Death of CDs

[crumbum]

I know this is something many people have been predicting for a long time, but are CDs pretty much over?

I made the decision early this year to never buy another CD unless the content was absolutely unavailable in any other format. This came after I noticed that the majority of new vinyl indie releases now come with a free download (often at a higher bitrate than you get from itunes).

Generally if there's no vinyl I'll just download (legally), and if there is vinyl with no free download I consider having purchased it my 'free' pass to get it off soulseek as well for my ipod. I realize that last bit is sort of tricky to justify.

Thoughts?

[Forrest]

I follow the same rule with vinyl. If I buy it and it doesn't come with a download coupon, I will download it for free with no guilt.

[<<<<<]

I don't think hardcopy of music is over just yet.  I certainly don't believe vinyl will be replacing CDs.  The digital music bubble is simply another one of these bubbles that no thinks is going to burst, until it does.  There is value in physical property.  This is the great hard lesson that the 21st century will bring.

[cutout]

I sold all my CDs back this summer and stored my whole collection on Amazon S3/Jungle Disk. Haven't missed them at all.

[KickTheBobo]

CDs have always been a shitty format. I've pulled LPs out of dumpsters that served as a bum's dinner plate and just wiped them down with a wet rag and they've been fine. I have cassettes from 20 years ago that still sound fine after much abuse/neglect. CDs are just too damn delicate. Maybe if they had made a casing where the playing surface wasn't exposed (like a floppy, or minidisc) my collection would have survived.

also: jewel case, booooo!

[yesno]

I gave up on CDs in 2004.  I only wish I ripped them all at a higher bitrate.  The only music I buy is from Amazon MP3 or other DRM-free online stores, and vinyl.  (I like to have digital copies of vinyl that I really like, though.  I don't like vinyl because it sounds better, because mine doesn't.  I just like it because it's neat. And because vinyl records will still be playable long after all CDs have rusted.)  If I buy a CD I sell it right after ripping it.^*

It got to the point where my CD collection represented the music I was into years ago.  Also, CDs are really fucking ugly.  At least normal jewel cases are.  They're the most useless format to me.  I'm not an audiophile, though.  Excessively-high bitrate digital don't sound much better than 160 AAC/192 MP3s to me.  If I were an audiophile, though, I'd just embrace FLAC or Apple Lossless.

Also, it's possible to embed PDFs and multiple pieces of high-resolution artwork inside of digital files.  I wish online stores would do this.

Now is the time for me to say that if you have a valuable digital music collection, you have at least two backups of it, right?  RIGHT?  Talk to Martin about the importance of backups.

* Sure, this is unethical, but I'm not about to wait until the remains of the music industry finally adopts an ASCAP-like system for recordings.  By the way, owning a CD doesn't make a difference to whether music files sitting on your hard drive are "legal" or not.  The copyright act controls the act of copying, not with whether existing copies are "authorized" or not.  The plain text of the statute and one of the most prominent copyright attorneys in the country will tell you that.  If making a copy was legal at time A it doesn't retroactively become not legal at point B because of some other event. This is why the music industry likes to be vague about whether ripping CDs is even allowed or not.

[yesno]

There is value in physical property.  This is the great hard lesson that the 21st century will bring.

A CD has as much value as a printout of a webpage.

I don't purchase physical copies of *anything* digital.  Not DVDs, not games.  I've redirected my impulse shopping into buying books I don't have time to read.

[theyellowchair]

An integral component to this discussion is the feasibility of the DIY artist to produce and disseminate music at a low overhead while maintaining optimal fidelity and format compliance. In that regard, digital media presents a number of advantages, but still comes equipped with the unavoidable pitfalls endemic of captured sound.

First and foremost is cost. Rather than burning thousands of CDRs, artists can spread links virally or through business cards/posters to reach their audience at a fraction of the cost. While this method will ensure product uniformity (theoretically, all interested parties will be listening to an artist-specified bitrate, while CDRs are often ripped at various rates), the artist runs into a roadblock when PROFIT is taken into account. How exactly does one go about selling links without the tangibility of the CDR? Of Montreal set an interesting precident with their arts-and-crafts-themed release of Skeletal Lamping, but one cannot imagine their endeavour was borne of cost concerns. 

It's tough and dangerous to reconcile ethics and economic feasibility, but I'm completely in support of a digital-only/digital-centric music media future. As posted above -- an album or collection of 320kbps/FLAC files with gratuitous "extras" (embedded pdfs, large album art jpegs, even movies) is a fitting substitute for CDs. I tend to like the files even better than the CDs. Vinyl is a great fringe medium, as long as one owns a high-quality system and can afford the space in their living area (stipulations I fail to meet).

Oh, music...

[Nicksy]

I don't think I bought a single CD in 2008. I received a few from friends who had put them out that year. When they are your friends it's still nice to have a physical manifestation of something you can put in your house.

[Martin]

Now is the time for me to say that if you have a valuable digital music collection, you have at least two backups of it, right?  RIGHT?  Talk to Martin about the importance of backups.

Amen brother.

[emdasher]

Does anybody have one of them vinyl-to-digital recording setups?

Are they worthwhile for a vinyl poseur like myself who will still listen to music through my computer/portable music device?

[Steeley Chris]

I don't think I bought a single CD in 2008.

Neither have I because there's nowhere to buy them anymore. All the independent CD shops in RI, except for one, have closed. However, a record store that had closed last year just reopened again due to returned interest in vinyl.
I have a large stack of vinyl that I inherited from a neighbor (lot of SST - Black Flag, Husker Du, Minutemen, and a lot of The Jam/Style Council) along with a record player I got from another neighbor, but no stereo receiver. Any recommendations as to good ones? Do I buy new, or scour second hand stores? What am I suppose to be looking for?

[yesno]

Does anybody have one of them vinyl-to-digital recording setups?

Are they worthwhile for a vinyl poseur like myself who will still listen to music through my computer/portable music device?

I guess they're worth it for stuff that never made it to CD and is not available digitally in any form.  But even so there are maniacs out there who do such insanely high-quality needledrops that I'd say it's only worth it if you can't track down their files or you have something that no one else ever has tried.

[Martin]

I bought a USB turntable like two years ago. There are tons of them out there, pretty cheap ones too, but I needed a new DJ turntable anyway so I got a good direct-driven Numark deck for a bit more money. I haven't used it to systematically rip all my vinyl, but I've ripped plenty of 12-inches that are completely unavailable in any other form (even in this day and age of rare high quality fan rips). Ripping works very well once all the settings are done (might take some tweaking). I use it with Audacity.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

i think CDs will stand the test of time, even into the 21st century.  the problem with CDs is greed: vinyl is on a high right now, but it will lose its novelty, im sure, while the rest of us continue with our business; if CDs were cheaper (still $15 for a CD?!), then i think they would stand a chance against the digital invasion.  

as far as im concerned, the only advantage to owning my collection digitally* is for the sake of space (a true commodity for some).  otherwise, i dont mind carting my entire vinyl catalog to every apartment i move into- its the price i pay.  


PS i bought one album this year: Just Farr A Laugh (Matador)



*i agree with previous posts on this: if the vinyl doesnt come with a digital download, i grab it from SS.