Are CDs destined to the same fate as cassettes?

[Lee Maddeford]

How long can the CD survive with the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web? How are musiciens who have never been able to convince record companies to distribute their music reacting? Are "Netlabels" the next step in distributing one's music?

Here are three of many questions I have been asking myself over the past few years. Does anyone care to debate?

[Cecelia Jubal]

While I am not a professional musician, I can come up with a probable answer to that one: The CD is doomed as a musical playback and recording medium, just as its predecessors were/are. The future is hinted at by the iPod; download onto a portable digital player, and go.

The Net, from what I have read, for those musicians whom profit-oriented (and pop-music centered) record labels will not touch, is already the way to be heard and to distribute their works. That is one reason why, at least in the U.S., the recording companies have been so negative toward peer-to-peer sharing and other forms of Internet-based distribution: It bypasses them (and their antiquidated business model), cutting into their profits. Big time. The copyright issue, while it's indeed a legitimate concern, is really the red herring argument here.

IMHO, those who will not change and embrace the Web as the main form of recorded music distribution will go the way of the buggy whip and the Model T Ford...namely, they will disappear. Their counterparts who adopt the changes, and improve on them, will succeed. Yes, this will require a major restructuring of the industry...and it's about time!

[giovannimusica]

ipods are a convenient way of storing lots of recorded music. I am looking into buying one myself. 60GBytes of storage is on the skimpy side, especially if you listen to many large-scale works. If my memory serves me right, you get about 1000 hrs of music on an a 60GByte ipod - thats miserly! Here's an article about ipods:

http://www.smartmoney.com/10things/i...ne2006&pgnum=1

Cheers,

Giovanni

[Farrahcat]

I have an iPod and a Zune MP3 player. I think I'm going to ditch my iPod soon, Anyway, I have thousands of MP3s stored in my iPod and Zune. I ripped all my old CDs. I buy lots of MP3s from iTunes too.

Although I love my digital copies I still buy a physical CD. Why? For collection purposes. And mp3s do not have album covers and free stuff. I always buy two copies all the time. I open one copy and then store the other one.

[Kromme]

Agree with Farrahcat.Although i buy only one copy i load it to my computer and store it.Records before cassettes are also doomed but in university we still own lots of them and we listen when we want to so as long as we buy cds i believe that "cd is doomed." thing is not inevitable.

[Krummhorn]

I'm in accord with Kromme about CD's still being a viable medium for storing data and sound recordings. As for LP's, I have a couple hundred in my collection, and - believe it or not - a turntable attached to my sound system. Now I going quite ancient here, but I still have a reel-to-reel tapes and a ReVox deck. Indeed, reel tapes are no longer a readily available item, they did stay around for a good many years. The popularity of cassettes in this region of the US is still thriving.

I too, rip new cd's onto my PC for archival and preservation reasons - now if only I could do this with my vinyl platters, too. Any suggestions on how to do that?

[Ouled Nails]

I don't care if the whole wide world has long discarded its LP's, I keep all mine. Among other advantages, I get these beautiful opera librettos in three, four or five languages and I don't need my glasses to read them I also keep five drawers full of cassettes on which I recorded both unavailable LP's and life concerts. Unfortunately, all my BASF or Telefunken reels did not survive climatic conditions in this part of the world I am sure this collector's mind set of mine will apply to CD's too.

[Cobalt]

I'm not sure about anybody else, but I always thought vinyl had a rich and lively sound about it that seemed to disappear with the advent of tapes and even CD's to an extent. Unfortunately the crispness only lasts as long as you can avoid scratches or worn needles and then you're quickly into hiss and crackle territory!

As for CD's, I too believe they are ultimately doomed. However, I also believe that the current crop of digital music formats will one day be succeeded by a new format. Perhaps digital music will dominate, or perhaps we will be using high density storage media to allow for even higher quality music to be stored? Who knows, though if anybody does, I'd appreciate a heads up so that I can invest in a new technology...

[Kaizen]

Cd's are doomed as technology is forever changing, however, just because they are doomed and the internet is becoming ever more popular doesn't mean that it is going away soon. Sure digital downloads are becoming easier to do, but in my opinion there is nothing like struggling to open a cd for hours, looking at the album art and the smell of new, it just cant be replicated.

[Debbie]

I have to agree that I to don't think that CD's have a future. Today I have been tidying my wardrobe and found some old cassettes and had to place them in a bag back into another cupboard as I don't have a cassette player anymore.
I also recently bought some CD's uploaded them onto my computer and am now sat with 3 CD's taking up room in reality. I like the instant purchase of downloading songs, no more trips to the shop taking forever to purchase an album. It is all done instantly.
Shame but that is progress so they say.

[Cain]

It is sad to say that they are definately on their way out. Research these days is all geared to downloading methods rather than CD technology. I guess they will stay around for another decade or so but after that make sure you store them well as they will soon bring in antique prices when being bought from you!

[Sybarite]

I was discussing this last week with a colleague, who is convinced that CDs will go the way of all flesh and that the future of music is downloading.

In my opinion, downloading has its limits. It's perfect for an odd track (I've had a ball finding and then purchasing some really camp singles from the 1970s ), but it's a mixed blessing when it comes to albums. The price (I'm talking UK here, since you can't purchase from anywhere in the world because of limits) can be good – but then again, most shops (let alone the likes of Amazon) will sell CDs cheaper once they're not just released. For instance, chains such as HMV and Virgin in the UK don't so much have occasional sales as always having some racks full of bargains. It's a great way to build a collection and frequently works out cheaper than, say, the average of £7.99 on iTunes.

Then there's the issue of the booklet. A small number of albums have a 'digital' booklet that they send you. Now, for a rock or pop album, that might be adequate, but does anyone really want to print off 30 pages of a guide to, say, the complete Beethoven sonatas? I certainly don't and, by the time you do that and back up your music onto a disc (which you have to buy) and put it in case (which you may even have to buy seperately), it racks up the cost a small amount but also becomes far less of a convenience (and anyone who doesn't back up their downloaded music is an idiot).

Indeed, some downloaded classical albums don't even give you any basic information; I downloaded an album of minimalist music last summer, plus the complete Vaghan Williams symphonies (the latter was going at a daft, daft price). But I've had trouble with dodgy discs backing it up (more cost as several have simply had to be trashed) and I have no information whatsoever.

Again in terms of classical music, the rise of low-price labels like Naxos, together with the re-release of CDs from the archives of many of the major labels, at frankly superb prices, means that I no longer have any incentive to download classical music.

In terms of popular music, there has been a reported rise in the amount of vinyl sold in the UK in the last year or so. Most of this is being put down to revived interest in vinyl among young people – not simply among the DJing and dance contingents, but partly because people like having their music in a physical format. And let's not forget – the demise of vinyl was predicted a long time ago – wrongly.

So I would suggest that CDs might become something that fills a niche in the market – and that niche might primarily be classical music.

[traveller]

I too, rip new cd's onto my PC for archival and preservation reasons - now if only I could do this with my vinyl platters, too. Any suggestions on how to do that?

An easy way is to use a CD recorder like the Yamaha CDR-HD1300. It's not cheap but if you have a lot of vinyl it is worth it and the results are good.

[Sybarite]

An easy way is to use a CD recorder like the Yamaha CDR-HD1300. It's not cheap but if you have a lot of vinyl it is worth it and the results are good.

An iMic achieves the same thing for a lot less.

[Contratrombone64]

60 gig on the skimpy side?? Not in my experience, I own an 80gig and try as I might to fill it up it's taking ages. My CD collection is around 2800, admittedly, and I've managed to download maybe 400 CDs so far ... I'm not stumped for choice when it comes to playing music. I've also had positive experiences purchasing music from Apple's iTunes Australian store, sometimes the download fails, but restarting it fixes that. Also, the cost of downloads is about half the cost of purchasing the CD (for the high end CDs). IMHO