Albums are dead.

It's hard to know for sure. They started phasing out vinyl 30 years ago and it's still around.

 

I studied how digital works decades ago. I just don't have the energy to try to prove it to someone who has already fallen victim to confirmation bias.

 

Cherry picking is VERY important when embarking on that enterprise. If not, one's pad gets over-stuffed with plastic. If you have the space, you can always fit up a room which looks like a Virgin Megastore but that isn't within the reach of all of us.

 

Are you for real? This is the second time recently I've seen this comment in different threads. What do you consider the 'near future' to be? A year? 3 years? 10 years? I very much doubt that physical media will cease to be produced in the near future.

 

Yeah, it's not like incandescent light bulbs (another forum topic).

I'm not going to "stock up" just for the sake of having to have stuff all around me.

 

Right. I got to a point where I just couldn't be bothered trying to find places around the house to stock all that stuff. When it gets to the point that you start putting CDs/LPs in boxes in the garage/cellar then it's getting ridiculous.

 

I think the CD will be like the 8-track tape cartridge was back in the early 80s: it will be around for those small audiences that still want them, and lovers of musical genres who are very slow to adapt to change and technological advances. In the early 80s, those 8-track tapes were still offered to older country fans. In the near future, CDs will be offered mainly for aging rock & roll fans who may be less concerned about sound quality and the ability to play their music on a smartphone, personal computer, or some other esoteric dedicated D/A converter.

 

If albums don't come out in physical media, I will save a lot of money ....except there will be an enormous second hand market that will last me until I am dead

 

I reckon 10 years. As long as the Beatles catalogue is remixed for cd before then. That should be priority no.1.

 

When high quality CD-R started to disappear, I stocked up on quality brands like Kodak, Mitsui, and Maxell Pro. I still have a couple of piles and spindles sitting here with no need for them. I still use one every once in a while for a 40+ year-old friend who wants some 80s tunes. Otherwise, if it's someone younger than than that, they want music on a USB stick, or they just want to know where they can find it on YouTube. Interestingly, I have not come across anyone who actually collects and plays vinyl records, except on this forum, and in record stores.

Getting back to the thread's topic: why do things always have to be an either/or thing around here? Why can't people collect both albums and singles? I do, and i'm sure many of us do. But, the album-only people yell the loudest for some reason.

Albums aren't going anywhere, and they are still around. If people aren't buying the physical product, they are still streaming them. Not everyone who streams uses random play, or just plays favorite songs. If a popular song is on an album, it will get counted as the album is streamed.

 

CD's are a major improvement over 8-tracks. You have to give them that much.

 

Like I said don't concern yourself over it. It really isn't important. As long as music sounds good and is enjoyable not too many folks want to waste their time buying yet again another music format that can't be proven to sound better.

Currently I'ld like to know how music I recorded 30 years ago on cassette off a 35watt Radio Shack receiver of FM radio pop music can be loud at -12db RMS and not be brickwalled after I digitized the cassette fed from the line level of a Kenwood amp in 2005 to my laptop. It also has a fuller and bigger sound than the current CD versions. It doesn't make any sense.

 

Whatever. It's great when you know that your collection is DONE. Just lay back, savour the music and **** the world.

 

Maybe they'll remix it in mono, just for you.

 

I see these acts and it takes me back to what Panama said about niche markets. The majority of us are not general pop fans. Every SHMF poster that loves psychedelia is gonna know Deerhunter.

Saying "the album is dead" isn't a value judgement about musical quality. It's purely about the numbers. Every time I look at the numbers, it's another reminder of how much of a dinosaur I am.

When everything is niche, I understand so many saying that high chart positions and certified sales don't matter anymore. For those 37 US number one albums, I listed earlier the average 2018 first week AEUs was 255,000. That's barely halfway to gold. And average physical sales were 155,000.

I said earlier that low sales have blurred the line between the mainstream and the underground. Is 250,000 and 1500,000 the threshold between the two? Only 13 of those 37 broke 250,000 AEUs.

Egypt Station didn't hit either of those marks. But it doesn't make sense to think of Paul McCartney as an underground act. Once again, I'm a geezer who's using an obsolete term. (Thanks spin doctor.)

The US market is such a monolith that I always look to the UK for balance. Again, I exclude soundtracks and I found a 2108 first week average of 53,000 AEUs for 15 UK number albums. I got the numbers from the OCC and Music Week (free side). Only seven of those 15 broke 53K.

Blood Red Roses hit number one with 41,000 AEUs. The album only peaked at number 62 over here. How is Rod Stewart not mainstream?

The cognitive dissonance is making me run out of steam. So I'll stop now.

 

That would be a travesty. Like movies being made in black and white like the old days. Or going back to a Nokia 3310 phone after using a smartphone.

 

That technical article and its subsequent discussion is interesting. But I'm not an audiophile.

I got my Bose system and it sounds great to me. I could never justify spending real money on a turntable or speakers; because at a certain point, I wouldn't be able to hear the value.

 

Sounding like a doomsday predictor.

 

Y'all DO know the guy who had the number one album last week (because he sure won't be #1 this week) only had 823 iTunes purchases. No CDs were produced!

But somehow y'all got "823 albums" as the sign that albums are dying and physical media will be obsolete. Uh hello, people of today just chose to stream it and not download it. That's just it. LOL

You can stream today and be gone tomorrow.

 

This is not like when LPs started to sell less and less. And the industry admitted taking LPs out of counting sales was a bad decision anyway.

 

Like I said, I really don't have the energy or motivation. You can read some technical books. You could start with Ken Pohlman's book called "The Principles Of Digital Audio", and Bob Katz' excellent bible on audio mastering called "Mastering: The Art And The Science". The two people I cited are well-known in the Audio industry. I never heard of the MIT dude Tim quoted. Just because some guy has a degree from MIT means nothing in the world of audio. Experience and a solid track record in the recording industry, does, hence people like Bob Katz. Motown legendary engineer Bob Olhsson also posts on this forum. I'd take his word over that MIT guy, too.

 

Exactly! I don't mind paying and sometimes even overpaying for the certain pressing - those are "my favorite toys". But i never did and never will pay for a bunch of disposable computer files.

 

As long as people have CD/DVDs and the necessary software, there will always be CDs. As long as there is someone willing to build or maintain a pressing plant, there will always be vinyl. It will never go away completely.

 

I'll buy a download of a lossless album or track. I have no problem with that. It's the streaming I don't care for.

 

That hasn't happened to me yet.

And I'm not sure how I'll feel if it ever does happen. It's not just music, it's a few other hobbies (or maybe a better term is "distractions") that I have.