The CD is dead...apparently

cubdog

banging through drywall
I was in the big city yesterday, [Rockford IL], and stopped at Best Buy. I hadn't been their or in any similar box store since last year. I was amazed at how few cds were for sale. Couldn't have been more than a quarter of what I remember there was before. On the other hand they had far more lps than they used to. The other thing that struck me as odd was that the carry no Squeezebox products. Just seems weird.

cubdog
 
Yea same here. My local Best Buy had nearly 1/4 the store dedicated to CDs back years ago. Now its about 2 isles. And 1 whole isle is vinyl.
 
The older BB stores have downsized on CD's. The new smaller footprint stores have not. We have both in the Milwaukee area.
 
Gotta realize what’s been happening over the years. People into music were buying vinyl, as really the best media at the time. Interest in music started fading, then the wide dynamics of well recorded CD's sparked it again. Then came Video games, DVD's, internet, ext, all competing for entertainment dollars, with interest in music falling again. Internet music downloads for 13 year olds became the rage again, but sounding like crap. This is the market now, with modern CD’s sounding like crap too. The dwindling CD market may turn into a good thing, with record companies maybe bringing some quality back.
 
Ah, Best Buy. Reacting to an iffy economy, pulling back, and trying to survive on just what's still selling.

Well, my hi-def TV still works, I don't want a cell phone, there isn't much I can do to upgrade what's in my laptop computer, my digital camera still takes nice photos, they apparently are reluctant to stock higher grade audio playback units, they are cutting back on CD selection and token-ly increasing new vinyl presence, the quality of which still draws too much criticism to suit me, and the nearest store, a victim of retail proliferation and increased traffic and traffic control around it has become much less convenient to visit. So, please tell me again why I want to visit Best Buy this weekend...

And then there's H. H. Gregg, not far from Best Buy but easier to drive to, also suffering from a lack of commitment to higher quality audio playback gear, but quite willing to sell me a new washer and dryer, which I presently don't need. This is also the store whose overdressed salesman told me I needed to go to Best Buy for something of higher quality like a Technics 1200.

[-sigh-]

Thank goodness my laptop still works!
 
I don't think the CD will die for a long time. What you see is new patterns of buying.

Why go to a store with limited selection when I can go on-line and choose from tens of thousands of titles (and conveniently preview them), then have the ones I want delivered to my door?

Cheers, Jim
 
Modern Vinyl isnt at all close to what vinyl was, now its just the cd recorded to vinyl, the quality on them is hit or miss and the usually cheaper cd is actually better, oddly enough some "remastered" cd's sound worse than the original cd issues.
 
I don't think the margin on CDs has ever been good. Surely there's more money to be made on the electronics.
 
I still buy all of my music exclusively on CD, but I don't think I've ever bought a CD from Best Buy. I doubt I've even walked through their music section for 10 years. The problem is, stores like Best Buy only carry mainstream music, and people who are into the mainstream hits just download, or stream it. People who collect music are more likely to listen to groups that Best Buy would never carry.
 
With Borders closing and the numbers of CDs at Best Buy dwindling, the pickings are getting pretty slim here in New Mexico?


Steve
 
No, the CD is not going away any time soon. It's just patterns of consumerism you are seeing.
Best Buy in my area does not carry vinyl that I know of. Today's vinyl is all garbage anyway, poorly made. Ironically, that is understandable given the preferred method of listening by most kids and the general public being streaming, MP3 and such, generally not caring about SQ, it's just background noise to people who don't really listen to music like many of us and those like us do.
It's not that the margin on CDs is tiny by any means, it's the old supply and demand. Consumers just aren't interested in CDs as much today. The vinyl surge is a passing fad, the kids will decide that vinyl is uncool again in their world and we will see prices go down and places like BB throwing it out. That will only benefit those of us who love vinyl and enjoy it.

I wouldn't even bother with BB. You can get any CD on line through Amazon and other places and for less. BB doesn't carry things like Squeezebox because to them it's a non-starter. They don't understand most of the products they do have anyway. Now a few stores carry B&W, DT and ML speakers which may be a big mistake for those companies down the road. Granted, B & W is not stocking their true high end lines at BB, but it still could have bad results for them. Not too many people who have done their homework are going to walk into a BB for anything audio with any seriousness. (Although the DT Mythos and MLs BB carries are quite nice in my opinion if not a bit over-priced).

What really perplexed me the last time I was in a BB was seeing a whole musical instrument department. Not too many folks are going to make an impulse buy of that nature. (Could you see: "Hey honey, now that we bought our new TV, let's get a drum set and a guitar")?
Plus there is bigger competition with the likes of Guitar Center, Sam Ash (I call it something else) and the like that will keep folks away from BB for such items.
 
CD will likely become a niche market like the LP and be catering to high end audio consumers with special additions, master recordings and box sets.
 
The largest department in my local BB is probably computers followed by the iphone/ipad/ipod department. mostly what they want to sell is phone contracts.
 
When Slim Devices was bought by Logitech I managed the Americas business and Logitech obviously approached Best Buy about the Squeezebox. They said that they didn't even know what aisle to place the product in at that stage - computer products, MP3 players or audio products. It was always assumed they would take the products in a few years when the market matured . . .

Now I work for an audio store and both brands of surround receivers we carry have network streaming built in and we have Sonos and Sooloos for pure 2-channel folks. I think Logitech have missed the boat with Squeezebox and I say that as someone who has 3 SBs around our apartment. The SB's strength is its 'tweakability' compared to the plug and play of Sonos - unfortunately the customers who value this likely buy online or from 'real hifi' stores but Logitech has no history or interest in dealing with those folks and dealers.
 
I still buy all of my music exclusively on CD, but I don't think I've ever bought a CD from Best Buy. I doubt I've even walked through their music section for 10 years. The problem is, stores like Best Buy only carry mainstream music, and people who are into the mainstream hits just download, or stream it. People who collect music are more likely to listen to groups that Best Buy would never carry.

Well, I did pick up Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain for $6.99 so my visit wasn't wasted.

cubdog
 
Pioneer believes the CD is dead - 4-5 years ago I treated myself to a major car stereo upgrade - I wanted bluetooth, ipod, cd changer, nav, voice control - at the time I bought the best Pioneer (they were the leader in this area and still are) - a new unit - just came out - the shop spent 2 days installing - they put the Pioneer 6 CD changer in the glovebox to replace the factory one I had - they did a great custom job - fits perfectly - then they found (after all their tries to get it to work with the head unit) that the Pioneer head unit doesn't support CD changers -even their own!

The shop didn't charge me for the changer in the end.

So to this very day - I have a spanking brand new Pioneer CD changer in my glove box that is not hooked up to anything.

I think their latest may support it - perhaps some day. Really pissed me off though that they did this
 
Don't forget the thrift stores- I'm grabbing rock and jazz digitally remastered CD's for $1.99 each. Digital remasters originally cost a lot of $$$ and their SQ is amazing. Hit the thrifts and garage sales, and in time you'll have a huge libarary of these amazing sounding CD's. :yes:
 
Don't forget the thrift stores- I'm grabbing rock and jazz digitally remastered CD's for $1.99 each. Digital remasters originally cost a lot of $$$ and their SQ is amazing. Hit the thrifts and garage sales, and in time you'll have a huge libarary of these amazing sounding CD's. :yes:
 
Wal-Fart and Hastings has all but shed themselves of compact discs.
I'm seeing new releases available on vinyl and as downloads, but not available (so far) on CD. It's odd, isn't it?
 
I bough a new truck GMC in 2006 it came with AM FM /CD/Cassette all formats that I was thinking were just about obsolete when i bought it and that was 5 yrs ago .
 
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