More bad news for the CD.

Rex wrote:

I can control my iTunes with my iPad from the comfort of my toilet!

There's a mental picture we didn't need....

Fat Freddy wrote:

I dunno, I guess this bugs me cuz I have a "collecting" gene. I mean, everybody's gotta collect somethin', right? And my "thing" is CDs.

Growing up, I collected baseball cards, comics, and beer cans. Over time I left all of those hobbies behind but I still collect music and probably will till they put me in that wooden pencil box that Kmorg mentioned.

I'm sure I'll survive if CDs do go away, cuz even if new ones are no longer produced, Lord knows there are more than enough of them out there that I don't own that'll be turning up in second hand shops, flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores for generations to come.

...it just won't be the same!!!

I agree with FF, I like collecting CD's and while the music is not more important then the packaging, owning a file is not the same as seen a wall of CD's and maybe because of my age, I grew up in an area where I read all the line notes, lyrics etc, and yes I know you can get this info digitally but I will be damned if I spend anymore time in front of PC then already do.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Rex wrote:

I can control my iTunes with my iPad from the comfort of my toilet!

There's a mental picture we didn't need....

manny wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

I dunno, I guess this bugs me cuz I have a "collecting" gene. I mean, everybody's gotta collect somethin', right? And my "thing" is CDs.

Growing up, I collected baseball cards, comics, and beer cans. Over time I left all of those hobbies behind but I still collect music and probably will till they put me in that wooden pencil box that Kmorg mentioned.

I'm sure I'll survive if CDs do go away, cuz even if new ones are no longer produced, Lord knows there are more than enough of them out there that I don't own that'll be turning up in second hand shops, flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores for generations to come.

...it just won't be the same!!!

I agree with FF, I like collecting CD's and while the music is not more important then the packaging, owning a file is not the same as seen a wall of CD's and maybe because of my age, I grew up in an area where I read all the line notes, lyrics etc, and yes I know you can get this info digitally but I will be damned if I spend anymore time in front of PC then already do.

Count me in with Freddy and Manny. The comic books, baseball card and Star Wars figures have long since been boxed away, but I still love collecting music. It's really the only hobby I have. I suppose I'll go all digital kicking and screaming when I'm forced to, but I don't see giving up my love of the physical product. It's part of who I am.

S.D. wrote:

One more time for those that missed it.

COMPACT DISCS ARE DIGITAL. It's 1's & 0's, that's it.

A CD is just a container, an outmoded, over-priced container.

DUDE. Chill.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Rex wrote:

I can control my iTunes with my iPad from the comfort of my toilet!

There's a mental picture we didn't need....

but its one heck of a marketing slogan

manny wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

I dunno, I guess this bugs me cuz I have a "collecting" gene. I mean, everybody's gotta collect somethin', right? And my "thing" is CDs.

Growing up, I collected baseball cards, comics, and beer cans. Over time I left all of those hobbies behind but I still collect music and probably will till they put me in that wooden pencil box that Kmorg mentioned.

I'm sure I'll survive if CDs do go away, cuz even if new ones are no longer produced, Lord knows there are more than enough of them out there that I don't own that'll be turning up in second hand shops, flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores for generations to come.

...it just won't be the same!!!

I agree with FF, I like collecting CD's and while the music is not more important then the packaging, owning a file is not the same as seen a wall of CD's and maybe because of my age, I grew up in an area where I read all the line notes, lyrics etc, and yes I know you can get this info digitally but I will be damned if I spend anymore time in front of PC then already do.

plus I dont like the arrangements like amazon has with its readers that it can remove files.

But doesn't Amazon download you mp3's if you buy from them? What's stopping anyone from moving those files to a different location than the default folder or backing them up? There's no way they could delete those files then.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

kmorg wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Quote :

'til they throw me in the wooden pencil anyway.

Must be a Norwegian thing.

Pencil case?

Pine box maybe? Putting someone in a wooden pencil case for their eternal resting place seems a bit extreme to me, but what do I know.

Haha, it's a slang/metaphore. Those old wooden pencil cases looked like minitiature caskets. So in Norway we use wooden pencil case as slang for casket.

Anyone remember the hi-fi craze in the '80's and '90's? People bought stereo-systems bigger then their couches, that cost more then their cars! It was all about getting the perfect sound experience. I remember when the only hi-fi expert shop in Norway was in Oslo, so you had to travel 100 kilometers to see the latest speakers or components. They sold packages designed for specific music listeners, and some of the more expensive ones were aimed at the feinsmeckers (sp?). They even had names these packages, as in "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Headbanger's Ball"!! These 2 particular sets were priced at approx. 15.000 and 10.000 dollars!! Again, it was all about listening to your music in the most perfect way possible.

When mp3-files and players came along stuff like this just vanished! Suddenly it's more important to have as many files possible on a device as small as possible, and screw the sound quality! I think this another reason why I dislike the mp3-age. It's not quality!

manny wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

I dunno, I guess this bugs me cuz I have a "collecting" gene. I mean, everybody's gotta collect somethin', right? And my "thing" is CDs.

Growing up, I collected baseball cards, comics, and beer cans. Over time I left all of those hobbies behind but I still collect music and probably will till they put me in that wooden pencil box that Kmorg mentioned.

I'm sure I'll survive if CDs do go away, cuz even if new ones are no longer produced, Lord knows there are more than enough of them out there that I don't own that'll be turning up in second hand shops, flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores for generations to come.

...it just won't be the same!!!

I agree with FF, I like collecting CD's and while the music is not more important then the packaging, owning a file is not the same as seen a wall of CD's and maybe because of my age, I grew up in an area where I read all the line notes, lyrics etc, and yes I know you can get this info digitally but I will be damned if I spend anymore time in front of PC then already do.

Same here. Collecting CDs is a thrill that already is hindered by the lack of places to buy them. My recent trip to the CD mine called CD Source (see the music collection thread) reminded me of the high I used to get from the thrill of the hunt.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Rex wrote:

I can control my iTunes with my iPad from the comfort of my toilet!

There's a mental picture we didn't need....

Dude. Heavy metal. Taking a dump. HEADBANGING WHILE DUMPING WHILE HOLDING UP DEVIL HORNS. It really sounds like a great idea for a few minutes, until you hit your head on the sink. True story.

I wonder if there will be another format of music after the download era? All that will be left to work on is improving the sound quality of music files.

Troublezone wrote:

I wonder if there will be another format of music after the download era? All that will be left to work on is improving the sound quality of music files.

Direct-to-Brain download.

Seriously.

Eyesore wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

I wonder if there will be another format of music after the download era? All that will be left to work on is improving the sound quality of music files.

Direct-to-Brain download.

Seriously.

No thanks. I'll be one of those people holding on to the old technology (CDs or computer files). Or go to live shows for my music fix.

Eyesore wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

I wonder if there will be another format of music after the download era? All that will be left to work on is improving the sound quality of music files.

Direct-to-Brain download.

Seriously.

I already have songs stuck in my head. I don't want them literally stuck in my head.

I will keep buying CDs until I have no other choice but to download. Hopefully if they do produce CDs in lower numbers like vinyl, then the prices won't be the same as CDs should cost much less to produce.

I don't see this affecting me except in respect of older bands that have albums via the big major labels.

In any case, I don't see the physical format ever going away completely or becoming obsolete. I think both CDs and Vinyl will remain and will be catered towards the hardcore fanbase - as the article says, CDs (much like vinyl) will come as special editions with extra content, not unlike the current situation where nearly every band releases both standard and special editions of their new albums (whether those bands are big time or small , on a major label or independent).

And if by some bizarre twist of event the CD becomes completely obsolete - I'll start buying vinyl.

I cannot dispense with my urge for collecting music in physical format. Ironically, I listen to music only in digital format (whether lossless or mp3) but I like collecting, I feel like I own the album when I have it in physical format instead of just a bunch of mp3s. I tried going all digital, but I didn't feel like I had bought anything ... and in fact I ended up buying the physical copies of the albums I purchased as digital versions because I simply didn't feel like I had them in my collection.

So no digital download purchases for me ... not for music anyway ... movies and video games is not a bad idea though

Google yesterday officially unveiled its full Google Music service, including a music download store offering a number of the same features as Apple's iTunes Store. The new Google Music store arrives as part of the Android Market and seems designed to attract users to the Android platform by offering an alternative to Apple's iTunes ecosystem. Like the iTunes Store, Google Music offers per-track pricing typically ranging from $0.69-$1.29, with over 13 million tracks available for purchase.

The store offers more than 13 million tracks from artists on Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and the global independent rights agency Merlin as well as over 1,000 prominent independent labels including Merge Records, Warp Records, Matador Records, XL Recordings and Naxos. We’ve also partnered with the world's largest digital distributors of independent music including IODA, INgrooves, The Orchard and Believe Digital.

You can purchase individual songs or entire albums right from your computer or your Android device and they’ll be added instantly to your Google Music library, and accessible anywhere.

Google Music also includes some of the same cloud-based services offered by Apple as part of iCloud and iTunes Match, features that Google rolled out in beta form earlier this year without the support of its own music store. With Google Music, all music purchases from the market are stored online, with users also able to upload up to 20,000 of their own tracks for free.

The company is also integrating the new music service with its Google+ social networking platform, allowing users to post individual tracks to their Google+ pages where friends can take advantage of a one-time free stream of each track.

Google is also rolling out an "artist hub" feature, which allows any signed or unsigned artist with distribution rights for their material to create a dedicated Google Music page for a one-time $25 fee. Artists can use their pages to share information and sell their music, with artists able to set their own pricing and receiving 70% of revenue.

One missing piece for Google is Warner Music Group, one of the four major music labels in the United States and which has yet to reach an agreement to have its content distributed through the store. Warner, which is said to still be in talks with Google, is the third-largest record label and holds approximately 20% of the market.

wouldn't it really suck if all ya had was your tuneage on a hard-drive and it crashed

The only way to crash my stash is if a car drove through my den

I learned an oaf who was a "promoter" and somehow has lots of money will be pillaging all the record stores for vinyl now, including ones I visit once or twice a year when I have a reason and can afford to spend.

As others have pointed out, collecting cds is my hobby. But, I do notice that I will buy a cd, rip it to my computer, and stick it up on the shelf to collect dust. I hardly ever take out the booklet and flip through it, or read the lyrics and liner notes. So maybe I am just wasting space with these things. I do download about four albums a month, and I can definitely see that happening more now that I don't live in an area that has any places to get cds.

change sucks

Joe wrote:

As others have pointed out, collecting cds is my hobby. But, I do notice that I will buy a cd, rip it to my computer, and stick it up on the shelf to collect dust. I hardly ever take out the booklet and flip through it, or read the lyrics and liner notes. So maybe I am just wasting space with these things. I do download about four albums a month, and I can definitely see that happening more now that I don't live in an area that has any places to get cds.

change sucks

That decribes me to a tee. However, a factor is that I don't have the money or the space to display my CDs. I have to keep them boxed up and stored away.

I am returning to this topic because this is something that interests me both as a collector of music and as someone who is interested in technology. Unfortunately I never get to reply to these threads early enough because of time zone differences and the fact that most of my time is taken up by my job.. in any case

As 'bad' as the news is about the future of the CD format, I am trying to extract the good / positive out of this news for us, the music collectors.


With the CD format being produced in limited quantities this means the limited editions will have better quality packaging, perhaps a move for a more sophisticated digipack or alternatively, more elaborate packaging and extras than a making of dvd - concert dvds could become the norm as bonus discs, and other 'goodies' like patches, pins, puzzles (see the latest In Flames limited edition album) could also be featured.

Bonus songs exclusive for the physical copy may also give the physical copy an incentive over the digital copy.

There is still another element which I think will remain relevant for the physical copy - whether you continue buying CDs or end up switching to vinly and that is the versatility of converting the songs in any lossless or lossy format you prefer. With downloading songs, you are always going to be limited to whatever the service has to offer, which judging by the current options available is usually lossy mp3s encoded at relatively low bitrates (or at least never the highest, 320kbps).

This may or may not matter to some, but I find that when you're talking about metal fans both the packaging and the audio fidelity go hand in hand. The latter may seem ironic as some bands choose a raw sounding production but arguably that is part of the charm of certain sub-genres and bands.

Joe wrote:

As others have pointed out, collecting cds is my hobby. But, I do notice that I will buy a cd, rip it to my computer, and stick it up on the shelf to collect dust. I hardly ever take out the booklet and flip through it, or read the lyrics and liner notes. So maybe I am just wasting space with these things. I do download about four albums a month, and I can definitely see that happening more now that I don't live in an area that has any places to get cds.

change sucks

I heard a wise man once say that in order for things to stay the same, they have to always be changing. Music is music, but the way we listen to it is constantly changing, we just have to accept it. Like Shawn said, it's going from one digital format to another, and in the last year or so, I've learned to accept the inevitable.