Anyone gone exclusively digital?

The other reason my music purchases have declined is because my love of movies is stronger than ever and all available disposable income gets spent at the theater or on online rentals.

I want high quality. I like having the physical media and I prefer LP's, but I've concentrated all my efforts on CD's of late. Almost all of them are in boxes and will remain there until another hard drive crash. I don't mind going without the media as long as it is high quality, which is only the case with a few bands. I'd like to see an industry push towards a high quality standard that will accommodate both collectors and downloaders. Until then I'll stick to CD's and burning them to my laptop. To me the playback device/speakers are just as important if not more so than the media type.

High quality is why I've gone to blu-ray and hi-res downloads when possible. I'll take 24bit/96khz audio over 30 year old 16bit/44.1khz (CD) any day of the week.

I'm going more and more to mp3s for space reasons, but I will always have CDs, LPs, and even a few cassettes. I recently went through a culling out period before a move where I converted cassettes, LPs and CDs to mp3s and sold them, but some I kept for sentimental reasons or, especially with the LPs, the artistic value.

I download all the time from the PB. If I download something I end up really enjoying, I definitely buy as soon as I'm able to afford it. Downloading is awesome for demos, OOP cds,or cds that are crazy expensive.You gotta admit, though, unless the album you want to listen to is stellar or part of your collection (I downloaded the new Trouble, then bought the physical copy, I will eventually buy the new Death Angel for the same reason)it's easy to justify not spending the 15 bucks. I've got over 350 cds and space is becoming a problem...

The art work is one very cool thing about LPs.

Buying digital contains worst part of mp3s and CDs/LPs/etc: you have to pay for it AND you don't get anything physical. So it's certainly a no go for me ...

I downloaded this morning......

wiped, sprayed and flushed  

I have, in a sense. My current place isn't big enough for my collection, so it's all in storage. When I buy enough CDs to fill a tote, it also goes in storage. I rip everything and have one bad-ass playlist. So I've kinda gone digital.

Thing is, I'd sell my collection. No problem. I love it, but I've gotten to that point where I could live without it. Problem is, I don't have the energy to sell it all piecemeal. That, however, is the only way I'd make any money. I'm sure someone out there would buy a collection of nearly 10,000 CDs, but I probably have a hundred or so things that are worth more than anyone would be will to pay for everything together.

I sold a 3-track demo last year for $1,200. I sold a couple Emilie Autumn CDs for $800. I have other things that'd probably sell for the same or close to it, maybe more. I could just sell those, but if I never got rid of the rest of the collection I'd still be compelled to keep buying, then I'd eventually regret selling what I did. It sucks. Haha.

Eyesore wrote:

I have, in a sense. My current place isn't big enough for my collection, so it's all in storage. When I buy enough CDs to fill a tote, it also goes in storage. I rip everything and have one bad-ass playlist. So I've kinda gone digital.

Thing is, I'd sell my collection. No problem. I love it, but I've gotten to that point where I could live without it. Problem is, I don't have the energy to sell it all piecemeal. That, however, is the only way I'd make any money. I'm sure someone out there would buy a collection of nearly 10,000 CDs, but I probably have a hundred or so things that are worth more than anyone would be will to pay for everything together.

I sold a 3-track demo last year for $1,200. I sold a couple Emilie Autumn CDs for $800. I have other things that'd probably sell for the same or close to it, maybe more. I could just sell those, but if I never got rid of the rest of the collection I'd still be compelled to keep buying, then I'd eventually regret selling what I did. It sucks. Haha.

Although my cd collection is only 2500 cds, I have been contemplating selling my collection but I am not sure about selling it bit by bit.

I think I'm about to go all digital.Im in the process of ripping all my CDs and selling them off.Never thought the collector in me would allow such a thing but it's like Shawn stated way back a few posts,it's what's inside that I'm after.I don't have time to sit around and read liner notes and stare at artwork.And I've noticed that I buy more digital albums than CDs so it's really a no brainer for me.

I'm keeping my physical collection... granted, most of it is in boxes and goes their after I rip to MP3, but it's nice to have a physical backup. I have bought some albums as downloads, but prefer the actual CD. Hopefully the prices of the higher resolution downloads will become cheaper, I would prefer those for sound quality at home.

I have tons of cd's...most of them get ripped and put on my mp3 player....my player has the option of adding sd cards so I loaded up a 32g card and thats how I store and play music. It works out well. I am moving more and more to digital downloads. I used to buy cds for the packaging like I did records years ago. I am noticing though more and more the packaging is getting weaker and digipacks I hate.. More than once I opened up a cd and found lame packaging and thought I should have just downloaded it. I still buy cds of bands I really like but Download selection is getting better all the time. I notice alot of cds come with a digital download as well...thats something I dont understand sorta. If I am getting a download with the cd might as well just buy the download cheaper. I do buy cds in 3 or 4 $ bins at Hastings sometimes and some I keep and some I rip and go get $5 trade value for them at the local independent record store.. I have alot of vinyl but want to get rid of it...the city I live in now I cant give it away and shipping it somewhere would be very expensive. I am moving to Saint Louis Mo. in march so I hope to get a few bucks for it in trade  up there. I have lots of cassettes but rarely listen to them so I might get rid of a bunch of them as well.

I will be doing a combination of Itunes downloads and physical CD purchases for as long as the CDs are still available.
I have about 800 to 900 albums when I tally in both downloads and CD. I use to have a much larger collection in the 90s but sold them all at the turn of the Century - I really regret doing so as now a lot of those CDs are out of print, come in crappy Digipack reissues or are horrid remasters    .
I have been collecting for about 3 years now but am still missing a boatload of my faves. This time I hopefully will not sell them!

I have gone digital in the last 6 months more by circumstance than choice. I have moved into a smaller place which forced me to cull my collection. However, it was also due to prioritizing resources: in the past I would spend several hundred dollars every month on CDs, now I have a mortgage to pay and I simply cannot afford buying CDs anymore. Knowing my consumption habits buying one or two albums wouldn't do either.

Instead I have been using my $12/month Spotify subscription to continue discovering albums and bands. I really like Spotify and will stick to this option for the foreseeable future. The premium subscription which I have allows you to download albums and listen to them offline. I mostly use this option for whenever I am out and about.

I know many dislike Spotify but I find it to be a very economical and legal solution, especially when you are on a budget and cannot afford physical copies. Given the choice I would continue collecting physical copies of albums but financially at the moment I can neither afford nor justify buying physical albums. When I factor the costs: $12 / month gives me access to a very extensive library of albums and I find myself listening to something different every time, versus spending $200 - $300 per month on several cds.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

I have gone digital in the last 6 months more by circumstance than choice. I have moved into a smaller place which forced me to cull my collection. However, it was also due to prioritizing resources: in the past I would spend several hundred dollars every month on CDs, now I have a mortgage to pay and I simply cannot afford buying CDs anymore. Knowing my consumption habits buying one or two albums wouldn't do either.

Instead I have been using my $12/month Spotify subscription to continue discovering albums and bands. I really like Spotify and will stick to this option for the foreseeable future. The premium subscription which I have allows you to download albums and listen to them offline. I mostly use this option for whenever I am out and about.

I know many dislike Spotify but I find it to be a very economical and legal solution, especially when you are on a budget and cannot afford physical copies. Given the choice I would continue collecting physical copies of albums but financially at the moment I can neither afford nor justify buying physical albums. When I factor the costs: $12 / month gives me access to a very extensive library of albums and I find myself listening to something different every time, versus spending $200 - $300 per month on several cds.

I can feel your pain, my money flow has gone down, as well.

I just recently got onto Spotify myself and it has a LOT of artists I didn't expect it to have. Hook up my laptop through the stereo and I will be jammin'!!!!

I'll just do the free option for now.

I love Spotify, been using it regularly since it debuted in the States. Albums I actually need to own are a very small percentage, most stuff I'm happy hearing once or twice a year when the mood strikes.

I still get a thrill out of buying the actual hard copy. Just this weekend I drove an hour to the one remaining CD store around. Bought several Tokyo Blade cd's, an Iced Earth, and the new Newsted.
Had a blast browsing the store, and talking to the clerks about music. I understand why people are going the digital route, but I will keep buying cd's as long as they are around.

As postage fees keep increasing, I find myself buying downloads a lot more. I still purchase around 80% hard copy.

I loved that experience too - unfortunately, at least in Australia there are very few independent music stores left or really any stores that sell music. The biggest chain here that still sells cds is JB Hi-Fi which is the equivalent of Best Buy in the states. In Sydney there are 2 independent music stores - Red Eye and Utopia. The latter stocks up primarily on metal and hard rock.

The trouble is, all those stores practice ridiculous prices and have lost a huge amount of customers over time. For most cds, be it a newer or older release, they charge between 30 - 40 bucks per cd! Needless to say, people walk in those stores like they are museums. Hardly anyone buys anything. I am not sure how they are still in operation.

Well JB also sells electronics and video games and they have pretty decent deals on those but hardly anyone buys dvds, blurays or music from them. The indie stores keep moving around town, from one store location to another due to rent increases. Over the last 10 years, Utopia which is the flagship metal store in Sydney has had 4 or 5 different locations. They practice the highest prices of any music store in Sydney - they stock up on a lot of obscure bands but at the same time, they have very few customers. I am not sure how they are still in business.

If I had to pay $30 per cd, I probably would not buy to many either. Guess I am lucky. This store still has a pretty good used selection that they sell from $6.99 to $9.99 and their new cd's are priced $11.99 to $14.99

rajah wrote:

If I had to pay $30 per cd, I probably would not buy to many either. Guess I am lucky.

I agree with this. Over the past 10 years +/-, if it wasn't for the boatload of pawn shops and the like selling cd's at $.50 a piece or less (not as frequent as before, but the bargain bins are still out there if you look hard enough) I wouldn't have a fraction of the cd's I have. I remember going on day trips through the "Jet City" and hitting 30 shops, spending a hundred bucks and bringing home 200-300 plus cd's...

Unfortunately we don't have any decent pawn stores in Sydney, at least not anywhere close to me. I am sure there are some pawn stores in some suburbs but Sydney is huge, where I am thinking they might be is like 2 hours away from where I live.

But as a whole, never seen them not like they are in the states or Canada even. I remember hitting a pawn store in Canada and it was just holy grail stuff.

Has anyone noticed CD prices rising? At Newbury Comics and elsewhere, I'm noticing a lot of $17.99 and $18.99 CDs. It's kind of baffling.

I'll sell my collection if i ever need to, but I stress the word NEED!

I would have to sell it bit by bit though, To walk into my spare bedroom and find it empty would hurt too much.