Have CDs had their day?

I think this is a question about the genre(s) of music that you listen to and the way in which you like to listen.

If you are a very keen music enthusiast, regardless of the genre(s) you favour, who likes to sit down and **listen** you’re probably going to continue to buy CD’s and even Vinyl LP’s because you probably own a decent Hi-Fi system that you have invested considerable money in, so that you can hear the music reproduced to the highest quality. Anyone who is a real audiophile will generally tell you that any digital reproduction is not as good as analogue (so CD’s not as good as LP’s for example) but also that (and this is scientific fact too) the lower the sampling rate of the digital music, the lower the quality of the audio output.
Downloads are only just getting to the CD quality rate even now, but most methods of downloading degrade the quality again as the data is transferred.

On the other hand, if you are the type of person who’s idea of **Listening** is to have your iPod playing as you travel on a bus, or to have the music on in one room whilst you iron and chat to friends in the next room, the the quality of downloads is many times more than good enough for you not to be able to hear the difference between them and CD’s or other sources, so downloads are surely going to be the better option what with convenience, cost and storage space for the media taken into account.

I”m somewhere in the middle: I have reasonably good Hi-Fi, including turntable for my LP’s, but I only use that when I am in the room where it is, listening properly.

If I’m just nostalgic for an 80’s hit to play to remind me of my school days or a 70’s tune that has come back to life thanks to a paint advert, I’ll just download the odd tracks concerned and play on my mac or iPod: it’s not worth the money to buy any media for on odd track to take me down memory lane.

I’d hazard a guess that quite a lot of music lovers are somewhere in the middle area too?

I actually use a lot of audio CDs (plays etc) so my need is slightly different. I also buy compilation CDs on-line from Ebay and Amazon cheap and then burn to either CDs DVDs or MP3s on to my various players. I can get over 10 hours entertainment on one DVD – or 200 tunes on my MP3 player.

I still have a record player deck but it was only used by me to transfer my records to CD years ago. Though have used it to transfer music to CD for friends.

As all of my CDs DVDs MP3s all play faultlessly on my various PCs – I doubt if the burnable disc medium will become redundant – though the reduced capacity of the CD may well make it surplus to requirements But the laser burn system is rather more permanent than a hard disk – which is the major reason why downloaded files are not the best medium for permanence.

Whether or not HMV shops become redundant is another question. Provided Royal Mail remains as reliable as it is now – I can see record shops closing

As an estimate, I bought 10-15 albums worth of music last year, 2 on CD, the rest download.

Generally speaking, the music I downloaded was music I’ve heard in the past, “old classics” etc, music that I then put onto my mp3 player to exercise to, or background music for housework etc.

The 2 CDs I bought on the other hand, were a bit more special – brand new albums that I was very much looking forward to listening to, from artists that I really like. I was very excited about receiving them (online purchases!), and I made sure I made some time to sit down and listen carefully on my hi-fi system!

Last time I went into HMV was a few months ago, I went in on the off-chance of finding something of interest, but I found the selection to be quite limited, and prices quite high so I walked out empty handed.

I think new music CDs will slowly die out.

I’m a fan of all forms of music but I still like to listen to and purchase CDs (and receive – 5 more over Christmas 🙂 ). I still think CDs offer the best sound overall – the difference compared to LPs is amazing, I disagree that just because it’s digital and formed of 1s and 0s that it’s somehow not pure – to the human ear any loss of quality from these 1s and 0s is undetectable. The grooves on an LP are hardly perfect. But listen to the same CD track as a compressed MP3 and you’ll most definitely notice the difference.

But CDs also offer something else – the context in which the artist wants their music to be listened to. A single MP3 download just gives you that track and in a much inferior format. The opportunity to listen to an artist’s other music diminishes and that, in my opinion, is a huge shame. How many CDs do you listen to where the music just grows on you and you begin to appreciate all those additional tracks never destined to be released or played on the radio? Those album tracks provide the context for an artist and, more importantly, the listener. They’re like the pretty, but loss-making, branch lines of a rail network, the amateur leagues of football that give a Premier league its status, the BBC2 and Channel 4 cult TV shows of this world. Without them, our world would be much, much poorer.

After having 300+ CD’s and now only having a few left (I sold them off on ebay, try doing that with a download) for me CD’s are certainly of no further use. They certainly took up far too much room, even more room than LP’s.
I rarely download an album just pick odd tracks. However, if they included videos of the tracks as well I may consider buying some as I enjoy watching E4 music and it would be nice to be able to build up my own video music library, as well as just a music library, especially with the new technology that will be able to remotely connect to my PC at home from my mobile or tablet. Don’t mention youtube it’s becoming a nightmare to pick a decent official quality video to watch.

I too think that DVD’s should be produced just with music, imagine being able to buy a back catalogue of say ‘NOW’ albums on just a few DVD’s and imagine the collections that could be produced on a Blu-ray disc, I would pay handsomely for a back catalogue of David Bowie on one disc. The music companies have an abundance of opportunities, but as usual greed sets in and they are more concerned with selling their back catalogues at a premium. I have bought the same albums/artists on LP,8Track, DAT and CD and even my parents who bought 78’s and reel to reel tapes are updating their music with CD’s so the companies are winning again and again as new formats come out. They seem to have hit pay dirt with downloads without having to produce anything physical. So it’s about time the music companies gave back and produced physical items that I could treasure, until the next format comes out that is, for instance, why aren’t albums and movies for that matter reproduced on ‘read only’ memory sticks or something, too easy to transfer and copy I guess.

As a classical music buyer, I find the biggest problem is that the sites break long classical works into 5 minute chunks which frequently don’t seem to knit seamlessly together with inevitable sound glitches at the track joins when the music is played in iTunes or burned to a CD (even if I specify no gap when burning the CD).

Digital inspection of the tracks shows that they often have an integral silence at the ends of the tracks which can only be removed with a great deal of digital “fiddling” before burning to a CD.

As long as this persists, I for one will most certainly NOT be buying files, and if they stop making CDs, I shall be much better off financially!! But the last few HMV shops will no doubt go to the wall!

When C.Ds came along they solved the eternal problem of the background noise made by the physical contact of needle on record and the uncertanty of when the needle itself needed replacing. The (classical) music itself has mostly been transferred to C.D. and that which hasn’t can be listened to on newer recordings. Although my vinyl collection contains treasures (happy memories perhaps) there are so many outstanding performances to choose from that most of us can be content with what is available on C.D.

There is a limit (mostly financial) as to how hi fi one gets and, provided there is an acceptable reproducing system to hand, (define acceptable as you wish) the music speaks for itself. I do enjoy hearing the nuances but the music still thrills me when listening away from the big system on portable equipment. The quality of C.D. reproduction is hi enough fi for me. If I want better, I go to live concerts and enjoy the sweet papers and coughs along with the distracting soprano in the second row who reminds me of someone I once knew.

One internal debate that continues is the fact that I shall never listen to all of my CD collection again. Why buy more? It is nice to dip and enjoy something on a whim and who could resist the J.E.G. 2000 pilgrimage – they were a must have – and so the collection increases.

I have chosen ‘Bath CD.s’ as my main supplier. They and other specialists can hold an intelligent conversation about the music and performances and one feels that by supporting them it keeps this expertise alive. It will be a sad day when they can no longer compete with the download merchants.

Regarding downloads. I have a couple, (of performances that have been deleted on CD) but I do like the CD. format. This is partly, of course, because this is the way I have always bought music, so why change? Secondly, early downloads degraded the music and while (as mentioned above) it is still the music that thrills, it is also good to know that one is buying the best available. A C.D. has presence, proper documentation and won’t disappear when the hard drive stops working. Storage is an issue but I like going through my collection without a computer or i pod screen in the way.

I will mourn the day when the CD is confined to history. It provides music without distortion and background noise. How does one improve on that?

There should be a selection in the Vote for All of the Above. I don’t think I favour any one option over the others. They are complementary.

I still by a small number of CDs each year. Less than I did in the last century, but it hasn’t changed so much in the last 10 years as I started using online services. The limiting factor is that I don’t want to store more CDs. I buy absolute favourites because of the pleasure of owning them. But I have to like many tracks off the album – a big difference now is I can get familiar with the whole album before deciding whether to buy. I am still frustrated by the number of CDs I have from the 80s and 90s from which I only really want to hear one or two tracks – not the whole CD.

When I buy, I do it from good record shops if I can – primarily to support them. The best I know is Becks in Munich. The CDs are in the cases on display, and there are lots of players around so you can listen first. A great variety of music, quiet atmosphere, space. I will go out of my way to go there and find things to buy. HMV doesn’t generate the same loyalty – it’s “fast food” retail. I occasionally pick a CD up at the airport for someone I am going to visit, but wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase there. So, unless I can get to a good record shop I would purchase online.

Streaming. Sure. A good way to find out if I like just the track, or the whole CD, and other stuff the artist does. But mostly for research. The majority of background listening is still Radio. In both cases, advertising supported is my preferred model (I am a total supporter of the BBC, but use it almost only for speech not music).

Online purchases. Yes. Mostly I only want to own one to three tracks off an album. So I just buy them. A lot of my listening is done on the iPod/iPad when travelling, so that’s my favourite way to access music, But the majority of my collection is ripped from my back catalog of CDs, and I just top it up with purchases. But over time that is going to become a significant proportion.