The Death of the CD

[InvaderP]

Analysts predict the abandonment of the CD by the end of 2012.

http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=46980_0_2_0_C

I'm pretty sad about this :sad: even though I listen to most of my music on my iPod today, I still prefer to go to the store, buy the CD, go home, put it in, and look at the booklet while I listen to it for the first time. I know the music stays the same and it would be easier to just go to the iTunes Store and buy it there, but I just think it's just much more satisfying to go to a record store and buy a physical copy, something you can hold and look at, with booklet, artwork etc. rather than watching a bar load on your screen and having a boring file.

I also like to walk through record stores and look for a CD to buy, and just realize how much music is out there.
People tell me THE MUSIC STAYS THE SAME and that's true, and same-aged people look at me weird when I tell them I "still" buy CDs (I'm 16 by the way). My little brother is growing up completely with mp3s and iPods, and it's weird to think that he'll never get that feeling that I get when I browse through my shelf and find my old copy of Dookie by Green Day and remember how I bought it and first listened to it on my dad's stereo while looking at the booklet.

Anyways, what do you think?

[Robby]

Technology eventually phases the old ways out. Yes, we're attached to the old way after growing up on it, but thats how it goes. No one sells cassettes or 8-tracks anymore.

They do still sell records, however.

It'll take a little longer than 2012 for CDs to phase out completely, because people like having hard copy backups of things, and cd versions of music are usuall at a higher quality than downloadable versions. Not to mention, blank cds are still among the most convenient methods of archiving 700 MB of data. (DVD burners will replace that eventually, but its a long ways off yet.) Not to mention, they're so cheap and easily storeable… they won't be phased out until a completely superior format comes along.

But its already the path. I mean, there's no middleman or production cost, its pure profit. Disney only released the soundtrack to UP on download, for instance.

So its not surprising that its being phased out, and music cds will stop sooner than blank cds, but it'll take longer than next year to be the case entirely.
'
Books are eventually going to go all digital too, but that's going to take even longer since the physical product is much more substantial.

[Hiroy]

More revenue to pirate music maybe?

Personally I don't usually buy digital copies of anything, unless it's my only means to support the artist. Otherwise I'd rather have the physical copy. But realistically, I can understand. Producing CD albums is a bit costly with little to no gain for most of the industry.

I doubt they would be phased out next year though. There's still albums that do sell.

[city_lights31]

Im more stubborn about books. I dread books not being physically produced anymore and I refuse to get a kindle or whatever. One Piece better finish and get all of the volumes released before this movement snowballs.

[GJardim]

Death of the Cd? Just last year I was still using floppy disks.

Edit: I just remembered a thing. There's a kinda famous computer magazine here called "CD-Rom", it's a pack of essential things for computers and other things, mostly for people that's lazy or just don't have internet to download such softwares. Since the beggining of this year, the magazine changed and now is "DVD-Rom", using 8.5 giga DVDs.
I guess that's what happens, the old gets replaced by the newer.

[Insider2000]

Meh. I can adapt, but cars serious need to start having better methods to manage MP3 players. Cars better start having ways to plug your MP3 player in and allow you to navigate through it far more easily.

Kind of sucks since it makes a lot of stores obsolete. Poor FYE…..one of my favorite stores. Maybe they'll survive by being DVD and Video Game hogs.

[C_uggs]

I only download a song if I can´t find the CD (or if I like only 1 song of the album)

Yeah, CD´S have become expensive, but if you are a true fan of a band, you will buy the CD, no matter the price, downloding a song/album have it´s price: Quality.

The rest ? Well, all the mankind evolves to a nem information support from time to time, so, no big surprise there, just like the abandon of VCRs and tube TV, it´s called future, and it´s logical.

What´s next ? Computer chips ?

CD´s are so 1990, btw.

[CosmicDebris]

I still haven't gotten over the day that all the records left stores and were replaced by CDs….

Well, not really. Though I still own a record player. TBH, without even trying I have become more digital file dependent. I currently do not even own a cd player, though I still typically buy whole albums on CD.

[WarshipArc]

I will never fully get behind the digital distribution.
Having a physical copy of whatever sitting on my shelf just makes me feel safer, knowing that it isn't going to vanish into the internets just because I happen to be rather inept at handling computers.

[MetaMario]

Okay, I'll admit it. I got a majority of the music on my MP3 from Rhapsody (legally, mind you, 10 bucks a month). A small fraction was obtained from various CDs.

Actually, when CDs were popular, I wasn't a big listener to music. I know buying a CD and supporting the artist directly is better than digital purchase, but I don't have the cash to keep getting them.

sulks slightly

EDIT: But it would suck to see the CD vanish from our consumer interests. I mean, sure, digital music distribution has its advantages, but it has its disadvantages too. As for books…hell, I never want to read a book on a computer screen.

[Silent K]

I dread the day everything goes digital, as I wouldn't want to risk losing anything after a computer crash or a particularly nasty virus.
I'm not a very avid listener of music and I only have a few CD's compared to most people, since I tend to go and delete stuff I'm sick of listening to in favor of something new, but if it's a book I just want to be able to take it along with me in my bag without having to worry about lost/corrupted data, anti-copy protection-related problems that might pop up or running low on power when I'm on a long trip and I just want to read something.

Besides, I'm a translator in training; having encyclopaedias and all sorts of magazines, dictionaries and books is kind of inevitable in order to get really going.
Wikipedia, as handy as it can be at times, simply isn't going to cut it for someone like me and honestly, I prefer to have a physical copy in my hands as it feels safer.

[Riddler]

My parents don´t even own an Ipod or anything, how the hell are they supposed to listen to music if this would happen? This is so silly. You cant just force people to get adjusted with MP3s or Ipods by phasing out Cds. Its different from Cds and Records, because Cds had the clear advantage in every way (similiar to Videos and Dvds). Mp3s are to different from Cds to work for everyone right now; there are just still too many people that arent used to them or would prefer a CD. Maybe in about twenty, thirty years this could be the case, but right now it just seems stupid to me.

Im more stubborn about books. I dread books not being physically produced anymore and I refuse to get a kindle or whatever. One Piece better finish and get all of the volumes released before this movement snowballs.

Definately agreed. Ive never downloaded anything from Kindle and I get a headache from reading too much on my computer. Fortunately, I dont see this happening either for a long, long time.

[C_uggs]

I have a Ph.D. in information science, and I can say that no matter what media we use, what truly matters is whether the information placed on such support will be lost/abridged to suit the constant changing of supports.

All the information/history behind a book will be lost if we digitize it.

The book is the eternal information support.

[Smudger]

One less thing to scratch i suppose.

Thinking of this topic reminds me of the sad day i dumped my cassette collection. Guess technological advances tend to clash with the sentimental side of some of us.

[WiggyDee]

Well, I work at HMV and I'll say this much: A majority of the elderly will NEVER choose to purchase something online over popping down to the shops. If CD's are successfully phased out, artists like Dorris Day and Andre Rieu will be in trouble.

[InvaderP]

@captain:

I only download a song if I can´t find the CD (or if I like only 1 song of the album)

Yeah, CD´S have become expensive, but if you are a true fan of a band, you will buy the CD, no matter the price, downloding a song/album have it´s price: Quality.

The rest ? Well, all the mankind evolves to a nem information support from time to time, so, no big surprise there, just like the abandon of VCRs and tube TV, it´s called future, and it´s logical.

What´s next ? Computer chips ?

CD´s are so 1990, btw.

Whenever I read one of your posts it makes me want to punch a kitten. At first you say CDs are good because it supports the band and the quality is better than when you download songs, then you say "CDs are so 90s"? What the fuck?

[kagexp]

Nooo… I sure as hell don't want to cancel out my collection. thinks back to when I was 9, saw an mp3 player and was scared shitless for months about technology moving on too fast without me. Then I got one Good times!
CDs are like my love declaration to the artists I adore! I love having CDs with my favorite bands. Being proud of them and showing them on my shelf, look at them while they sleep, have dinner with them... erh... Heh like that's true heh... Ahem, it's like having a volume of One Piece at hand (no matter how much it sucks in your language) instead of just reading the scans.

We still have gramophone records is some stores and that's cool so... yeah. CD's probably won't die that easily. :) Though they probably will be more rare with the next generation.

[city_lights31]

@MetaMario:

I know buying a CD and supporting the artist directly is better than digital purchase,

Pretty sure musicians make more money when you legally download and pay for their stuff that way oppose to buying their CDs. They get fucked over less by their labels. Cuts out the middle man. At least, that is the theory.

[MetaMario]

@city_lights31:

Pretty sure musicians make more money when you legally download and pay for their stuff that way oppose to buying their CDs. They get fucked over less by their labels. Cuts out the middle man. At least, that is the theory.

Really? Well, I always thought buying CDs offered more royalities or something.

[InvaderP]

@city_lights31:

Pretty sure musicians make more money when you legally download and pay for their stuff that way oppose to buying their CDs. They get fucked over less by their labels. Cuts out the middle man. At least, that is the theory.

I asked someone who is in a professional band if they get more money if you buy the CD or if you download the album on iTunes. He said that they get more money when you buy the CD because apparently Apple cashes in a great amount of money when you buy it on iTunes. But maybe that's just Apple and the artist gets more money than with the CDs when they offer it on a smaller site like Bandcamp.

[THE SEA]

I feel stupid for asking, but, what is a CD? Please excuse my ignorance.

[Aioria]

Doesn't sound so good for the music industry, maybe musicians will be able to make more money by selling their music online (if somehow piracy stops…). They'll
probably still have vinyls for the audiophiles, compressed music is not so great to listen to after all, music storage with FLACs would become unmanageable

[Robby]

@THE:

I feel stupid for asking, but, what is a CD? Please excuse my ignorance.

Compact Disk.

[Md-Martin]

Not surprised in the least. I understand why people like CD's, when I like a band a lot I'll usually buy the physical copy, and then just put it on my Iphone. However with the majority of bands, it's just much, much, more convenient to download something. I mean, now you don't even have to leave the house to get a CD, you can order it, however even then you have to wait to get it. With downloading it it's done within a few minutes.

Maybe it's just because I'm 16, and I grew up watching the evolution from VCR to DVD right before my eyes, so it's easier for me to understand this process. In fact I think the transfer from VCR tapes to DVD's are exactly like this. I remember being 6 or 7, and it taking more than a year for a movie to come out on VHS. Then it began to come out on VHS and DVD, with the emphasis on VHS. Then it quickly became more focused on DVD, and now VCR's are only useful for watching old family movies.

The only thing that I have faith will remain is books. That is for the sole fact that books can document so many things such as the feelings of people in a time period, how we viewed ourselves at a certain point in time, and how we viewed each other. Should war happen, or genocide and somebody finds books, we can understand a lost people. When somebody doesn't know how to work their technology, then their ideas are lost.

[THE SEA]

@RobbyBevard:

Compact Disk.
http://www.freefoto.com/images/11/12/11_12_9–-Compact-Disc_web.jpg

You mean it is not Cookie Dough, eh? Damn. Thanks you for answering, sir. I still don't know what that round thingy is but it doesn't look like it is eatable so perhaps there is no need to mourn its death.
imo
Soon people will replace DVD as well. May the people who love Japanese televisions won't have to search 7 hours on the internet to figure out how to remove cprm encryption on hdd-burned vro's. Unless they come up with something else to bother Greg.
May be in the future human teleportation will come to life, which isn't possible with CDs because the information to describe a human body stored in a stack of CDs would reach a third of the way to the center of the galaxy.

[Wagomu]

Yeah, this is not a big shock. As the trade of MP3s over the internet has grown, vinyl has regrown as a preferred physical medium that still offers a different experience (with the artwork, liner notes, actual vinyl and sound quality). The only thing I'm surprised about is that the cassette might outlive it. That's impressively stupid.

[CosmicDebris]

Artists get screwed whether you are buying CDs or Mp3s…the trouble with mp3s is that the purchases are much harder to keep track of. I heard of case where host sites were incorrectly reporting numbers and sending measly royalty checks in and investigations ensued. However, this is mostly a problem with artists under big record companies. Artists that have gone independent and sell their music directly make 100% of the profits on all their stuff. Big record label deals have been infamously terrible contracts for the bands, infuriating, really. I won't shed a tear when that old business model finally crumbles, along with commercial radio.

Also, one of the big disappointments about CDs was that they were ALWAYS overpriced.

[Robby]

@CosmicDebris:

Also, one of the big disappointments about CDs was that they were ALWAYS overpriced.

Yeah, they started out priced higher than cassette tapes initially, because the overall market was smaller and niche (back in 1993 or so) and that made some sense… but then the prices never dropped as the audience expanded. Even today cds are still 13-20 bucks depending on where you look. They lowered a little once they had to start competing with the internet, so you can find new stuff at 11 or 12 if you look in the right places, but...

We know how cheap cds themselves are. We buy them in packs of a 100 to burn stuff onto them and throw them away! Compared to the costly production of a cassette, there was never really a reason for it. They probably should have hit a price point of 6-10 bucks by the year 2000... but... they remained gouging.

[CosmicDebris]

Yep, and I think that is part of their ultimate demise.

[flandrian15]

The CD was a bad medium anyway. I'd say good riddance. It's fine to have a hard copy of something but how the hell have we worked with such a fragile medium for this long anyway. There are far better, easier and smaller mediums nowadays. Let's say a USB-stick. Mine is 16GB, I can make it bootable if I want to and I can store whatever I want on there and it also has MP3 functionality. I mostly play .wav's though seeing MP3 is crappy quality. anyway, the thing has been in the washer 3 times now and it still works like a charm but if you take a CD and drop it 1 time, chances are that it's broken or scratched right away.

[zachri]

I still have quite a few CDs in my house - music CDs, game discs… heck the CD will never truely die due to games consoles.

HECK I STILL HAVE VHS TAPES IN MY ROOM, AND A TV THAT PLAYS THEM.
Good times, good times...

[m00n]

For the CD: I don't care much. I've never possesed many CDs and preferred to spend most of my money on concerts and festivals. It goes to my favourite bands as well, and the concerts are more fun for them, when they are packed with people. I think that's most important, more so than the number of CDs sold. So for years I've downloaded and I'm still doing so by downloading stuff from youtube. Having the music on your harddrive is acutally more save than owing the CD. You can make a backup on a External HDD in 10 minutes and put it somewhere else. If your house burns down or gets floóded you may looses your CDs but not your digital music.

However this argument only works for me when the experiance reasonably close to the old one. So for books I can't see it happen in a long time because books work by reflecting light and screens by emitting light. Somehow the reflection makes for a way better reading experiance. So I'm buying books and even though they are even more fragile in bad enviroments than CDs, they can also survive way, way longer in good a enviroment. Maybe 2000 years from now archiologists, returning to earth the first time in a millenia, are gonna dig out my One Piece Volumes. Whatever they do, they wont get my HDD up and running. Same deal with records btw. Which is why NASA put our message to ailens not on a HDD but a [record](http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/images/Voyager Golden Record - Cover.jpg).

[Robby]

@flandrian15:

There are far better, easier and smaller mediums nowadays.

Smaller, and all in one place, isn't always better. That makes it easier to lose.

CDs can fit on a spindle and you can store a hundred of them in a fairly small space. Or you can have a shelf or drawer to put them on.

Let's say a USB-stick.

USBs can be overwritten, or corrupted if you pull them out a computer before they decide they're done processing. And if you lose the one USB or ipod? Suddenly everything you had on it is gone. Lose a single CD? Well, you lost a single CD.

anyway, the thing has been in the washer 3 times now and it still works like a charm but if you take a CD and drop it 1 time, chances are that it's broken or scratched right away.

If you're putting your electronic devices into the washing machine, thats your own problem.

And you have to drop a CD with quite a bit of force to break it, it has to hit at a very specific angle, or be thrown. I've broken ONE CD in the last 20 years from dropping it. (But the office I work in has collectively lost a dozen USB drive) I've stepped on CDs, in shoes, without breaking them. (And they DO have cases…)

Unless you REALLY abuse and scratch the hell out of it, most machines can still read CDs up to a fairly messy point... at least enough to be able to copy the data. DVDs and games are actually much more sensitive to scratching, probably because they hold so much more data on them.

[Outerspec]

Guess I should finally get a MP3 player or an IPod.

[Sonic Youth]

I only make a lot of mixtapes on CD-format. Great for driving.

[InvaderP]

Now that I think about it, when you completely switch to iTunes Stores, Amazon mp3s etc., do you even need labels anymore? I mean, anyone can put an album on the iTunes Store if they want to (after paying an certain amount of money). Why should artists share money with a label like Warner Bros., if they can just put on the album on every kind of music platform they want?

[kagexp]

@RobbyBevard:

Unless you REALLY abuse and scratch the hell out of it, most machines can still read CDs up to a fairly messy point… at least enough to be able to copy the data. DVDs and games are actually much more sensitive to scratching, probably because they hold so much more data on them.

Guilty… Umm... Mister Robby sir... Sorry to go very off topic (and even have the nerve to say this to a mod), but is Bobart blinking or am I just seriously hallucinating? It's like every time I scroll down it looks like it and then I stare at him but nothing happens. :/

And just to stay on topic
http://www.fastcompany.com/1570763/no-more-cds-says-sony

I mostly like the comments. :)

Btw. I guess Invader is right. I mean yeah one could just borrow a studio or something (or… use their macs...) to make a record.
Maybe they need the labels to get fame or something... I dunno... So what is Sony's plan? Hmm...

runs away

[Pochipochi]

@flandrian15:

The CD was a bad medium anyway. I'd say good riddance. It's fine to have a hard copy of something but how the hell have we worked with such a fragile medium for this long anyway. There are far better, easier and smaller mediums nowadays. Let's say a USB-stick. Mine is 16GB, I can make it bootable if I want to and I can store whatever I want on there and it also has MP3 functionality. I mostly play .wav's though seeing MP3 is crappy quality. anyway, the thing has been in the washer 3 times now and it still works like a charm but if you take a CD and drop it 1 time, chances are that it's broken or scratched right away.

.wavs aren't really an ideal container for music and music collections. You might want to work with FLAC instead

[flandrian15]

.wav is a pretty decent container, it is great for editing, mixing and mastering (and the studio's where I worked all used .wav to bounce their songs too) and it sure as hell is better quality than mp3 and robby, what you say is true but I think I am not alone when I say that I have had to throw out CD's because there was one little scratch on them which rendered them utterly useless so I guess you misunderstood me. They don't break easily but the surface of a cd is really fragile. So I have never liked having to pay 20$ for something that gets scratched and becomes useless so easily.

[zachri]

@kagexp:

Guilty… Umm... Mister Robby sir... Sorry to go very off topic (and even have the nerve to say this to a mod), but is Bobart blinking or am I just seriously hallucinating? It's like every time I scroll down it looks like it and then I stare at him but nothing happens. :/

Yup.
Bobart is blinking.
Because Bobart is motherfugging Bobart and can blink when Bobart wants to.
Which is when you least expect it.

[kagexp]

@zachri:

Yup.
Bobart is blinking.
Because Bobart is motherfugging Bobart and can blink when Bobart wants to.
Which is when you least expect it.

It made me jump just now… Huh... He's cute!

[Robby]

@InvaderP:

Why should artists share money with a label like Warner Bros., if they can just put on the album on every kind of music platform they want?

Marketing and distribution muscle. Making something available is one thing. Making people know about it and able to find it in every store is another.

@kagexp:

Guilty… Umm... Mister Robby sir... Sorry to go very off topic (and even have the nerve to say this to a mod), but is Bobart blinking or am I just seriously hallucinating? It's like every time I scroll down it looks like it and then I stare at him but nothing happens. :/

Just your imagination.

It made me jump just now… Huh... He's cute!

Bobart is a girl, actually. Or at least thats what Don Krieg and Absalom say.

@flandrian15:

They don't break easily but the surface of a cd is really fragile. So I have never liked having to pay 20$ for something that gets scratched and becomes useless so easily.

Thats why you take care of the things and don't toss them around like a frisbee or use them as coasters. CDs can take a lot of minor scratching and still be readable. I have hundreds of music CDs, going back 20 years, and every last one of them still plays perfectly, even the ones I've played thousands of times since… the laser in the cd player/computer doesn't harm them at all or wear them out (unlike records or casettes which would wear out over time. Plus, they ARE digital, which means they're 1000% forward compatible, unlike older technologies.)

I have hundreds of data cds backing up my work, and they always work fine when I go through them and grab any random disk. And yes, the ones I leave out on top of a pile in the middle of a workspace for weeks at a time get a little messy and on ocassion have a bit of trouble, but... only the ones I abuse.

I've had a couple of used video games that are dinged up that skipped and had some trouble playing, and an ocassional truly scratched up dvd out of the box that wouldn't work, but... 99.9% of the time it works fine. I've never had any problems with a disk I didn't get used.

Its not the medium's fault if YOU don't take care of it.

[flandrian15]

Well, anyway, I use a NAS with a RAID 5 configuration for backing up. I know a HDD works with a disk as well but at least it is enclosed and because of that it is much safer (I am not saying that it can't fail but you have a descent amount of fault tolerance). Only problem with this method is that it is quite costly to use this kind of thing in your home and I am only able to use it because of my work, making it a work expense.
I'm just not a fan of CD's and I never was. That's my take on it and it's probably because, indeed, I'm kind of sloppy and leave them laying around everywhere so, in my case, there are better alternatives (which do not include putting my USB sticks in the washer :D )

[Pochipochi]

@flandrian15:

.wav is a pretty decent container, it is great for editing, mixing and mastering (and the studio's where I worked all used .wav to bounce their songs too) and it sure as hell is better quality than mp3

Yeah, I use .wav for mastering since space is never an issue in that sense, but as far as listening goes, I don't like taking up too much hard drive when I could keep the bitrate, but compress the size.

[Arei]

Mmm I wouldn't be completely sad about the demise of the CD. I've had mp3 players/ipods for the past 8 years. I practically live with headphones on my ears. Back when I had a CD player, I would be hauling around some sort of CD carrying case with me all the time, and with iPods it's just one machine and the headphones. CDs were useful for transporting music between computers, but now I've got external HDs (and two computers) I back everything up on. I only burn a CD to have music in my car (which once I buy a new stereo in the next few weeks, that will be completely moot). Flash drives have replaced CDs for transferring data too (for me anyway)

For me though, it's about convenience. I have way too much crap. Storing all of my music on my ipod/computer, and having some of my books on an e-reader is all in the sake of saving a little space and keep stuff from getting lost (it has happened way too much with CDs and books). I don't agree with everything becoming digital, since that will alienate a large percentage of the population, but it's nice that its there.

[Nami]

Noooooo, I don't want CDs to be gone. I love collecting them and having them in my bookshelf and look at the artworks.

If they stop producing (or selling) them, I'll never finish my collection…

I hate change!

[Luphrecio]

Thats not totally true…

DJ's (myself included) will be using DJs for a LONG time to come.

Sure the CDJs coming out now have usb support, and you can use a laptop to dj as well nowadays but if something happens, you NEED to have CDs of your music on hand period, there is no getting around that. . .unless you want to be booed out of the club/off the stage/whatever.

Also, many DJs LIKE using CDs most of the time, especially if the venue they DJ at doesn't have the newest top of the line equipment that supports usb/laptops (most clubs do but not on every floor, and some venues. . . .are just bad with that.)

Basically, having CDs on top of all their other equipment is something a good DJ has at all times.

[Zkaiser]

Well they need to create a solid way for me to blast my music in my car.

[Nolus]

I love looking through my tiny CD collection. I have less than 10 CDs, but that doesn't mean I don't like them. I just means that I've recently started to buy the CDs of my favourite artists. I understand why is it good to have legally downloaded music (for example, I can't find my two favourite albums of a band I really like, which really sucks). On the other hand, I have the same opinion as with books: bookshelves looks really good with hundreds of books on them; reading a book is an experience in itself, or at least for me.

Then again, I'm a person who thinks technology develops a little too fast.

[Elisabeth Heart]

I have very, very few music CDs. The problem is that I mostly listen to anime or video games ost, and those are really hard to find in stores here.
So yeah, I download. I am a grownup now, I could totally afford to buy CDs, but it is so much easier to download them anyway.

And so, I don't think I will really miss CDs as much as I would miss DVDs, or game disks/cartridges.