Are CDs on the way out?

[guest102]

Not sure why the walmarts, boarders and Best Buys are so radically different in the North and West suburbs of NYC than the rest of the country.

If you pay close attention you will see that all big chain stores may not carry exactly the same merchandise. For example, there is a Wal-Mart 15 miles from my home that carries a brand of salad dressing I like. The nearest Wal-Mart, 8 miles away, doesn't have it. Store managers obviously have the freedom to stock primarily what sells in their immediate area.

What has frustrated me the last few years is how all the FUN stores - music, hi-fi emporiums, racing diecast collectibles, etc. - have disappeared and have been replaced by stores that only sell womens' clothes. Department stores that used to have a variety of consumer electronics products to sell now only handle telephones and wide screen TVs, and they are selling this limited inventory from a smaller sales area because of the encroachment of womens' clothes. I remain amazed that so far Lowe's and Home Depot haven't opened Womens' Clothes departments. :gigglemad

 

[titanstats]

CDs? What are CDs? Oh yeah, those shiny disks that you burn onto your drive in lossless format, now I remember!

 

[marqueemoon]

I bought a piece of gear from a guy yesterday that had a massive hi-res music file collection on a few different external drives - so much that iTunes would often choke trying to open things he said.

Obviously there are ways to overcome this, but this made me think my own conversion to hard disk storage and playback is probably a few years off still.

I'm generally a bottom feeder when it comes to buying CDs anyway. I buy a fair amount of music, but rarely new. If people start dumping their CDs en masse, I will happily swoop them up.

 

[guiller]

In case CDs started to decline in terms of the market sales, the good news is that many people will start selling whatever they have, so it may be a good opportunity to search and hunt.

 

[baretta]

Seems the only place I can find cd's I want are at CD universe on line.

That's where I buy the majority of mine too. But lately even CD universe doesn't have some their albums available on CD. When that happens I go to ebay.

 

[mrt2]

I'm generally a bottom feeder when it comes to buying CDs anyway. I buy a fair amount of music, but rarely new. If people start dumping their CDs en masse, I will happily swoop them up.

It has been happening now for several years. I would guess cds have 5 years left as a mainstream format, maybe another 5 to 15 after that as a legacy format. After that, I suspect all of us will have ripped our collections to lossless, probably have instant access to our entire collection wherever we happen to be.

 

[Elliot Thompson]

In New York City, two major CD shops went out of business. One was Tower Records and, the other was Virgin Records. Both closed based on lack of sales. Of course, one could say Borders, J&R, Barnes & Noble in addition to Best Buy. However, those are not shops that specialise soley in CDs. Those who are heavily into music shop online. I am not talking about someone who buys music once or twice a month. Those who buy music every week are the dominating customers.

Are CDs dead? I would say yes in New York City. Up to date music are more popular in a form of a file than a circular piece of plastic. DJs that still use CD players will use their mp3 files and transfer them to a CDR disc.

Shops that sell non-commercial music are feeling pain of downloads as well. Some either closed shop or started selling downloads online.



Best Regards,

 

[eljr]

In New York City, two major CD shops went out of business. One was Tower Records and, the other was Virgin Records. Both closed based on lack of sales. Of course, one could say Borders, J&R, Barnes & Noble in addition to Best Buy. However, those are not shops that specialise soley in CDs. Those who are heavily into music shop online. I am not talking about someone who buys music once or twice a month. Those who buy music every week are the dominating customers.

s,

Exactly, when Tower closed I had no choice but to shop on line.
And yes I buy several CD's a week not one or two a month.

 

[Old1625]

There are a few CD stores still around here other than the chains such as FYE. I think the transition will be gradual, but I can see the day that motors--as we know them--will no longer be principal in recording and playing back music. Even hard drives may become a thing of the past in a few years. A key-fob-sized thumb drive stuck into a USB port can provide hours of musical entertainment. I see no problem with that--now that my hearing bandwidth is somewhat reduced from once it was.

When CD players first came out onto the market the transport assemblies were well-made. And the players were very costly. Now they seem all to be pretty flimsy, and not expected to last.

As for the entertainment vending business I can tell you that the typical juke box in a tavern these days has no CDs in it a-tall; it is all on a hard drive, and there is a touch screen to make your selection. Anything you request that is not on file in the juke just wait a day and it will download it overnight for the next time you come to play it again. This is a far cry from my Seeburg 46 "ash can" juke box that plays only one side of 20 78RPM records--id est 20 music selections available at a nickel a play.

 

[Dynacophil]

I love CDs. But it seems like less and less albums are available in this format these days. Are CDs real close to becoming obsolete? I don't think MP3s are as good. It seems like this will be first time in history that a superior sound medium will be replace with an inferior one.

CD's - what'is this? :tears:

 

[SBEEZ]

I think that digital recorded music is going to be going entirely online in the not too distant future. Bandwidth is only going to keep improving, and it will only be a matter of time before you'll be able to download an entire lossless format album in a second or two. Illegally traded digital files will likely stay with the MP3, (or similar) as the general populace (though certainly not this crowd) doesn't care about fidelity to a high degree.

That being said, other mediums will survive in niche markets. In the right area (trendy, affluent) a used/new CD store could still do well. Record stores as well, especially online.

What ramifications does this have? The end of albums. People cherry pick digital files out of albums. A few artists have openly said they're no longer going to produce albums, only singles.

Of course, this doesn't work for everyone, but, I believe, this is a fairly small audience. These people are the reason the LP has come back into style. They're tangible. They have great cover art. They actually have some resell value, which I argue digital files really do not. Personally, I feel like my future as a music listener will be deeper into the LP format with a few digital files here and there.

CDs ultimately won't hold up to the LP format, even if CDs are inherently better. They lack the LP's tangibility. You'll be able to get the same files online. There is money to be made in LPs, I believe, for a long time, to niche markets, who want tangible liner notes, actual albums, and a deeper connection to the music.

My 2 cents.

 

[Mr. Lin]

I'm happy as heck to troll the used CD shops.

Ditto, I think those of us who like CDs will benefit from this.

I think it's amusing how everyone is declaring the CD dead, when SACD is not even dead yet. Even DVD-A isn't completely dead yet! Don't believe it? Take a look online, new titles continue to be released in all of these formats.

Declining sales have caused everyone to panic and no longer carry them in stores. The Borders in my town very suddenly eliminated almost the entire CD section last year in one shot, and what's left probably won't be replenished for long. The listening stations are all gone.

So much shopping has to be done online, but there's nowhere even CLOSE to a shortage of CDs, old and new releases, available all over the internet. The compact disc will be reduced to a small niche market in the coming years, probably not too unlike how it is with records right now, but they'll always be there. It seems more than a few in the hi-fi audio industry are banking on this theory as well, since they're still designing new CD players.

Frankly, no amount of convenient features or ease of use will convert me from using CDs and records, especially now that I've heard what a really good CD player is capable of.

 

[Mr. Lin]

CDs ultimately won't hold up to the LP format, even if CDs are inherently better. They lack the LP's tangibility. You'll be able to get the same files online. There is money to be made in LPs, I believe, for a long time, to niche markets, who want tangible liner notes, actual albums, and a deeper connection to the music.

See, I agree with everything you said except this, and it's a common thing for people to say too. Yes, some CDs have poor packaging. But unless you have bad eyes and no glasses/contacts, I don't understand why people can't enjoy the booklets that come with CDs the way they enjoy lps. Believe me, I've been hardcore about lps for a long time, I get it, and overall it's an experience that is more special and intimate that CDs, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of what comes with CDs as well.

This is especially true, IME, if you're a fan of classical. I've been buying a lot of classical CDs lately, and the majority of them come with thick booklets that have pictures and essays. Moreover, regardless of the musical genre, I enjoy the covers of CDs in a way similar to how I enjoy the covers of lps.

 

[drknstrmyknight]

The CD has had a good run, and like AM/PM radios there is a massive installed base.

Most CD's have musical content in the 45 minute range IME.

This doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a set of lossless files from those tracks.

Like some of the new vinyl, they could include a certificate for a one-time download.

The market, being what it is (Ipods, cheap kumputer speakers and Car Stereos) they could probably get away with lossy formats.

Eventually it would be nice to see lossless audio on removable media and downloads, but the record companies are so paranoid that non DRM paid downloads seem somewhat far in the future.

 

[SBEEZ]

To clarify what I said before, I think formats like SACD can surive, as they are a specialty item for a niche market, like the LP. They provide a deeper connection to the music. It won't be too long before standard CDs will be "dead" however. They won't be quite as dead as the cassette though, because their data is 00100101.

 

[SBEEZ]

See, I agree with everything you said except this, and it's a common thing for people to say too. Yes, some CDs have poor packaging. But unless you have bad eyes and no glasses/contacts, I don't understand why people can't enjoy the booklets that come with CDs the way they enjoy lps. Believe me, I've been hardcore about lps for a long time, I get it, and overall it's an experience that is more special and intimate that CDs, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of what comes with CDs as well.

This is especially true, IME, if you're a fan of classical. I've been buying a lot of classical CDs lately, and the majority of them come with thick booklets that have pictures and essays. Moreover, regardless of the musical genre, I enjoy the covers of CDs in a way similar to how I enjoy the covers of lps.

I totally agree. Most CDs though, don't fit that profile. Classical listeners demand a higher quality product, I think. Perhaps CDs will survive well in the market to Classical music listeners. To classic rock listeners, perhaps the LP makes more sense. Too many CDs with no liner notes, nothin'!

 

[dspang]

I love the fact that cd's are on decline. That means everyone ends up selling theirs when they rip them to files. That means cheap cd's for me I like mp3 for convenience. I still listen to cds very often.

 

[superdog]

CDs are still a big part of my agenda.Sounds like the some exodus when everyone was dumping their vinyl.Like dspang said more for me.

 

[Renzor213]

Cd's are definitely dying, by no fault of their own. Most pre mid 90's releases are the finest stuff ever offered. Enter the portable player, compressed, loudness war era and most of this is no longer listenable on decent equipment. Most modern CD releases sound like some kid playing with low level MP3's in his basement. Small as the CD's 750MB storage seem's today, doubt most modern releases use a fraction of it. I really like a lot of the new music, but my wallet is packed away.

 

[Mr. Lin]

I totally agree. Most CDs though, don't fit that profile. Classical listeners demand a higher quality product, I think.

You're on to something there. I've noticed even some new classical CDs still list the recording/mastering method - DDD, ADD, etc. And for the most part, the sound quality is decent to quite good.

Perhaps CDs will survive well in the market to Classical music listeners. To classic rock listeners, perhaps the LP makes more sense. Too many CDs with no liner notes, nothin'!

This is already happening, with jazz too. My favorite CD format, XRCD, is something you'll only find available in the classical and jazz genres, by and large. How many people these days would pay $30 for a CD? Now if you add the selling point - much better sound quality than standard Redbook CDs, and other Hi-resolution formats, and fancy packaging with attached booklet - there's certainly a large number of classical and jazz enthusiasts who will bite. I have, over and over, and I don't regret a thing.

Again, of course, this is a niche market.