CDs and Vinyl outselling digital downloads

Going back to LPs with digital download keys would be awesome

 

I don’t have any LPs but I’m working on making that my side hobby with my guitar fetish.

 

I come so close buying to albums from 7digital but always end up buying the CD online even if it's used and I won't get it for 6 weeks.

 

I have only one (perhaps 2) question(s) for streamers: In the future when CDs are unavailable and LPs and any other "owned" music are the future equivalent of $100 - $150 each and revered by audiophiles and hipsters, how much can I charge you to stream my content (new and old) to you? How much will you pay, not just for the convenience, but to hear the music with the convenience of streaming? I am thinking - a lot more than you presently pay. When the formats are eliminated here will only be one real market.

 

Here's why I prefer digital today. Last night, I stumbled out of bed to hit the can, tripped and broke my toes on a full crate of records. Records suck!! Lol. True story, however. Ouch.

 

Not to mention a war, a catastrophic electronic "event" or an act of God that somehow wipes clean or otherwise compromises much stored data. Or maybe even some future copyright issue that could contribute to many people "losing"what they thought they "owned."

On a related issue, I don't read e-books, but I know people who do, and I'm told that it's possible for e-books to be edited, have passages or entire chapters excised, or otherwise bowdlerized digitally--after the fact. If they can do that with e-books, why not music?

 

Since you asked, we can't be gouged anymore. That's over. Virtually the entire history of recorded music is available in cyberspace illegally (often of better quality) for free and there are vastly improved ways to conceal one's identity to download whatever one wants. Not that the RIAA could ever round up everyone. Even with streaming, there are BILLIONS of music files still being traded every day around the world.

Moreover, it's ridiculously easy to copy streaming files and convert them to mp3 if the price of the music becomes prohibitive.

When the music business went digital, it let the genie out of the bottle. No way they'll put it back in. The only way to make money is make the music reasonably priced for the consumer and screw the artists on their royalties. Or con people into believing they're getting something significantly better with a $30 vinyl record that still scratch pretty much as easily as the old $5.99 LP unless you take exceedingly good care of them ... which most people don't.

And let's face it, you still can't play a vinyl record in your car.

 

I think you have gone into hyperbole overdrive there. I don't believe for one minute that there are billions of music files being traded every day around the world.

You might be 10 years out of date at least with that statement.

 

For the general public, there's no reason for downloads with streaming. I suspect downloads will be all but dead in several years.

Heck, I listened to a couple people in line at the grocery store wax rhapsodic about how great the sound was from their Alexa devices. I guess if your frame of reference is the tiny speakers on your 1/4-inch thick phone . . .

 

Only if the book in question resides on the cloud (and there would likely be a backlash anyway, if a company did something like this). Keep the files local and, if the tin-foil hat requires it, off the grid, and you should be fine.

Same for music. If we have some catastrophic electronic event like an EMP, I think we'll have a bit more to be worried about than our digital music files.

 

If this happened, all the Vinyl will have melted too.

 

I have grown to love digital downloads. I use to refuse to purchase downloads until they started selling Flac. Now I prefer them. I still buy CDs when a lossless download isn’t available ;however, I still prefer downloading it.

 

My bunker has a generator and a turntable.

While the world burns, I'll be enjoying all-analog.

 

If you've got room for Vinyl, you have room to save others right?

 

I have a lot of records.

If it's any consolation, I'll make it a point to keep them pristine as the human race rebuilds.

 

Same here.

The majority of the new albums I am interested in are available in 24-bit, and I always go for the highest resolution available. I will still occasionally buy a CD if there is no 24-bit version and Amazon or Target has it cheaper than cheapest FLAC download I can find.

Since I don't have physical copies of a lot of albums, I am very careful about backups. My music library is on a mirrored array, and I backup to 2 external drives pretty regularly.

I subscribe to Tidal, but my problem with streaming services is that they usually only offer the most recent masters, and they are missing tons of singles and b-sides. It's very rare for them to have a comprehensive catalog for any artist.

 

If I can't own a physical copy of a particular title, then I refuse to pay for it. Take away our vinyl and CDs and you can bet there will be strife.