Is the Death of the CD Looming?

I bought a CD two weeks ago (well, it was a pre-order and it arrived two weeks ago). Digital downloads are low quality mp3s which aren't up to my elitist standards. If all digital downloads were available in EAC ripped FLAC, I'd definitely go that route as long as the extras were included. For example, there was a box set of Nevermore's latest album that included tablature, backing tracks, and demo videos of Jeff playing two songs on the album. Pretty cool bonus material; too bad Jeff plays a 7-string and I've only got 6-stringers.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
Instant gratification vs. downloading.
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If your version of instant gratification for a CD is driving/walking to a music store, waiting in line then going home... over downloading. You either A: need a faster connection or B: buy a house as your presumably homeless or squatting the store. :p

And I'm fine with the CD dieing. As an audio person I cant stand the level is distortion and noise CD recordings are these days and like mentioned enjoy vinyl (if i really like the band). Downloading a 224-320 mp3 is fine with me as CD audio, to me, is really no better. I'll save the extreme cost, travel time to buy, and time spent ripping to have it with 3 clicks. Plus losing the CD will finally stick it to recording companies for overcharging consumers for years. I really really hope bands start self recording and selling their music from their own websites to bypass the distribution middle man.
 
Depends on where you are at in the world. In some developing areas, optical media is just taking off. Many of the used CDs and DVDs the 1st world sells off find their way to the developing world.
 
I still buy CDs when there's some special bonus included. It's disheartening though when I rip a CD and am left with digital flutter in the last few tracks. Could be the software...could be a CD manufacturing defect or anti-ripping feature. The download versions never have that trouble, which means I buy fewer and fewer CDs over time. Otherwise, I get my music via the Zune service or Amazon MP3 store.
 
Out side of DVD movies, I don't buy disks of any kind these days if it can be avoided. All of my games are purchased via Steam and all music I've purchased came via iTunes.
 
I prefer CDs. The quality is good and I can play it in the house, in the car, on the computer. A digital download probably gets locked to a device and they would expect me to buy multiple copies of it to listen to if that device is not always handy.
 
I had already stopped buying music before mp3s took off. Mainly because I had all the music I wanted for my needs and most modern "music" turns my stomach.

Then Napster hit the scene and I went on a binge of downloading and buying. I bought about 15 CDs after I started using Napster, but I also downloaded lots as well.

Then the music labels shut down Napster, and started suing 12 year olds and grannies so I said F them and I haven't purchased any music since. I will never send another dollar in RIAA coffers again. Not CDs, and not iTunes, etc....

I don't even bother looking on Torrents because music todays seems dominated by the Gagas and Biebers...

But if for some strange reason I changed my mind, I would likely get a CD over a download.
 
Exavior said:
Most motherboards that i have see have drvers on DVD for the past few years, programs and games now come on DVD. So i would say yes to data cds being dead or pretty close as people have moved from cd to dvd for storage.
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meh random stuff. I had to reflash a couple 9600GSO bios a while back. I didnt have a floppy drive and ended up using a program that emulates a floppy using a CD-ROM. It's not DVD-ROM compatible. Don't get me wrong I agree it's working it's way out the door, but Data CD's are now taking the place of floppies for the time being.
 
Cruiza said:
A few weeks ago? I buy CDs instead of digital downloads since they're higher quality.
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This. I'd like digital downloads to take off, but only if I can get CD quality or better.
 
I'll only buy audio CD occasionally if it's a favorite album of mine, such as Celtic Woman and Pink Floyd albums just so I have it. But I'll still rip them to my iPhone and computer at high quality and put the CD away in storage. That way 50 years down the road I can eBay then for a million bucks :-P
 
badcaps said:
CD audio as a format may be uncompressed but, sadly, many productions are range compressed during mastering to sound louder.

What has your experience been with WMA Lossless? I never used it when my Zune was my DAP.
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Overall, I'm quite happy. However, I am no audiophile, as there are a couple high end frequencies I simply cannot hear due to hearling damage suffered as a child.
 
I still buy CDs. I have a collection of about 250 albums, and I still buy at least a half-dozen new ones a year. I like to have a physical, uncompressed copy (well, as uncompressed as the production team leaves it).

I used to purchase dozens of albums a year, but you know how it goes: the more music you buy, the less new stuff you have to choose from.

CD format is not going anywhere anytime soon. The popularity of DVD and Blu-Ray guarantees that optical media players will remain almost ubiquitous on computers for the next 10-20 years. And since CD is a virtually no-cost to support on any optical drive, we will have wide support for a good chunk of my lifetime.

Eventually CD will NEARLY disappear, but it will be kept alive in the same way people have kept LP going.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Overall, I'm quite happy. However, I am no audiophile, as there are a couple high end frequencies I simply cannot hear due to hearling damage suffered as a child.
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If you have a Zune HD, just use wma pro 10, I doubt you'd pass an ABX test at 128kbps.
 
As many people have stated, CDs will stick around so people can rip digital audio to their preference and so they can get music that isn't readily available on online services like Amazon or iTunes. I know thats why I still buy CDs when I can. If Amazon or iTunes starts offering lossless files (I mean, Apple owns ALAC and FLAC is royalty free, so I'm not sure why they haven't, I guess the storage and bandwidth requirements are too high?) then CDs will seriously be done for.

Frankly, I wish the music industry would dump CDs/CD-DA and switch to DVD-Audio.
 
I consider mp3's as promotional value only. They sound like crap on a high end system. I own none.
 
I use them to burn CDs as data to play on my cars stereo. It reads MP3s on disk....... so I can fit a 800mbs worth of music on each disk. VS just one album on a disk.

My girl doesn't have a computer or player capable of reading MP3, OGG or FLAC so I just burn her music disk by disk.
 
I don't listen to music, too many TV shows to watch. :p

During my commute I listen to Satellite radio. If there is must have CD, I might buy it but that hasn't happened in over 2 years.
 
We're in the next transitional phase of personal entertainment.
First music was only available at concerts and/or performances, then we had personal media and players invented, this went through several physical mediums, and now, we're going into the software stage, where everything is going to be digital media.
 
CounTDookU23 said:
I use them to burn CDs as data to play on my cars stereo. It reads MP3s on disk....... so I can fit a 800mbs worth of music on each disk.
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Same here. Since most of my listening happens in the car, I don't need the quality expected by many on this thread.

Still, I expect downloadable quality to get better.
 
I'm a sucker for special editions, extra artwork and stuff. Mostly, I'd hate to see CD's go as I don't know what the likelihood of getting digital lossless music from online stores would be, I don't think Apple even offers ALAC downloads do they?
 
lol optical media. CD's in my opinion are already obsolete.
However DVD and Blu-Ray are still a little bit more useful.
 
Anyone remember games for example Call of Duty 2 that needed 6 CD's and had to wait around to so you can insert the next disk and continue the installation. I was reinstalling Call of Duty 2 the other day for some memory gaming and was thinking "Wish I had the DVD version of this game"
 
2001-2002 for me I think it last was. Honestly music has gotten worse as I have gotten older, 80's-90's was far better imo. They're occasional songs that I do enjoy, but I usually get those via dl or just hear them on xm/sirius or local radio if I bother to listen to music.

The only disc based media I purchase is Blu-ray, dvd movies, console games and pc games. I still like having those in physical media for the collection point of view and b/c I like to know it's always there if I need/want to use it as others have said.

I do purchase some games digitally though via psn/xbl/steam.

I hope I never have to rely on it being available only digitally to redownload if something happens to my original, my backup or my backup's backup b/c current downloads can't meet the quality of a good disc no matter the format atm. ;)
 
Cruiza said:
A few weeks ago? I buy CDs instead of digital downloads since they're higher quality.
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Yep, I can't stand the sound of digital downloads. When I iTunes songs first came out, they all had a hollow sound to them. When iTunes "upgraded" to iTunes plus sound, it was okay. I still buy on cd, unless the item is way to much.

I blame iPods and their crappy headphones, who wants cd quality sound? The only time I buy are downloads are "exclusive" songs on iTunes or Amazon.
 
I'm always amused by the people who complain about "low quality Mp3's" yet listen with ibuds or Bose.

You can't tell the difference- you just think you can (unless the track was poorly ripped or is at a super low bitrate)

There are plenty of blind tests out there try one- I had to listen VERY carefully to tell the difference between even 128k static bitrate Mp3s and Wav with a $400 pair of studio monitors and a dedicated DAC/Headphone amplifier. At 320k bitrate properly encoded, anyone who tells you they can tell the difference is lying or deluding themselves.
 
I'll stick to the higher quality CD thank you very much.....and yes, I can tell the difference.
 
I still buy 4 or 5 CDs every month. I prefer to have whole albums, instead of just one or two songs, and I prefer to have the physical media. I immediately rip the CDs to MP3's and never touch them again because I only listen to MP3s on my Zune or iPOD, but I just like having the CDs around. ;)
 
kring said:
Atleast 4-5 years and it was a gift for an older relative who doesn't have a computer, needed new music for his new car which didn't come with cassette player.

I'm still tossed on the whole bit-rate. I can definitely hear loss in quality at 128 and below. but once getting to a good 192/256 (and VBR) it seems to not matter and the size of the files gets too large. I actually hate 320 because it's big with no benefit. 60-90MB for standard album is plenty, complete waste to have 220MB albums.

Like JPG, on the photo shop 1-12 scale, anything above 8 really yields no benefit for the exponential size growth if you are just printing 4x6's or 5x7's.
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I usually rip use 320 VBR, since there's not much diference in size over 192 CBR.
I can tell a big diference in quality with 128 MP3's, but once you get over 192, it's almost impossible to hear any difference unless you have high quality playback hardware.

As for JPG & PhotoShop, anything below 10 is noticable at full zoom, so I usually save at 11. The problem with Jpg's is if you need to edit or resize picture again, you will loose even more quality.


As for CD's, haven't bought any in years, or downloaded anything in years either.
If anything new worth listening to ever comes out, then I'll have to decide which way to go.....
 
Difference between 320 and lossless I can't tell the difference anymore.

192 is good for everything but live uses (performances, etc)... Which means anything in your car, road, ears, home, etc...

My ears are well above average... Of course as time goes on I just don't care about nit picking AQ as much as I used to, either.

So digital is quite a viable alternative already.
 
nutzo said:
As for JPG & PhotoShop, anything below 10 is noticable at full zoom, so I usually save at 11. The problem with Jpg's is if you need to edit or resize picture again, you will loose even more quality.
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And that's the exact reason I refuse to purchase MP3's, even the 256kbps downloads offered by Amazon that arguably sound the same as CD.

If I'm going to fork over $9.99 for an album I could get for free with little effort, it damn well better be lossless so I can convert it to the format(s) of my choice, be it now or 10 years in the future.
 
brettjrob said:
And that's the exact reason I refuse to purchase MP3's, even the 256kbps downloads offered by Amazon that arguably sound the same as CD.

If I'm going to fork over $9.99 for an album I could get for free with little effort, it damn well better be lossless so I can convert it to the format(s) of my choice, be it now or 10 years in the future.
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Do you people not comprehend "copy and paste"??? Copy the file, paste it somewhere else.

The MP3 format isn't going anywhere.
 
I know what your argument is... But it's based on the assumption that MP3 might go somewhere. It's not. I think we'd sooner see a change in lossless formats before MP3.
 
I pretty regularly buy used CDs. Picked up Murmur for $1 last week on Amazon. Often pricing is much, much better than digital downloads -- but that isn't helping the new CD market any.
 
TexUs said:
Do you people not comprehend "copy and paste"??? Copy the file, paste it somewhere else.

The MP3 format isn't going anywhere.
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Really? With the exponential increase in disk space and bandwidth, you don't think a lossless format like FLAC could eventually become ubiquitous, if not soon then a decade down the road?

That aside, I simply fail to see the advantage of being locked into a single lossy format when I can purchase a CD for the same price and do whatever the hell I please with it. What if I purchase a device that supports AAC or OGG and decide I can get away with a lower bitrate than MP3 to save space? (Actually, this isn't a hypothetical: I'll be purchasing my first Android smartphone soon, and making the best use of my 8GB microSD card will be imperative).

To top it all off, I often pay significantly less for CD's than their iTunes/Amazon MP3 equivalents by buying used.

I can understand why casual listeners with no budget constraints might prefer the ease of current digital downloads, but this music-loving college student won't be convinced anytime soon.
 
For music CDs, I just bought one (OK Go, they had a special deal) a couple weeks ago. Prior to that.... Uh.... Maybe three years ago? A CD for my wife for an artist that wasn't on any of the digital stores yet - artist name escapes me. The last one for *ME* that wasn't OK Go would have been at least six years ago.
 
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