End of the CD by 2013??

[Symphony]

http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/music-labels-in-secret-plot-to-kill-off-cds--1039130

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Why only Amazon, I wonder why labels would want to limit the availability. Still it's all rumour at this point and it's not the first time journalists have been eager to announce the death of the CD. I might be being optimistic but I think there'll always be a CD market (there's still a vinyl one of sorts). I just hope it doesn't ramp up prices.

 

[Kingface]

I would seriously hate it if this happens. If it gets to the point, whether sooner or later, where CDs either meet their end or become ridiculously expensive, I would have to get some kind of Digital Music Player that shows you artwork for the albums and can be connected to a Hi-Fi for Home listening.

Would hate that in comparison to actually having and using CDs. Surely they will always be a market for some kind of Physical Music Product that includes quality artwork, especially such as your fancy Limited Edition stuff?

 

[Thematt202]

To be honest, I'm kind of in the other camp regarding physical CDs. If i'm listening to music in the house, I will either plug my iphone into my hifi or stream an album from my hard drive to my TV/surround sound system. If I'm driving, I will use the factory fitted iPhone connection in the car.

For me, the only benefit of buying a physical CD is for the booklet. Once a digital copy has been created, the disc goes straight into the CD rack, never again to see the light of day!

 

[1928]

I don't see it happening but then again, you can never tell in this strange industry. I don't care if they become less common as long as they're still available - but I don't want them to become expensive. I still listen to CDs all the time in the car, when my CD player works (hopefully getting a new stereo for Christmas or my birthday - fingers crossed), and I adore my collection of shelves of CDs. Booklets, artwork, just having something to hold feels so much more special than saying "yeah I got the MP3s the other day." Tangible product = drool.

It's hard telling these days whether I'm just jaded (at the age of 20, no less!) and hate change or if this is just a bad way to go... but I really don't want physical things to go away. I don't even care if they're not CDs. Just keep giving me art, booklets, the whole thing. Digital 'booklets' - no, thanks... If my computer dies or my hard drive gets fried I don't want to have to redownload every little thing again...

 

[Powerray]

well i rather like having a cd or vinyl or some kind with the cool artwork, lyrics and cool notes in the booklet
maybe a step to put the cd business in front of the digital download is to put a higher quality file on the disc than your standard mp3, or to produce higher quality discs than the standard cd's
it's nicer to hold something in your hands than having something in the cloud (like everybody is talking nowadays)

 

[MetalCodd]

The CD already has a higher quality file than the standard mp3 (though it does depend on the bit-rate of the mp3). Whether you can hear the difference or not depends on what speaker system you're using and how trained your ear is.

 

[giodude]

I hope its not the end of cd's, i like the cd and the booklet etc... i have about 400 cds.

 

[Powerray]

i have over 700, so they will become exclusives in time and ask a lot of money for it

 

[MetalCodd]

The CD still makes up around half of all music sales, and sales are not going down that slowly. I get the feeling that many companies want to force it out and get everybody to buy downloads so that they don't have to pay the extra involved in distributing physical media.

 

[Andiferum]

If the majors were to do this, it would only serve to prove that they are even more out of touch with their market than they thought they were.

 

[The Crystal King]

As much as I love having the cd and the artwork, it will be a lot better for the environment if we move to digital music completely. Think of all the fuel and and energy that is used in cd production, and all the plastic that is produced in order to keep the cd industry going. Then think of all the fuel and energy used to ship cds across the world just so we can have a nice product in our hands. Then think of all the waste when cds are thrown away or the energy required to recycle them.

I agree that cds sound better though! mp3s are often compressed more.

I think the ultimate thing would be to have an ability to print our the full booklet and maybe some artwork on our own printers and maintain our collection that way, like a set of cards or booklets that would be in sync with the collection we have.

I think ultimately we won't even have a cd collection on our hard drives - it will all be in "the cloud", stored in apple or amazon servers, so we don't have to worry about our HD getting destroyed. And wheverever we are, we will be able to connect into it - no need to copy and paste from one drive to another

Interesting times...

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Hm, food for thought there Colin. It's a good point about the wastefulness/energy and environmental demands involved in CD production and distribution, I hadn't thought of that before. Perhaps moving to digipaks to cut back on plastic use?

The fans who want to add to their collections or feel like they're getting a little something more for the money they pay won't be the only ones losing out if everything went into the cloud though I think. For one, the bands/labels themselves will have to lower prices since I can't imagine people paying CD prices for an intangible series of 1s & 0s but perhaps they could offer a little something extra - lossless compression like FLAC? But that'll increase bandwidth/server costs and only be for those with better internet connections. Bonus tracks, videos, behind the scenes footage, exclusive photos or some such could be added to justify the price but I'd think it still wouldn't be enough for most consumers out there. I also have a mistrust of buying something but it not being in my own hands, forever, to do with what I please. Having it in the cloud brings up DRM issues which'll only turn more people away.

Personally, I think keep pushing forward with the CD and the online distribution models simultaneously but bring something extra to those who still fork out for the physical product - chuck in an autograph, a bonus track or two, etc and I'm sure CDs will live longer.

 

[1928]

Man, about the autograph/bonus track thing, I totally agree. I shelled out 40-something USD for my import of Blood Alliance and damn if that bonus track wasn't worth half the cost And I jumped right on Rhapsody's latest album to get the very special edition with a personalized autograph. Simple stuff like that definitely matters to me, anyway

 

[kogasu]

Nooo! This can't happen! I NEED CDs! I'm still building up my sad collection LOL! I DO listen to my mp3 player a lot more than a CD player but that's because it's much easier to carry those than a CD player and a bunch of CDs, plus I would horribly FREAK OUT if any of my CDs get scratched, and carrying them around puts much risk on them, but yeah, like most of you guys say, I like having something physical to represent the album with the art work and the notes and everything. I always make sure to read everything in and on the CD.

As with the quality, yes, CDs sound so much better than mp3s but from what I've seen (or heard) over here with all of the "popular music" these days, people don't care about their quality of music like that. Most people I'd say, don't even notice it.

I hope there really isn't an end to physical media spending money on something that's just digital just doesn't feel right to me sometimes.

 

[BodomGaiden]

Until people demand a portable FLAC player or another physical way to distribute music the cd will become an enemy to major labels and the shit-p3 will be the mainstream audio file format for a while.

 

[1928]

Colin brings up wonderful points that I have actually not thought about before. He makes a wonderful case for the environment and energy reduction. I do like the idea of being able to purchase some kind of printer that allows us to make our own booklets and we can buy our own jewel cases (they're very cheap as is). That would probably amount to costing more money on average for each CD than we already pay now, but I think I would be willing to do something like that if it really ended up as such. Then again I don't see this happening anytime soon (as neat as it sounds).

I still can't get enough of the physical copy, however. I'll admit that I actually enjoy alphabetizing my CD collection because I get to look at just how many albums I own, how many of them are rare/special editions or just hard to find in general, how cool they look, etc.! I don't like knowing that something I'm very passionate about could be on the way out within a few years. Do that many people not cherish a physical item anymore, a la the Kindle and other tablets, or is it just music specifically where people just think it's a right to have music for free?

I am starting to see more backlash to digital distribution lately on various music and music news websites, with lots of comments from people hoping the CD still sticks around. Sometimes I feel this is only a position supported by the people posting here on the Power Quest board, so it makes me feel better to read the same things from people all over the world.

Hurts even more to think about after reading Timo Tolkki's announcement on an apparent hiatus from music.

 

[Gibbon]

Nooo! This can't happen! I NEED CDs! I'm still building up my sad collection LOL! I DO listen to my mp3 player a lot more than a CD player but that's because it's much easier to carry those than a CD player and a bunch of CDs, plus I would horribly FREAK OUT if any of my CDs get scratched, and carrying them around puts much risk on them, but yeah, like most of you guys say, I like having something physical to represent the album with the art work and the notes and everything. I always make sure to read everything in and on the CD.

As with the quality, yes, CDs sound so much better than mp3s but from what I've seen (or heard) over here with all of the "popular music" these days, people don't care about their quality of music like that. Most people I'd say, don't even notice it.

I hope there really isn't an end to physical media spending money on something that's just digital just doesn't feel right to me sometimes.

My thoughts exactly