Cds demise, or not?

Once the author of the article said "the inferior sound of CDs", I stopped reading.

 

Unfortunately that one's missing a certain something the cassette has

 

Didn't come from a German seller by any chance? I remember seeing one listed, but it sold straight away.

 

No, I've had this one for quite a few years, it's the #02, missing the split second intro to Tom

 

Why can't it be both?

 

...and to your point online retailers have a bigger potential inventory and cheaper prices than bricks and mortar. Not a surprise, really. People aren't buying music in general preferring to rent it but It's not like the discs instantly cease to exist.

 

Not seeing your 8-track.....

 

Ah, ok. The one I saw had a patent pending case, so I'd guess it was an "01" inside. Which "01" I could only guess. It was relatively cheap though.

 

Not worth the hassle and expense

 

They said records were dead and I actually think it was dead for a while. I didn't read the article. But I'm betting that it didn't state that CDs are dirt cheap. You can buy 5 CDs for the price of an equivalent new or used LP. As I recall, this is what brought about the revival of records 10 years ago.

 

More accurate to say CD sales and market share are shrinking -- down steadily for 3 years running, and down again around 20% in the first half of 2018 according to the recently released midyear music industry report from Nielsen, with support from retail declining, and CD players disappearing from automobiles (and with optical drives also disappearing from computer hardware, shrinking manufacture of that piece of gear necessary for CD playback).

 

CDs were wonderful, for 99% of the population it was an inexpensive sonic upgrade from vinyl.

But ultimately they are just a collection of limited resolution digital files.

Physical media may still find a way, but I don't see how CDs aren't done.

 

Not

 

Once you old guys die off, so will the CD

 

Not

 

Well, this is it exactly, isn't it? Major retailers are removing them, and they aren't selling the players. Half the people I know can't even play a CD in their home right now.

 

Well, and it's not just that they can't, many don't want to. The explosive growth of streaming -- the convenience of the celestial jukebox, the ability to have one device you already have, a phone, as the center of everything -- has really displaced not just physical media but, even more so, digital downloads. Retailers probably would be perfectly happy to sell them if the demand was sufficient to make the orders advance and space requirements to stock them worth it.

 

Well, yeah, but what about the other half?

 

New releases (especially new re-releases) are being put out all the time on CD. Surely the record companies wouldn't do this if it was going to make them loose money.

Also, people like artwork, liner notes, pictures etc etc. Even a lot of young people feel the same.

Also, remember that FLAC downloads aren't as easy to find than their MP3 or AAC counterpart, but people are able to copy their CDs to FLAC, or whatever other format they desire.

I personally scan all my CD booklets as well using my scanner and then create a PDF booklet for each album. These come out really well, especially on touchscreen devices.

iTunes don't supply enough of these PDF booklets. They're only available to download on very few albums featured on ITunes and Amazon.

 

Hey article, believe it or not most people aren't DJ's. What an incredibly one dimensional article.

 

Okay, so I say to myself 'cute girl' and then I looked at the age and date. We're the exact same age! (I was 14 in 1990) Looks like the kinda chick I would've been nuts about in 1990. But I digress.

You'd simply have to be foolish not to see the demise of compact discs. It's a niche product and has been increasingly for 10+ years. The fact that big box stores have either cleared floor space 100% or are three-fourths of the way to doing so should be an indicator. Whenever I see someone saying "no big deal".. I think of Kevin Bacon in ANIMAL HOUSE ('remain calm, all is well'): face it – it's over (almost). Yes, compact discs will continue to be manufactured – even cassette tapes still get small runs for some indie artists.

I still buy CD's to have a physical item to put on the shelf and look at because that is what I have been doing since about when this picture was taken; old habits die hard. I couldn't tell you the last time I actually played a CD at home though. Flac files rule the day for me and have for years. And even that is a niche hobby. My children (15 , 9 and 9) all stream from Apple Music. My son likes having his turntable but I think that's more about the ritual than anything else.

At the end of the day, whether it's over a victrola, car stereo, transistor, Hi-Fi or streaming... just enjoy the music.

 

I'm sure they'd be happy to sell 8-track tapes again, too!

 

Well, here's the thing, more than half the annual recorded music business revenue in the US comes from streaming, and streaming continues to grow at an enormous pace -- 45 percent in the first half of 2018.

Meanwhile physical album sales were down 14.6 percent in the first half of 2018, continuing a trend; this despite a 19 percent increase in vinyl sales. That's because CD sales are declining substantially.

In the first half of 2018, physical album sales -- CD and vinyl -- accounted together for 15% of record industry revenue. Streaming accounted for 66%.

It's not half that's clinging to physical media, at least in the US. It's far less than that. The perception may be a little skewed on a very rock-centric forum like this one because physical media does better in the rock market (29%) (and also jazz, 34%, as well as among classical fans and buyers of children's music). But CD is a shrinking, trailing edge of the market for recorded music.

And as I said above, opportunities for people to buy and play CDs are shrinking as the format loses retail support and support in vehicles and fewer companies remain in the business of manufacturing optical drives, etc.

15% of the market it still 15% of the market, but its a small and shrinking minority share of where the money is in recorded music today, at least in the US. There are probably other markets where physical media is stronger. But no doubt the business is going to focus where 66% of the market is, and a segment that's growing at 45%, not where 15% of the market is and a segment that's shrinking at a 14% clip.

 

Downloads are shrinking at even a faster pace than CDs. Digital singles were 8% of the US market in the first half of 2018; and digital albums were 10%, down 27.4%, and nearly 22% respectively from the first six months of last year.

It's not physical media, art work, liner notes, or locally stored files that are driving the bulk of consumers, its streaming.