The Amazing Collapse of CD Sales

[Taketheflame]

Not the least bit surprising, as this has been the general trend for awhile now.

The physical world seems to be trending back towards vinyl, although I think CDs will continue to co-exist with vinyl, as both formats certainly have their place, even in the streaming era.

The masses have mostly moved on to streaming. And Hi-res streaming (with a decent DAC) is elevating digital audio to new heights, IMO. Well recorded material in Hi-res is really a joy to listen to.

Admittedly, I love my physical media and continue to grow my collection (mostly vinyl, but a few CDs here and there), but I mainly use streaming for my digital audio needs these days.

One thing is for sure - it's a GREAT time to be buying CDs for those who want them!

 

[E-Stat]

I still think that CDs are the best physical medium that we have. They're tough and not susceptible to physical imperfections like LPs; they're small enough to be portable...

Ultimately, this is my favorite physical medium:



CDs are but a means to an end. I can store my entire digital music library of about a thousand albums (including lots of 24 bit content) on one.

Highly portable.

 

[Bill S]

I no longer have that many albums any more. For me, I seemed to find something I liked and listened to it until it got supplanted in the rotation by something else. From that point on, it would seldom get played on a regular basis.

Now that streaming services have come along, I've discovered new music and branched out. There is so much of it I don't have the need to play stuff I bought 10, 20 or even 40 years ago. If I do, I'll pop in a CD or the occasional LP but I can just as easily search it and stream it. I really have a hard time keeping up with what I have in playlists and what I find as a result of finding other works by the artists or listening to suggested tracks. I can consume a lot of music that way. I'll listen to new tracks and just skip those that don't pull me in or take too long to develop.

 

[DN77n]

Ultimately, this is my favorite physical medium:

View attachment 2060603

CDs are but a means to an end. I can store my entire digital music library of about a thousand albums (including lots of 24 bit content) on one.

Highly portable.

Google "bit rot".
There are better digital media options than SD.

 

[grillebilly]

Streaming is the way of the future, just like CD's were. But now we have the vinyl resurgence, I suspect one day a CD craze will take place. Get 'em while you can.
I barely ever stream music and when I do it's an album I want to buy but can't. Or it's in search of new music I want to buy. But I realize I'm hanging onto the past, and fine with it. CD's and records sound better to me, and they are more enjoyable, for whatever reason.

 

[E-Stat]

There are better digital media options than SD.

I was responding more to the "portable" comment as opposed to Library of Congress archival standards. Optical media gets scratched.

While I have one of those sd cards, I use a Synology NAS with mirrored spinning rust for playback across the many systems across the manse. As an IT guy, I understand the value of backups. Have about half a dozen.

 

[E-Stat]

But now we have the vinyl resurgence...

Using digital masters. I highly value my collection of analog sourced vinyl, but why not just use the high resolution digital master? Unless what you enjoy is...

 

[Ds2000]

I have never had a store bought CD go bad . I now have some that are 35 years old .

Same. Only rips (mainly Memorex from the late 90’s) have given up. And they are just ink. No pit encoded cd has quit yet. One is as old as the format.

 

[zebra03]

Same. Only rips (mainly Memorex from the late 90’s) have given up. And they are just ink. No pit encoded cd has quit yet. One is as old as the format.

Same here . Some original CD-r's with the dark blue ink would get a scratchy sound . My computer would read them and I could get a copy back that way .

 

[grillebilly]

Using digital masters. I highly value my collection of analog sourced vinyl, but why not just use the high resolution digital master? Unless what you enjoy is...

Not everything is recorded digitally. Especially what I listen to, garage, surf, psyche, blues.

 

[E-Stat]

Not everything is recorded digitally. Especially what I listen to, garage, surf, psyche, blues.

Only 99% of what has been released since 1982 or so.

 

[lini]

In my view that decline might partly also be a "home-made" problem - i.e., in the meantime one can often enough only buy reissues/remasters new, which not rarely turn out to be "loudness war" remixes, that sound worse than the older, original CD releases. So especially for us hifi fans/audiophiles buying used can be more attractive than buying new.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[quaddriver]

For classical music, the following statement is FALSE: “ … the whole entire sleigh ride - promoters, air time, videos etc, are paid for by the revenue of rock and roll. supplanted a bit by country …”

Classical music is supported by benefactors.

thats true, those stations owe their existence to funding drives.

 

[RunOutGroove]

Using digital masters. I highly value my collection of analog sourced vinyl, but why not just use the high resolution digital master? Unless what you enjoy is...

I can't claim to really know for myself, but I wonder if a really well recored, well mastered recording that's been done digitally and then is transferred to a high quality LP isn't going to sound very good and sound very much "analog." If the final piece in the chain is analog and everything up to that point is very high resolution digital, then would the resulting product just sound like a good analog recording? What about the fact that the end product is being reproduced via an analog process... surely that must color it to some degree, no?

 

[GChief]

Only 99% of what has been released since 1982 or so.

But when you mostly buy the 1% it seems to work out

 

[grillebilly]

Only 99% of what has been released since 1982 or so.

Funny I record a lot of my rare vinyl to CD after a couple plays and really can’t tell if it sounds any different. I do notice both sound better than streaming the same album from my computer. I haven’t invested much time trying to improve the streaming experience probably because at this point it’s just a tool used to find new music.

 

[GChief]

I haven’t invested much time trying to improve the streaming experience probably because at this point it’s just a tool used to find new music.

I was there about 2 yrs ago. Didn’t take much time, just rolled through a couple inexpensive DACs. Now streaming is right there with my vinyls playback.

Edit: inexpensive is subjective at best

 

[Condorsat]

I've always upgraded with the goal of continual and never ending improvement. Vinyl, CD, DVD, TV sound ..etc.
All formats sound a league above what I started out with in the beginning.

Streaming (started in 2012) is no different and has followed the same trajectory .. initially thought it might be different than the others but it was not.

 

[DesertRatt]

Putting aside SQ for a moment, one thing I don’t like about streaming is that it’s yet another case of being hostage to forces I don’t control, like Internet providers and companies with virtually no public face or service presence. Owning physical media gives one a sense of control, and independence. How much of my life do I want hanging on a thread leading back to nowhere?

 

[GChief]

Putting aside SQ for a moment, one thing I don’t like about streaming is that it’s yet another case of being hostage to forces I don’t control, like Internet providers and companies with virtually no public face or service presence. Owning physical media gives one a sense of control, and independence. How much of my life do I want hanging on a thread leading back to nowhere?

Luckily I am an old guy that got past all that