More bad news for the CD.

Hello Forum, First time poster here

Personally I don't care if CDs gets obsolete or not (I own quite a few hundred of Metal CDs also) I think it IS overpriced and it's a total hassle. Since the iPod 160 GB came out, I completely abandoned the format as I don't see any advantage going for it anymore, better sound quality? I don't think so, you'll be hard-pressed to tell a nicely-ripped 320kbps file from the original source ... Yeah I would say thank God Mp3s and Ipods were invented because for me, collecting CDs are nothing more like collecting magazines, You only own what's printed inside, not the music itself what's more important is the undescribed feeling of bliss whenever you're listening to something. Some CDs that I purchased 10 years ago were completely unplayable and completely rotted to the point that you can see through the whole transparent thing. That made me think because I thought genuine CDs are supposed to last longer than I thought.

I'm on the verge of selling my entire collection and the only thing that will remain will be my 2X 1.5 Terabyte hardrives for archiving and back-up and my two iPods attached to my vintage stereo system.

Digital Format Rules !!!

EmoElmo, if you download your music for free from the net, then yeah, I guess you can say CDs are overpriced. But if you buy your albums from iTunes for the usual $11.99 per album (with the DRM-free option), then it is pretty much compatible with the average CD price etc.

So basically it is a matter of personal preferences. Some people like to buy flying digital downloads, while some like me prefer a tangible product in complete package with artwork, booklet with lyrics, info, etc. There is also a value attached to it, so at some point in the future you can opt to re-sell it and recover your investment, and in some case even make some profit, if there is a collector's value attached to it. I've never heard of someone re-selling "used" mp3s... as I said it is a personal preference.

By the way, if you have CDs which have rotted within 10 years, they are probably pro-printed CDRs. Real factory made replicated cds last much longer than that.

stormspell wrote:

EmoElmo, if you download your music for free from the net, then yeah, I guess you can say CDs are overpriced. But if you buy your albums from iTunes for the usual $11.99 per album (with the DRM-free option), then it is pretty much compatible with the average CD price etc.

So basically it is a matter of personal preferences. Some people like to buy flying digital downloads, while some like me prefer a tangible product in complete package with artwork, booklet with lyrics, info, etc. There is also a value attached to it, so at some point in the future you can opt to re-sell it and recover your investment, and in some case even make some profit, if there is a collector's value attached to it. I've never heard of someone re-selling "used" mp3s... as I said it is a personal preference.

By the way, if you have CDs which have rotted within 10 years, they are probably pro-printed CDRs. Real factory made replicated cds last much longer than that.

That's the beauty of the Digital Age you can preview a song then buy if you want to, I'm not saying that I'm a complete thief but let's be honest here, we all do it sometimes not to diss the CD here but I think we still use a 20+ year-old 'inneficient' codec. That's why Major manufacturers are now slowly abandoning the dedicated CD PLAYER. I wonder if its still worth it in the end if these players are gone completely obsolete.

Re: the rotten CDs, no they're completely genuine, most of 'em has the ELEKTRA and Atlantic/Atco label on it, some were made in France and UK, brought most of them while I was working in France. my U.S. - manufactured CDs are OK...

I have had some CD's for over ten years and have never had one rot or fade away, I am not saying it may not happen, it just has not happened to any CD's I own.

I personally love owning the physical product, I like being actually able to hold a tangible object in my hand, and while it does not happen often anymore, I also like the experience of going thru bins of CD and finding that lost treasure or the CD that is a blind purchase and you discover some cool band you might not have heard of.

manny wrote:

I have had some CD's for over ten years and have never had one rot or fade away, I am not saying it may not happen, it just has not happened to any CD's I own.

I personally love owning the physical product, I like being actually able to hold a tangible object in my hand, and while it does not happen often anymore, I also like the experience of going thru bins of CD and finding that lost treasure or the CD that is a blind purchase and you discover some cool band you might not have heard of.

That was the same exact feeling everytime I purchase a CD during the pre-Internet days, buying CDs for me was like my therapy. But like all what others have said, we all have to adapt . Change can be drastic and cruel,. At first, I was never a fan of MP3s because majority of what the internet provided (paid & free) way back then was poorly-encoded at minimal bitrates which resulted in severe clipping and audio distortion, but then again as encoders begin to improve to the point that audible discrepancies (from the .CDA file) were harder and harder to discern...It was a clear-cut instant decision for me to totally ditch the CD. Coming from an audio freak who used to carry a DiscMan +plus a beltbag full of CDs everytime I go out hiking or buying groceries.

I just can't justify the cost, pain and hassle of catalogueing/stacking every purchase when you can do it in a flash using the iPod and not getting lost, I hate to say this (being a sentimental old fart that I am) but the iPod totally redefined the musical listening experience.

Ben Grimm wrote:

I could see this coming I have a hard time believing that one year is the time frame but the Kmart, Best Buy and Walmart in my area everytime I go in there is less space for cds....and I do see fewer dvds/bluray space too. I do have lots of digital music because of price, but I do prefer cds for quality, artwork liner notes, and having something that will survive if my computer crashes ( that already happened to me once and I have still not recovered all of the music I lost). I actually decided before I read this article to try and buy most of my music on cd, because I can see that sooner or later cds will be done

As the Internet speed gets faster and cheaper, Physical mediums like the CD and DVD will likely suffer a faster death sooner than we might expect. External Hardrives are ridiculously cheap these days so there's no reason to get stingy on it. Buy Two, Back 'em both up, store the other one in a separate house or building then presto, you have your entire music collection that will last you a lifetime.

The only good use for an Ipod is tempory storage of whatever I'm gonna be listening to for a day or two. Then I dump it and load another 10 cds on it, repeat process. I have no desire to download my entire music library on a device and then have the device crash. Thus taking the risk of losing it.

manny wrote:

I have had some CD's for over ten years and have never had one rot or fade away, I am not saying it may not happen, it just has not happened to any CD's I own.

I personally love owning the physical product, I like being actually able to hold a tangible object in my hand, and while it does not happen often anymore, I also like the experience of going thru bins of CD and finding that lost treasure or the CD that is a blind purchase and you discover some cool band you might not have heard of.

I agree with this. I havent had any cds go bad either. As for mp3s, while some do actually buy mp3s, most dont.

Like many others on here I simply love owning the physical product. It actually feels like I own something and the artwork and sleeve notes are part of the experience. As long as I am able to I'll always buy the cd.

Having said that I have to agree that the iPod revolutionised music, at least for me and whilst I will by CDs for as long as I can I have embraced the digital age to a certain degree. I love my iPhone and all my recent purchases are put on my iPhone then every few weeks I'll update it with a batch of new purchases.

I also love the fact that my iPod classic 160gb version holds every single piece of music I own. It's nice to take on long trips when I can't decide what I fancy taking plus I tend to put a few movies on the iPhone so it does have the space to hold a lot of music.

The comment above regarding holding all your music on one device then it crashes and you lose it is incorrect. I have everything backed up on an external hard drive as well as my computers hard drive plus if all else fails I have the CDs to start again downloading if I have to

Being from the uk it is now virtually impossible to buy a cd on the high street as HMV is the only recognised store left and their selection is getting worse and worse outside of major artists. I am forever now reliant on the Internet which annoys me as I've lost count of how many CDs come packaged in digipaks these days and between the online retailer and my postman they always arrive so badly damaged that they must have come via a sorting office in libya lol.

I heard the postie at the door the other day making an awful racket. When I answered the door he was trying to ram a package through the letter box. I quickly opened it to find my festivals of the wicked boxset by iced eIarth mashed to pieces. I asked him why he just didn't knock and the nob head said he didn't expect anyone home that time of the day!! After calling him a few names and telling him I was reporting him I had the pain in the backside task of sending it back to amazon.

Personally, I have never downloaded anything that I didn't pay for or that wasn't posted as "free" by the band or record label.

That said, I must admit I really like the Amazon Cloud drive that contains everything I've ever downloaded from them. If I can access the Internet, I can access the music. And if the copy I've downloaded gets corrupted or lost, I can just download it again from the Cloud.

Still the only things I download are albums that don't have a CD release or albums where the CD is way overpriced.

Wayne wrote:

Being from the uk it is now virtually impossible to buy a cd on the high street as HMV is the only recognised store left and their selection is getting worse and worse outside of major artists.

You mean that the Top 20 selection at Asda is not enough? In all seriousness though, HMV are the only real retailer left apart from supermarkets. I think I can count the amount of CDs i've bought from a bricks n mortar store with my fingers. Either they don't have anything i'm interested in or they're simply too expensive. Maybe we're being spoilt by the great prices offered on the net. I hope that prices aren't too badly affected when the Government scrap the £18 import limit in favour of a £0 one

tohostudios wrote:

Still the only things I download are albums that don't have a CD release or albums where the CD is way overpriced.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that those were the types of albums I download too. I guess at the end of the day, the cds themselves are for show. If I'm going to show somebody my music collection, it's way more satisfying to show them your stocked shelves, rather than showing them a harddrive.

I am very close to simply keeping CDs/special editions for particular bands and letting most other bands/artists become digital spins when I'm in the mood to hear them.

Example: Keep everything from (and only buy new from) absolute all-time faves (The Beatles, King's X, U2 & a handful of others)...get box editions when they come out, new albums, side-project albums etc.

But let other bands/artists be relegated to A- owning only Greatest Hits CDs/box sets OR B- owning only digitally. Most Metal would end up falling into this category. I already have all the Queensryche, Fates Warning, Dio, Sabbath, Priest, Maiden & Rainbow I'm ever going to own...and there's no need in me to keep buying new Metal. Most of the new Metal I have heard in the last few years has ended up falling off my listening plate anyway and what I do like I can just keep a digital copy of. Same with other genres.

EmoElmo wrote:

Hello Forum, First time poster here

Personally I don't care if CDs gets obsolete or not (I own quite a few hundred of Metal CDs also) I think it IS overpriced and it's a total hassle. Since the iPod 160 GB came out, I completely abandoned the format as I don't see any advantage going for it anymore, better sound quality? I don't think so, you'll be hard-pressed to tell a nicely-ripped 320kbps file from the original source ... Yeah I would say thank God Mp3s and Ipods were invented because for me, collecting CDs are nothing more like collecting magazines, You only own what's printed inside, not the music itself what's more important is the undescribed feeling of bliss whenever you're listening to something. Some CDs that I purchased 10 years ago were completely unplayable and completely rotted to the point that you can see through the whole transparent thing. That made me think because I thought genuine CDs are supposed to last longer than I thought.

I'm on the verge of selling my entire collection and the only thing that will remain will be my 2X 1.5 Terabyte hardrives for archiving and back-up and my two iPods attached to my vintage stereo system.

Digital Format Rules !!!

Most young kids your age would probably say that. I'm old school I prefer cds. If your extrenal dies your screwed then what no cds. I love the cds and always will as much as vinyl.

Wargod

James B. wrote:

The only good use for an Ipod is tempory storage of whatever I'm gonna be listening to for a day or two. Then I dump it and load another 10 cds on it, repeat process. I have no desire to download my entire music library on a device and then have the device crash. Thus taking the risk of losing it.

I agree with you 100% on this statement. you lose your external hard drives you have no music. Cds are easy to rip to mp3's.

Wargod

Wargod wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

Hello Forum, First time poster here

Personally I don't care if CDs gets obsolete or not (I own quite a few hundred of Metal CDs also) I think it IS overpriced and it's a total hassle. Since the iPod 160 GB came out, I completely abandoned the format as I don't see any advantage going for it anymore, better sound quality? I don't think so, you'll be hard-pressed to tell a nicely-ripped 320kbps file from the original source ... Yeah I would say thank God Mp3s and Ipods were invented because for me, collecting CDs are nothing more like collecting magazines, You only own what's printed inside, not the music itself what's more important is the undescribed feeling of bliss whenever you're listening to something. Some CDs that I purchased 10 years ago were completely unplayable and completely rotted to the point that you can see through the whole transparent thing. That made me think because I thought genuine CDs are supposed to last longer than I thought.

I'm on the verge of selling my entire collection and the only thing that will remain will be my 2X 1.5 Terabyte hardrives for archiving and back-up and my two iPods attached to my vintage stereo system.

Digital Format Rules !!!

Most young kids your age would probably say that. I'm old school I prefer cds. If your extrenal dies your screwed then what no cds. I love the cds and always will as much as vinyl.

Wargod

I'm even younger than him, but I do buy CDs (started two and half years ago); and yeah, most people of my age, when they see I bought a CD, are like: "LOL, are you nuts!?You're not normal, you're an idiot! You can download this from the internet for free, instead of paying for it!"

It's wiser to spend the money on booze, cigarettes, and lame pop gigs, I guess...

Wargod wrote:

James B. wrote:

The only good use for an Ipod is tempory storage of whatever I'm gonna be listening to for a day or two. Then I dump it and load another 10 cds on it, repeat process. I have no desire to download my entire music library on a device and then have the device crash. Thus taking the risk of losing it.

I agree with you 100% on this statement. you lose your external hard drives you have no music. Cds are easy to rip to mp3's.

Wargod

Errr...there is such thing as backing up your files so that you won't have to re-rip again in case of a crash?

Hardrives can be bought for peanuts these days

FYI I'm not young anymore, I'm already 37, been a lover of Bay - Area thrash since I was 12....usually don't reveal my true age whenever I register to a forum

EmoElmo wrote:

Wargod wrote:

James B. wrote:

The only good use for an Ipod is tempory storage of whatever I'm gonna be listening to for a day or two. Then I dump it and load another 10 cds on it, repeat process. I have no desire to download my entire music library on a device and then have the device crash. Thus taking the risk of losing it.

I agree with you 100% on this statement. you lose your external hard drives you have no music. Cds are easy to rip to mp3's.

Wargod

Errr...there is such thing as backing up your files so that you won't have to re-rip again in case of a crash?

Hardrives can be bought for peanuts these days

FYI I'm not young anymore, I'm already 37, been a lover of Bay - Area thrash since I was 12....usually don't reveal my true age whenever I register to a forum

welcome to the forum btw!

I'm definitely one of the younger people here but I don't download. The last album I ever downloaded was maybe 2 or so years ago when I got Anacrusis - Manic Impressions off their website, but I tracked down an original cd some time later because I loved it so much.

I'll also mention that some of my cds are older than me (purchased by my dad years ago) and I've never had a single one that stopped playing. Actually I was even going through a stack of cd-rs I burned when I was like 9 years old and even those still play fine.

adrian wrote:

I'm definitely one of the younger people here but I don't download. The last album I ever downloaded was maybe 2 or so years ago when I got Anacrusis - Manic Impressions off their website, but I tracked down an original cd some time later because I loved it so much.

I'll also mention that some of my cds are older than me (purchased by my dad years ago) and I've never had a single one that stopped playing. Actually I was even going through a stack of cd-rs I burned when I was like 9 years old and even those still play fine.

Same here. I have over 3000 CDs and never had one "rot". And I bought a CDR burner as a stereo component years ago and everything I've ever burned with it still plays fine.

On the whole topic of rotting cds...

Man I have CDs that I bought in the early-mid 90s and generally CDs that my family bought in the 80s and they still sound fine. I also have 2nd hand/used CDs I bought from the late 80s and they sound just fine.

I cannot think of any original cds I have that have deteriorated and as I said I have in my collection CDs that are easily over 20 - 25 years old.

The only 'rotting' I've ever experienced was with CD-Rs, but not all types - primarily the no-name brand CD-Rs that were available back 10 - 12 years ago. Even some brand name ones like Sony have rotted away. TDK and Kodak I found to be the most reliable of all brands and I still have some that are now 15 years old which work perfectly.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

TDK and Kodak I found to be the most reliable of all brands and I still have some that are now 15 years old which work perfectly.

Back when I was making mix CD-Rs/MP3 discs, Kodak were the only discs that burned everytime. I tried Memorex, but I had to go through two or three to burn all the way. Not sure if it was my computer at the time or not, all I know was that Kodak was much more reliable (never tried TDK). These days Memorex do a good job, but I don't burn many of them anymore (this was before I owned a MP3 player).

EmoElmo wrote:

Wargod wrote:

James B. wrote:

The only good use for an Ipod is tempory storage of whatever I'm gonna be listening to for a day or two. Then I dump it and load another 10 cds on it, repeat process. I have no desire to download my entire music library on a device and then have the device crash. Thus taking the risk of losing it.

I agree with you 100% on this statement. you lose your external hard drives you have no music. Cds are easy to rip to mp3's.

Wargod

Errr...there is such thing as backing up your files so that you won't have to re-rip again in case of a crash?

Hardrives can be bought for peanuts these days

FYI I'm not young anymore, I'm already 37, been a lover of Bay - Area thrash since I was 12....usually don't reveal my true age whenever I register to a forum

Oh I have 4 xternals with music, I still want the physical product, and your age is listed as 25 how would anyone know that isn't your right age. Most list their true age. And welcome to the madness.

Wargod

I have had a few cds go bad over the years and they were PACKAGED by the RECORD company not some knock off cd-r. I actually sent a complaint to both of the record companies, one of them ( Solid State) I sent them the cd because I was pissed about the quality of the cd. I got a letter from both companies basically saying they can not be liable for how the user handles the cd....funny I usually take the cd out of the package put it in my computer rip it and put it back in the case...probably never taking it back out of the case. I noticed the damage to one cd because I had to re-rip the disk to my computer after an accidental delete and one I noticed the damage when I got out the cd to look at the lyrics and liner notes
.
By the way the rotted cds Def Leppard - Hysteria bought in 1988
Dead Poetic - New Medicines
Demon Hunter - Storm the Gates of hell
Oh and I store my cds in a nice safe spot not in some dank garage my cds are of importance to me

All my external drives have shows on them. Blues, Jam, and hippy bands