Why are CDs so cheap!!!

Back in '99 I sold some of my CD collection for cigarettes and gas money. Of course, some were lost during various breakups. I appreciate being able to pick some of those titles up on CD for cheap at the local Salvation Army. Nothing expensive or rare, just music I am now able to listen to whenever I like.

 

It's just shopping... Everything will be bought and sold again at some point.

 

There are quite a few of us 78s and cylinder nuts still out there and spread worldwide. Hardly a revival, I know, but come to my house and your eyes would be opened up!

 

I'm sure this has already been stated, but CDs are so cheap because no one wants them. Anyone who is going to a streaming or cloud music system doesn't want them. Anyone who prefers vinyl doesn't want them. Basically people are treating CDs exactly like they treated vinyl in the early 90s. The irony is at some point in time, there will be a CD resurgence, just like the vinyl one. If you aren't one of those vinyl purists, and you don't like paying $40 for a brand new record, buy the CD. Better yet, buy the used CDs that everyone is getting rid of. I sometimes pay less than $1 for what would have cost me $25 20 years ago.

And for those arguing about vinyl sounding better, that's fine. I buy both (and tapes too), and it always comes down to what format do I want, and what is the price. The sound is always fantastic.

 

I use Pandora and Amazon Prime Music on my phone to stream. It works in my car, at work, in the garage, or even in my Hi-Fi room through bluetooth.

We live in the future. The methodologies one can use to bring music into their life are like nothing we imagined even when I was a young adult. The world changes as much in five years as it used to change in five generations.

 

This quote from that article is the best argument for vinyl vs cd:

"An additional factor for me is price: when Neil Young, whose albums I have ritualistically purchased on their day of release since 1989, releases a new album on vinyl with a list price of $36.99 and a CD version for a quarter of that, because my primary interest is in Neil Young’s music and not in a specific format."

Also, this one highlights the stupidity of collecting only vinyl:

"Once while working at a record store, I encountered a man in his twenties inquiring about an LP reissue of Hum’s 1995 album You’d Prefer an Astronaut. The album is one of those mostly forgotten 90s releases that has enjoyed an unlikely cult following among millennials and is desirable on vinyl. I pointed out that while the vinyl reissue he sought had already gone out of print, there were no fewer than three CD copies of You’d Prefer An Astronaut – and the band’s equally excellent follow-up, Downward Is Heavenward – in the used bin for about $3. Twentysomething wasn’t interested."

 

Not the ones I'm looking for...

 

VHS was replaced by a superior format (DVDs & Blu-rays), in terms of picture quality and convenience. I suppose one could make the argument that streaming is superior to CDs (it may be to some people), but for sure CDs haven't been replaced by a superior physical product.

Again, using what happened to vinyl as the model: vinyl was perceived to be an inferior format around 1990 or so. If this forum had existed then we'd be able to have written proof that most people considered it inferior (witness all of the people here who gave away their vinyl collections). The same can be said for CD's in 2019. Old format. Passe. Yesteryear. Weird. The fact is that CDs (modern loud mastering aside) sound the best they ever have, which is to say they can sound great. Ten to twenty years from now they will sound just as good and possibly better. Phonograph 78s and wax cylinders, amazing as they were, never did sound great, even at their most popular (imho).

And yes, I think there will be a nostalgic, romantic connection to it. Not because it's a CD, but because it's physical. I can't tell you how many times I've read in these forums people talk wistfully about the act of getting up from the chair, walking to the turntable and dropping the needle on the wax. I did that for years and thought it was a PITA. CDs are different... but they aren't THAT different.

 

For in-store shoppers, even finding ANY version of a CD you may want has become more difficult in the past few years. The used CD racks in many stores have been shrinking as the big CD dump is several years past its peak.

Granted there are still popular artists (e.g. Aerosmith, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan) where you can still find most titles in the used bins.

 

I used to frequent record stores from the 70s through the 90s. Around 2000 or so, I sold my LPs and turntable. I continued to go to record stores buying a LOT of CDs. Since around 2010, I bought almost exclusively online. Once in a blue moon I go to a very well stocked record/CD store nearby. I just do not get the thrill of shopping there anymore. I try to find something on my list or interesting but I get bored before I make it through a few racks. I guess I am not so easily entertained at my age.

 

I love that CDs are cheap - still my go-to format if I'm going to buy something new. Don't understand buying vinyl unless its all analog. Streaming is nice for convenience, but doesn't cut it for dedicated listening, in my opinion. I stream stuff on Spotify to decide whether I want to buy the CD!

 

Brand new CD's are even cheap now, I regularly see new CD's on ebay for 5, 6, 10 bucks and I mean good ones. Used ones are even cheaper, just new I looked and saw a very good condition Exile on Main Street for $4.49, it's a buyers market.

 

It's not too complicated....sometimes the digitally sourced vinyl sounds better than the CD version.

 

I know it doesn't really make sense, but Vinyl is new because they havn't seen it before, while we as a generation used CD's when we were younger

 

I didn't really explain it all, my other posts do a little bit more

 

Same here Chris. Some of the cd singles I've been after the last few years are running close to the three digit mark, or can't even be found to purchase.

 

Which ones wuld that be?

 

I think that the industry itself will tell us the truth; they still don't stop producing cd players, so there must be some demand.
I've been toying with the Naim entry level cd5si recently, it is still in production and it's quite impressive. It's a good sign for us cds collectors.

 

Here's just one example.

 

I left a nice Diament Led Zeppelin in a charity shop because there is next to no market for these discs unless they are rare pressings (already have a golden great disc).

 

I still see collections up for sale from time to time, but my most wanted are hard to find, even ten years ago.

 

I'm trying to fill some holes in my cd collection, but something like the Emerson Lake and Palmer (2 cd) collection is $25.

 

It's simple - what you can get on CD, you can get online. You can't download vinyl, but you can CD. That's it.

 

They're not that cheap when you add $5-6 for standard shipping through Amazon. That's if Amazon even lets you buy the item because it could be an "Add On Item," where you have to spend $25 first.

 

It's certain mastering's or mixes you can't get 'online' or via streaming services that's the allure for many of us, well maybe just me
Good luck finding this one (for a good price)