Anyone else buy this notion?

Not mine, it must be yours.

best guesses in the industry are that CD's may be phased out within 10 years (if not sooner). Sales are waaaaay down. I can speak from personal experience. My 3 teenagers (well, one is almost 21) are in "prime buying" age. It used to be that Santa would fill their stockings with all kinds of cds. Their wishlists were full of cd ideas....no more. Not a single disc has any of these kids bought in over a year. check the stores - the kids don't buy discs anymore. Ipodding has forever changed the face of the distribution methods for music.

Sladog´s right.
Mp3players erase the cd´s from history.

I will still continue to buy CD's, I still don't own an Ipod or mp3player and I never will.

I do.

It's just a waste of money and resources to manufacture CD in Asia, assemble them, ship them to Europe. Push them through distribution and put them in a store. Hope it gets sold and if not it ends up in the rebate rack and eventually gets forwarded to dump stores.
Whereas the buyer needs to go out browse through the racks of boxes and pay top dollar for just 800MB of dadta.

CD's will dissapear within this decade.

It's like... perfecting ways of making sealing wax.

it's not a question of "if" - it's a question of "when." The same folks that doubt this are the ones who never thought CD's would replace LP's. The times they are a-changin'.....

Here are the issues that I see:

1. Quality. Unless they can make the quality of an MP3 same as a CD, they won't be gone.

2. Selection. Can you get EVERY single song off the legitiment sites (paying for them)? Nope. There are some you have to buy the CD.

3. Backup. What happens if your computer crashes or you lose your Ipod?

I will still buy CD's as there are always tracks that you fall in love with, that are never played or available online.

sladog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here are the issues that I see:

>
> 2. Selection. Can you get EVERY single song off
> the legitiment sites (paying for them)? Nope.
> There are some you have to buy the CD.
>


I think that soon, you probably will be able to legitimately get every single song off the net without buying CDs.
And for the collectors, most of the obscure must-haves are bootlegs anyway, which you don't have to pay for.


> 3. Backup. What happens if your computer crashes
> or you lose your Ipod?
>


Yup, and for this reason, I think blank CDRs are selling far more than official CDs at this point. At least I know I bought far more of them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-12-29 22:24 by Some Girl.

Of course, they STILL make albums so I see CD's lasting at least another 20 years or more.

Sladog's concerns are significant ones. I prefer CD's to mp3's in pretty much the same way that older vinyl enthusiasts insist that CD's are markedly inferior to the LP.

Beyond that, the album format still seems meaningful to me. The "editorial" choices (good or bad--"Stripped," that's you) of what tracks are included are part of the artistic process. It's fine for me, after the fact, to think that "Look What The Cat Dragged In" should have been dumped. Still, I'm interested in the choice that the Stones made to include it. The album is a body of work--not merely a grab bag of songs. Just the fact of the choice makes every track significant.

Finally, artwork and notes are important. They help to define and locate the music. Think of "Sticky Fingers" or "Exile" without the accompanying artwork. Think of Dylan's "Biograph" or of the "Anthology of American Folk Music." Or Paul Simon's "Graceland," for that matter--anything.

I can't imagine a kid downloading assorted Stones tracks (from limewire or somesuch) and having anything like the experience we have all had. Just having a release date and being able to figure out where, say, "Tumbling Dice" fits chronolgically relative to "Emotional Rescue" is so important.

History shows that convenience trumps most everything else in media technology, so the CD will go as a mainstream delivery vehicle. Still, I think (or hope) that some of these issues will be addressed.

I didn't think that was the spirit of your question, sladog...sure CDs will still be made for years to come - but, as is current case with the LP (they're made - but good luck finding what you're looking for!), i think the phasing out will complete well before 20 years....

Also, what about lyrics? I know you can get them on line but when I am on the John, I want to be able to flip thru the CD and read what I am hearing!!

Reverand:


vinyl records, tapes and cds are all just "artificial" means of distribution. There's nothing inherently necessary about them. These media just enabled the masses to collect the music. Technology moves faster than the consumer marketplace can adjust...we're beginning to see that adjustment with electronic and portability of distribution. Mark my words - CDs will disappear as the primary means within 5 years.

You also have to take into account economics. To phase them out in 5 yrs is assuming that everyone has computers that are 1. hooked up to the net, 2. can use the MP3 technology out there.

Price also is a factor. Until Ipod prices and their speakers (nice Ipod speakers are almost as much as the Ipod) come down, I don't see the CD's going away.

What will go away is FM radio.

mark my words. 8-tracks will be BACK!

They won't be phased out as soon as 5-10 years.

However, many people have argued that the album art sort of lost its significance when the significantly smaller CDs overtook LPs. I have to agree with that. The Sticky Fingers cover is not "all that" in the CD format.

Also, fewer artist are relying on CD art these days. A lot of booklets are just boring these days. Hell, look at ABB.

I heard all the Stones albums mentioned above in mp3 format before I went out and bought the CDs. The experience is just lovely this way too, trust me. And there is no easier way to learn about the chronological relevance of Tumbling Dice compared to Emotional Rescue than looking it up on the net.

ALso, while its nice to see why a certain track is included in an album while another is left out, it is also just as infuriating, and makes me personally want to doctor my own versions of albums (or 'collections').

Also, you read lyrics on the john? In that case, I think I speak for everyone when I say print them off the net, and take care of the CD booklet you had to pay for. This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode with the book George took to the bathroom.

I have never bought a CD over 20$.

way too much.

I bet that within 2 years, new cars will be featuring Players that will not accept CDs but rather Memory-like cards that will be inserted and will play whatever you have downloaded into it. Much smaller and faster to use than a CD.

Perhaps but not in 2 yrs. Heck, cars still have tape decks!

What I do see is more cars having a MP3 jack.

What!!!...CDs on their way out....Jeez I'm just gettin' the hang of playin' 78's



ROCKMAN

At home I hook up my PC and MP3 with my stereo. I hook up my mp3 player to my car stereo. Far better than the old cd changer where I ended up driving around with the same 6 cd's for over a year. I even saw a (cheap) Car stereo with a USB port in the front to connect your MP3 player.

New portable devices will keep on appearing. While in the John you will be able to read all about your favorit artists and songs and find far more links and info than a booklet could ever offer.

sladog Wrote:
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> Perhaps but not in 2 yrs. Heck, cars still have
> tape decks!
>
> What I do see is more cars having a MP3 jack.


New cars don't - at least not standard issue. Kids use the FM signal as transport for their iPods - and these kids are the new buying market for cars in the next 5 years...so their needs will drive what goes into cars.

I can see this is a tough crowd to convince....but I work in the technical arena, and I'm here to tell you that CDs are already becoming dinosaurs.

T&A, what about the sound quality? Until they get MP3's to have the same sound as CD's I don't think CD's will be gone. Yes, I agree they won't be as plentiful but I still see them around for a good while.

I am tough to convince because I love them. I have a large collection and am proud of it. I would hate for it to stop growing.

Slagdog, you can always burn your digital files to CD and keep your CD collection growing that way. I think in ten years CDs will be like vinyl today - still manufactured, but very little and hard to find.

I thought I'd never give up vinyl until they mostly stopped making it. So for me, there is very little sentiment in CDs being phased out because they are what offed my beloved vinyl in the first place. What goes around comes around!

I'm digging the digital music stuff, though, mostly for reasons of storage. It's a lot easier to amass a large collection when you don't have to worry about it taking up half your house, as CDs and especially LPs tend to do when you get a lot of them!

Remember the record player!

deuce Wrote:
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> I will still continue to buy CD's, I still don't
> own an Ipod or mp3player and I never will.


i fail to see what one has to do with the other ?

what has buying cds got to do with not buying an ipod ?

most people have an ipod or mp3 player in order to put their collection on so they can take it with them whilst on the move

i buy a cd. i stick it on my pod. then when i'm away from the house i can still listen to whatever record i want wherever i may be

the things are genius!

[www.hollywoodreporter.com]

T&A Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Reverand:
>
>
> vinyl records, tapes and cds are all just
> "artificial" means of distribution. There's
> nothing inherently necessary about them. These
> media just enabled the masses to collect the
> music. Technology moves faster than the consumer
> marketplace can adjust...we're beginning to see
> that adjustment with electronic and portability of
> distribution. Mark my words - CDs will disappear
> as the primary means within 5 years.

T&A:

I'm with you, basically. That's what I meant when I wrote:

"History shows that convenience trumps most everything else in media technology, so the CD will go as a mainstream delivery vehicle..."

My problem is that I don't think it's all to the good. I think the format of the album is a significant one and that the visual presentation of the music is important as well.

"The medium is the message," a wise man once said. Of course, in some abstract sense, an LP (for instance) is artificial and arbitrary. Nonetheless, the format's physical and aural dimensions shaped decisively the content of the albums made for the format. After all, isn't "Exile" really and truly four sides (as Jagger has acknowledged)--and not a single uninterrupted run of songs? And doesn't that awareness change the way we hear the album even when we're listening to the CD? For that matter, would anyone understand the release of horseshit like "Biggest Mistake" or "Suck On The Jugular" if not for the band's need to pad out the lengthier format?

I'm glad that there won't be energy expended on the physical transport of recorded music. And I'm pleased that landfills will not be choked with discarded CDs. What I hope is somehow preserved is the notion of an artfully chosen collection. A deliberate and discrete grouping of songs, with a visual component that helps suggest a shared identity and provenence. Context, I guess.

That, plus sound quality AT LEAST comparable to a compact disc.