I don't care too much about the plate at all. Not only do I buy downloads instead of CDs, most of the time I don't even do that, choosing instead to stream.

No hope for me, I guess.

 

I very much more prefer LPs. I play LPs 75% to 80% of the time.

I'm not that into CDs (I do have 600, not that many) but do enjoy CDs. Just LPs 'Feel' better for the soul.

LPs 'do it' for me. CDs less so but are fine and ok. Why try anything else? But...if I was still traveling internationally for a living non-stop, an Ipod would of been wonderful, a very wonderful thing! And one of those Ipod speaker gizmos. Sure beats carrying around a stereo and CDs.

Individual songs are nice. I prefer entire albums, in there entirity. Actually, I definately prefer entire albums.

The LP rituals, saving wasted time and effort: I do totally understand your thinking but the rituals for me are fun! I find pleasure in it. Part of the experience and the connection to the music. Especially with LPs. CDs, not so much.

I also prefer componet equipment and big box speakers. But that's just me. "newfangled stuff" really has nothing to do with it. But I don't have, or use, a cel phone eather. Just don't need it. Never even used them when I did need it. Even when I did need it, I didn't need it. And who want's to carry THAT??

I don't mind different things. Just don't need it, or desire it, or want it, at all. But if others like Ipods, etc., that's fine for me. I do understand. It's just not for me at this period of my life.

LPs 'sound' wonderful. Good enough for me.

 

I totally agree.

My music is a connection to. As well as a collection. It's nice having albums, LPs and CDs, of your favorite music. It's nice to see it all in your LP and CD rack. Also it's nice to have very special mastered or pressed recordings of your favorite music, possibly even 'collectors albums' too. I do really enjoy my 'collectors LPs and CDs'. It's nice knowing that they are ' there '.

But it's the music that really counts.

I'm also not a collector of anything, except music LPs and CDs I enjoy. And Sansui equipment, which I use, and Sansui 'accessories'.

 

I'm sorry to disagree with you on this but I'm definately old school when it comes to my music collection. I want something tangeablle for my money. I want liner notes, artwork, the ritual invovled in playing music. I feel more connected this way than simply looking up files and selecting play. I also play entire albums rather than the artist's one hit.

 

One day a multiple-service solution will do this on the computer or TV. Spotify are showing the way with apps.

I had bad lighting in the store, and when playing discs I could (at one time) look up allmusic to see the players, tracks and notes. Of course, store management soon removed that convenience.

More bitching about music stores' decline should include the removal of responsibility from the staff, and removal of tools to actually help customers other than the robotic 'That will be in the zzz section over here'...

 

But it doesn't replace the tangeable.

 

I'm definitely in the digital playback camp, and I own a lot of vinyl. I understand the vinyl ritual well and the large AA and liner notes and the warmth and feeling closer to the music.

But vinyl has its cons as well. IGD and pops/clicks and storage and lack of portability and maintenance/care ie what if you drop that LP by accident or that needle skates across the groove? Ugh.

I've been needle dropping as I want a balance -- the warmth of vinyl (somewhat), and the better SQ especially vs a modern CD. But the drop gives me portability and the lack of maintenance over multiple plays. The one thing missing was AA / liner notes but I could scan those. I actually started doing this and it really feels like the missing piece of the puzzle for me -- I could put the label and liner notes scans on a file server and then, if needed, look them up via a laptop or tablet. It's not quite the same thing, but it's in the zone.

Last year I had a flood and my CD liner notes were in a box on the floor - a good number of them were completely trashed and now I wish I had scanned them earlier.

 

Sorry to hear about your flood loss. That bites.

I have vinyl, CDs and MP3s and I'm actually more after the music then the medium. Sometimes you cannnot get it in the medium of choice. However, that being said, I do prefer the physical to the digital. The sense of involvement cannot be replaced or substituted IHO.

That being said. most new releases on vinyl are usually accompanied with a download coupon..case in point Jack White's latest release. I dowloaded the MP3 so that I have the portability but I also have the vinyl as well. I play the vinyl at home and listen to the Mp3 on my Playbook. Best of both worlds.