The last CD pressing plant

You are right. I have not been in a record shop with new vinyl in decades because I listen to different music: Classical music of all ages.

I do, too. I just cannot find it on vinyl. (I stopped looking a long time ago.)

 

You could look at my column for what I has moved me but let me make it simple: It's all classical.

 

I find classical is most moving to me in a live format, and that goes for whether I am listening or performing.

 

Probably around the same time they press the last vinyl album . . .

 

Last CD pressing plant? Optimal in Germany.
Last CD to be pressed? Dark Side Of The Moon.

 

Sure but, even here in NYC, that's not always possible. Besides, some might say the same about all music.

 

...coinciding with the exact same moment that the long forgotten 8Tracks have executed and realized their half century plot to attain world dominance!

 

Nothing screams credibility more than this guy lol Aliens gave us cell phones you say? I believe it based solely on your hair.

 

Not too sure about 8-tracks! For what it’s worth, there is even a resurgence of the inherently flawed cassette tape format. Why? Because as bad as they sound, some people want to have an interaction with physical media. compact discs will not stop production in our lifetime. The plants in the United States may close, but there are factories pressing them in other countries. Tens of millions players in existence with some brands still in production. And then there are brands like Oppo and Cambridge Audio making excellent sounding universal machines and there are esoteric brands still manufacturing high-end CD/SACD players too. The end of the CD as a format isn’t going to happen for a long time.

 

In 50 years we'll all look back and have a good belly laugh about pointless format wars when there are no more record stores.

Whether you prefer vinyl or cd, the only reason record stores still exist today is because people bought gobs and gobs of vinyl 40-50 years ago.

Last years top vinyl album sellers were Beatles (oldies), Beatles again (oldies), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (oldies), Ed Sheeran, Amy Winehouse (dead), Prince (oldies), Bob Marley (oldies), Pink Floyd (oldies), La La Land (retro oldies) and Michael Jackson (oldies). I don't have the exact numbers handy but I think Ed Sheeran sold about 50,000 copies on vinyl last year. That's not exactly Frampton Comes Alive numbers, folks. There's no sales numbers today to sustain the used vinyl market long term, and not enough physical product being moved for stores to survive only on new vinyl/cd sales. And a fading audience for rock.

 

So, according to your above list of top vinyl sales, THE ONLY ACTIVE performing artist is Ed Sheeran!
I’d never think of him as the “last saviour” type...

 

That's because no one actually buys music anymore...EXCEPT people who buy older music.

The trend is the same across the board, regardless of format.

 

Although, as the last album showed, there is a finite supply of outtakes worth hearing.

 

So, I guess it’s just a bloated myth that Millenials and/or Hipsters are buying new Vinyls (sic).

 

Pixies - Doolittle. original MPO UK pressing. in my top 20 albums of all time. Gouge Away

 

The last CD to be pressed will be a 3 disc digipack entitled 'Rock's greatest driving tracks'.

 

An extremely bloated one.

The Millenials and hipsters buying 'new vinyls' are only an extremely small portion of music buyers.

The main money I saw while working in the store? Came from older guys with the income that allowed them to buy several titles regardless of price.

The kind of guys who preorder Hendrix SACDs and Beatles box sets containing music they've already purchased several times over...

You know?

 

Japan will press the last Compact Discs. Optimal will be pressing vinyl long after their CD production is shuttered.

 

I hope I’m not around to see this it would be too sad. If it happens I’d like to see a few runs of target cds before they close, maybe some Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac

 

I was joking on my post. I mean, how sure is it that the last CD pressing plant will be Japan? CDs won't die so soon anyway IMO.

 

The Last CD Pressing Plant will the title of Donald Fagen's new album in 15 years when he is 80 something.

Back on topic, my guess is a Japan plant - likely Sony or Victor-JVC, since they have their own local demand from their own labels.

 

The latest in the centrology, started with Valleys of Neptune. Created by the AI J1M1 H3ND41X computer, newly recorded onto the 1980s overdubs of Mitch Mitchell.

 

I can't see CDs getting anywhere near completely dying off in the near future. Obviously sales are nowhere near what they were, but they are still substantial. Most households have something that plays CDs in them and a lot of people still like and buy them. For a long time, almost certainly still now, most households did not have a record player, but vinyl didn't die out.