CDs still sell more than digital downloads, nearly 2 to 1...

[jrt12]

who knew?!? The NPD Group (a major retail research group) released figures for the first half of 2009 and found that CDs (defined as albums with 12+ tracks) made up 65% of sales vs. digital downloads at 35%. also, let me qualify, these are US sales only.

but either way, i'm pretty surprised! who knew that people were still buying physical albums. i know i do, but i figured its just the die hard fans. of course, digital sales are growing while physical sales are dropping... but i thought they'd be at least neck and neck by now.

full article if anyone cares (its short though):

http://www.twice.com/article/327820-NPD_CD_Still_King_For_Now.php?nid=2402&source=title&rid=5293936

also, i was surprised to see WM so far ahead as leading retailer for physical cd purchases. I woulda though Amazon had that top spot... they were 4th!

 

[Harry Hughes]

A lot of people still feel you don't get the full product unless you get the physical copy with booklet and all, so it's not too surprising.

 

[Torniojaws]

Yeah, that's about the same percentage distribution as I see in my sales.

 

[Airborne]

I still buy CD's.
Love to put a new CD in my good old hi-fi system.

 

[egan.]

I'm not surprised at all. The Cd was declared "dead" when paid downloads only accounted for 10% of the sales market.
Of course paid legal downloads only only account for 5% of music acquired online.

Do the math and that means that only 15% of music is actually paid for.
Do some different math and you'll see that CD's only account for about 10% of the total music acquired (combining legal and illegal numbers).

 

[jrt12]

i've been hearing about the death of the cd so much over the last few years, and if you listened to the RIAA, they act like it already is dead. i thought we were well on our way to being an ipod nation/generation and wondered if anyone under the age of 30 even bought physical cds anymore.

its good to know... i remember someone on here asking a little while ago whether they should even print cds or just sell digital songs. made me think for a minute if it'd be a waste of money to print cds once i'm done with my project. however, i love the medium too much... i knew i'd have to. its good to know that people are still buying them.

 

[Metaltastic]

Over the past couple of months, I've purchased mp3 albums from Amazon mp3 (never paid for an mp3 before that), and while I used to advocate it, now it just feels kind of stupid and substanceless, especially when the CD version is only a couple of bucks more! (though I also only buy new CD's, as buying used seems 100% pointless to me; since all the money goes only to the seller, I might as well just pirate it and drop the pretense)

 

[egan.]

i've been hearing about the death of the cd so much over the last few years, and if you listened to the RIAA, they act like it already is dead. i thought we were well on our way to being an ipod nation/generation and wondered if anyone under the age of 30 even bought physical cds anymore.

I think those are still fair concerns given this:

...only 15% of music is actually paid for.
...CD's only account for about 10% of the total music acquired

 

[Metaltastic]

I still buy CD's.
Love to put a new CD in my good old hi-fi system.

Dare I ask how old you are?

 

[botus99]

I'm EAGERLY hoping and anticipating a return of vinyl. Assuming the CD medium "dies" (which is only a matter of time), record companies will be looking for a better way of distributing albums physically.

Tapes? - Hell no
CD's/Super CD's/etc? - Whats the point
8 Tracks - .....

Unless a new medium is invented and promoted like a secretary with "highly qualifying talents" I really think vinyl could make a return. I much prefer artwork from a 12" LP than a booklet that will inevitably have Mt. Dew spilled on it by some careless niece or nephew. In addition, you can't "pirate" a vinyl without some equipment that costs twice as much as your car to duplicate it. Ripping would be pretty pointless; just download the mp3. I've ripped LP's but ultimately always go for the mastered for CD mp3's unless I'm gonna take out and play the damn vinyl... which is more fun anyway

Sorry to thread hijack

 

[Metaltastic]

Ack, not a vinyl fan here - with artwork, I look at it once, then shrug and put it on a shelf for the rest of time, and I do all my music listening at my computer or in my car, neither of which are vinyl-friendly formats. I mean, it's cool, do what you like, I'm just saying I think I'm in the majority of music listeners, so I highly doubt vinyl will come back as anything close to a dominant medium (to say nothing about not being able to skip tracks on the fly, how can you expect people to live without that now that they've gotten used to it? )

 

[jrt12]

vinyl has made a comeback, albeit a small one... i remember reading an article a few months ago that Best Buy even began selling vinyl in select stores. Not sure how big this distribution was, but i imagine if Best Buy is doing it, there must be a number of more specialty shops that are offering it as well. and there are a number of vinyl-ripping USB turntables available now, from Audio Technica and Denon, as well as the lower end DJ stuff like Gemini.

 

[Metaltastic]

Ooh, the vinyl ripping turntables idea is something I was totally unaware of, so that's cool - but honestly, I can't imagine it ever being anything more than a niche market (and another thing is durability, CD's, if well taken care of, can be played an infinite number of times with zero degradation, vinyls not so much)

 

[PhilTheBeard]

i dig vinyl still i have a cattle decapitation full length on vinyl and it is brutal as fuck. but i still always buy cd's and just throw them on my ipod. just so i don't have to fumble with cd's while trying to find out what to jam to on long road trips and at work

 

[egan.]

I'm EAGERLY hoping and anticipating a return of vinyl. Assuming the CD medium "dies" (which is only a matter of time), record companies will be looking for a better way of distributing albums physically.

I think your thesis is flawed. I wouldn't assume a physical medium is necessary.

Vinyl has a future as a niche market and that's about it. It keeps growing but it's still less than 1% of music sales which means it's .15% of total music consumption currently. Ultimately it's just too expensive and inconvenient to be a primary meduim in an era where we carry our music collections in our front pocket.

 

[GarethSE]

when i start buying music again, it will be on vinyl if and when i can, i know that much

 

[jrt12]

i think the USB turntable is geared predominantly toward DJs... i mean, most people (outside of DJs) that listen to vinyl, listen to it for its superior audio quality. so i dont think they'd want to rip them to mp3s.

so while vinyl will probably never be anything more than a blip of a niche market, i must say, you gotta give it props for lasting this long. several formats have been created and buried since then... tapes, minidisc, laserdisc, etc

 

[Metaltastic]

Assuming it's the same master of audio that was recorded to digital, though, how can vinyl sound any better? In the old days, when more stuff was recorded entirely in analog and had to be converted to digital to be put on a CD, then I could see the argument for the superiority of vinyl because it was a direct analog transfer, but since damn near everything these days ends up in the digital realm before it's released (even studios that record to 2" tape almost always eventually import it into PT for editing), the only reasons I can see vinyl sounding better are a) if there was a quieter master made specifically for vinyl (don't think too many artists/labels consider that a worthwhile investment, though I could be wrong on that) and/or b) some inherent sound quality of vinyl that people like, though that would mean that it's actually less true to the original recording than a CD is

 

[jrt12]

you'd have to ask a vinyl enthusiast that. I know that the game has changed significantly since the digital vs analog argument began. Its been about 10 years since i've had a hi-fi, audiophile type system, so i cant compare anymore.

but to me that argument has become moot, as other issues such as the death of the cd, the loudness wars and the 128 bit mp3 generation pose as larger issues in my mind.