seriously? sort of sounds like BS

http://www.side-line.com/news_commen...=46980_0_2_0_C

never happen. Not eveyone has the ability or even wants to download music. If true I am done "buying any new" music then. I support the artists by purchasing the CD not the download where they make even less off of their music.

They still make vinyl. Doubt they'll stop making CDs so soon.

I bet major artists, think Gaga, and artists geared toward the older set will still be widely available for some time. Artists like Tony Bennett and Susan Boyle don't get number one albums from digital sales. Then, of course, this makes way for more artist exclusives like Wal-Mart & AC/DC or Garth Brooks.

I can see catalog titles completely vanishing though.

A completely sourceless blog post.

Don't CDs still outsell downloads by a sizable margin?

pulled out my ass:


http://www.fastcompany.com/1672447/t...s-and-facebook

Singles have always outsold albums. Do they still make physical singles?
Downloading allows for album track downloads. Are those being figured into the chart? Shouldn't be.
If they made you buy and download the entire cd to get the non-single songs then comparison data would be relevant.

Looks like a projection, but it would appear that the most recent hard data on that 295 million CDs sold, 76 million album downloads, and 1.159 billion single downloads. If we figure ten tracks per album, the single account for 116 million albums. Works out to 295 million CDs sold, and 192 million album download sales.

That's what I'm thinking. Worst case scenario is that it'll be a niche cult market like CD's now, I can't picture it going the way of cassette tapes or 8-tracks.

I've reached the point where I load music onto my mp3 player through my Rhapsody account, and if it's something I really want, I purchase it on vinyl. I honestly can't think of the last time I bought a CD.

Same here, as 99% of my cd listening was done when driving, I don't bother now that I have an ipod.

I too prefer vinyl if I'm going to OWN a physical copy of it. I love coming home from a long day, putting on a side of an album and just enjoying it.

Gotta love how their source is their editor.

It's nonsense.

The labels know that if they just stop releasing CDs a good percentage of customers wont automatically switch to digital downloads. They'll just lose a nice chunk of sales on their titles - especially new releases. The labels won't abandon the format until it's shrunk down to a small size of total music sales and it's no longer cost-effective to produce them.

I'll be buying them until the bitter end. 99.9% of all music I buy is on CD.

Same here. And if they do ever stop, I'm sure I'll burn whatever I download to a disc and print out the artwork.

But cassingles will still exist, right?

Apparently his mom wouldn't go on record.

With DVDs and CDs dying, what will become the new loss leaders for the Best Buys of the world? Candy bars?

Can we please just skip ahead to a future without CDs, DVDs, and Best Buy?

The only shopping I do in person is grocery. Everything else is online. People need to follow.

Leaving the house is so 20th century.

You shop for groceries in person?

Just the shopping aspect.

I think Vinyl has sort of a romantic quality that will always keep people interested but a CD is just a storage device of digital files.

and the Digitalbits chimes in too:

Now then... back to that whole "The End" thing. There's little in the way of announcement news to report this morning, but we do have this bit of disc-related business, which comes by way of Dr. Jahnke and Matt...

It seems the online magazine Side-Line is among a number of publications reporting that all the major music industry labels are preparing to abandon the Compact Disc format by the end of 2012, in favor of download/streaming only releases via iTunes, Amazon and other digital music services. You know, I'm really not all that surprised. (Though I WILL be surprised if CDs disappear completely next year, given all the indie labels and distributors that still do well with the format.) Nor am I really all that bothered by it. I'm a big music fan, but it's been a while since I purchased an album on CD myself. Actually, what I've been doing lately instead is trying to track down 24-bit vinyl rips of a lot of my favorite albums, which sound FAR superior to regular CDs anyway. I find that, as I get older, when I spend my hard-earned money on music what I really want is high quality. MP3s simply do not cut it anymore for me. For example: When I purchased Peter Gabriel's recent New Blood album, I made sure to get the 24-bit, high-resolution version he offered online. And I'm damn glad I did. Now... I certainly recognize that I might be in a minority of all music consumers, but I'd bet there's still a LOT of guys like me and Matt out there, who have built up nice audio systems (related to home theatre viewing) and who have come to really appreciate high quality music presentation. In fact, Matt's recently become a vinyl hound, going to monthly LP shows to find copies of a lot of his old favorites. For a long time, I thought the whole vinyl resurgence thing was a joke. Then I heard the 45 RPM LP version of the Foo Fighters' Wasted Light. DAMN! It's so much better than the CD, there's almost no comparison. The only thing that captures that same level of sonic quality is a 24-bit digital presentation, not ripped from CD but created directly from the recording masters. So personally, I really don't have a problem kissing music CDs goodbye... as long as the labels FINALLY start offering their "download/stream only" releases with a lossless option.

~~

I also blame Amazon, there's an album that I want to get that has a pre-order price of 25.99 no discount - yet the UK import is 9 pounds - sure seems like Amazon wants to kill the interest in buying a physical copy over a download - I like my music like my blurays/dvds, in physical form.