With the elevation of iTunes as the #2 music retailer of the United States, how long will it be before music CD’s fall under the status “classic” and joins the shelves of vintage vinyl? Many of us might remember going to Sam Goodys, Musicland, or Tower Records and looking for CD’s and tapes. Some of us might even remember being able to go to the store and find nothing but vinyl records and tapes. Those were the days. We would hit the malls and look for music all the time.
Nowadays, kids don’t have to go anywhere to buy music. They just jump onto iTunes and download music via their iTunes gift card. And they have the option to only download songs they want to. No need to download the entire album, just get the songs you want.
It seems wrong for someone like me who had to buy the entire tape, album or CD, and had to live with the bad songs, and end up making a mix tape with all the songs I like. I guess the kids nowadays are spoiled in that regard. They don’t have to make a mix tape anymore. They just download all the songs they like to their mp3 player.
So how long until the music CD format dies out? Next year? Five years? What do you think?
Loading ...
i think CDs will remain for a while longer — there just isn’t enough justification to get rid of it because there is still a large part of the population in the world that don’t have high speed internet, the internet or even the skills to make a mixed CD (or download stuff from iTunes).
It will definitely be phased out at some point though as I believe there will come a point in time where everyone has internet access and the capability to download efficiently.
some cars already have the internet, and i see that being a norm someday. when that happens, all we have to do is access itunes or some other provider (e.g. lastfm) and choose the songs we want to hear — so no CDs needed. maybe some cars already have that capability, not sure.
i do remember the days of vinyls and tapes. kind of funny to think that they used to be so common and now you can’t even find one place that sells it and even if you do,where are you going to get a tape player?
sam goody… are they still around?
I think CD’s have a while still. Some people are scared of technology haha. And The Foo’s points are all very valid, too.
They’d better not die out. I like buying CD’s. I’ve never bought a song online and I don’t plan to as long as I can get a hard copy of it.
Plus with CD’s you get to put them in nice displays or stands and show off your collection. However I don’t buy many CD’s at the moment anyway.
The bad thing is that people keep downloading music online not realising the bad quality they get. MP3’s audio quality cannot compare to that of CD’s. While it’s hard to hear the difference (to most people and especially if they are using those tiny mp3 player headphones to listen to music) when you play them in larger sound systems the quality difference becomes apparent. It used to be that we wanted to get the best sound quality out there and that’s one of the reasons CD’s became so popular but now it seems like we’re going for the best mp3 gadget. It makes me sad.
I don’t think CD’s will ever disappear. They might evolve like DVD’s have (with HD) but they will be there.
CD’s will remain with us, unlike cassettes because the music buying public still wants the ‘album’ concept. The same goes for vinyl, it will be around long after you and I are gone. Why? The music buying public demands the format and the sound quality. Now, what is lost with digital sound can be made up with the fact that it is portable and we are always on ‘the go’. But, just give me my vinyl and I am a happy camper!
regards,
Robert
http://www.collectingvinylrecords.com
I believe the cd will still be around for a long time. I for one am still buying cd’s, sometimes just for my car, sometimes because I want to have a physical representation of the artwork and booklet.
Sometimes, to support local & touring underground bands.
Plus, I never use itunes…but I’m an old man for not doing so.