Is the CD Becoming Obsolete?

[HTHOLIC]

Its the consumers that suffer both ways (Atleast if ur an audiophile or Dj)

Nobody loves the RIaa and cds are a thing of the past so everyone downloads music. Often music can be quality 192kbps (or crappy 192kbps depending on encoding), or it can be a very good 320kbps.

However, this is the more of the exception than the rule and even so it helps having an uncompressed flac

Pirate p2p services actually do have flac (free lossless audio codec) files.

Ya, its so convienient to download the music you want.

Here is the thing: If I have 50 songs to download , including some 80's songs from depeche mode or the eagles or whatever. , I am going to buy 50 cds? (that would cost me $500) and I wouldnt have use for a lot of the extra songs that werent hits.

talk about 200 songs and then its $2,000. Thats if you can even FIND the CD.

So the RIAA is wrong to charge people the CDS.

Its the affluent (if you have an affluent music budget and THE DJ's who really need access to the orginal).

Dj's do need access to original cds and lps for both quality and mixing purposes. Those types can afford to buy cds all over the places.

Its not just a CD problem:

1: Price $10 for a Cd even if you want a couple songs
2: The cd is copy-protected meaning you cant copy!

So I spend a couple hundred on cds such as the ones on Dts, ie diana krall or whoever else and maybe some pop artists and NORAH JONES

In addition for storage which is fine for Home theater closests,

So um I shell out to the RIAA and music industry and I cant even Copy my CDs for backup purposes!


Consumers suffer both ways, There is no way a 128kbps MP3 or higher bitrates can compare to an uncompressed CD.

Although SACD AND DVD-AUDIO are superior, benefits are unclear because people cant tell the difference. However, sacd and dvda are multichannel audio. Cds cant do uncompressed multi-channel.

3. Space limitation: So you get an uncompressed mix of songs - lets say reggae gold or top 40- but due to cds limitation of space which my be solved one days. You still wont want to take audiophile music with you, it will be too many cds.

Remember, If its copy-protected and DRM'd, you cant copy it or encode it onto lossless flac. So um the RIAA loses, Why should they PUNISH audio-phile loving customers who would wooulnd't mind paying atleast a compromise of $2-5 for a CD that they can copy. It sure beats the

freeloaders who download compressed audio off the net, either piracy or itunes.

As I said again blu and hd dvd can Win over SACD,DVD,DVD-A AND THE CD

Size and popularity will make multi-channel DTS-HD OR DOLBY TRUE HD 24bit loseless 7 channel audio so popular. Even the xbox 360 and mainstream people will be able to play it.

Will music artists, catch on?, and what about pre- 2009 music (it will take a couple years for the technology to go mainstream- ie denon coming out with its own bluray or hd dvd player).

Will consumers have it bad both ways, especially the audiophile. Gee, are we going to have multi-channel 24 bit audio lossless from the web, doubtful.

 

[MDS]

It's the same old argument that if a CD only has a few songs you like then its ok to download the songs for free.

You know sometimes when you buy a CD you find that you end up liking a lot more of the songs than the one or two you thought were the only ones you wanted. That is often the case for me with compilation CDs.

Now if you still don't want to buy CDs and get a bunch of songs you might not like then fine...BUY individual songs. There is a huge difference between sharing copies of songs with friends and family vs making available hundreds or thousands of songs for a million anonymous strangers to take free of charge.

The ONLY case where I think downloading for 'free' could be justified is when the song is long out of print and likely never will ever be re-released in any format.

 

[j_garcia]

I have that problem right now, a CD I want for a few particular songs has long been out of print and I can't find it anywhere. I have the cassete...but no tape deck...haven't checked for the MP3s because I just don't really care for them much.

I never said there wasn't any good music out there, just that solid artists putting out good, complete albums, are becoming more rare. The really great music I'm finding is entirely by word of mouth.

 

[MDS]

I've had good success finding out of print music on EBay (like King Kobra III, Shooting Star, Frozen Ghost, Tommy Shaw).

http://www.htfcds.com (Hard To Find CDs) often has things I have been looking for but they know they are hard to find and charge exorbitant prices for some of them. I paid $35 for King Kobra III when HTFCDS wanted $180!

 

[cfrizz]

Well one good thing about music stores is that most of them have stations were you can listen to snippets of entire albums. I've done this with a few artists who's song I liked.

Well guess what? It was the ONLY song I liked out of the entire album! Every other song sounded alike, was played in the same key, had the same tempo, etc.

So the only choice for me is to hope to find in on a download for .99, 1.29, whatever.

So between the prices, & the lack of talent/creativity, consumers are caught between a rock & a hard place.

 

[Boogerman]

Downloads

I do pay for the downloads.And my van's CD player plays MP3s directly,no conversion to regular audio needed.This way,I have the music I want,none of the filler(crap).And if the disc gets stolen,well I can just burn another copy for my use and chances are,the thief can't use the stolen disc.
The music I download usually come from the artists directly.
I recently bought a USB turntable to convert some of my old LP records for use in the van,as I travel a lot and spend a lot of time behind the wheel.
Having my music helps in the travel time,keeping me alert and awake.
Stating this,again I restate that as far as the Music industry goes,they have forever lost a customer.The artists themselves I will purchase music directly,but nothing to the RIAA and the MPAA.(otherwise I heard called the MAFIAA).