Alan Smithee

I've been buying CDs since 1985, the only advancement to come along since then has been SACD and that's had generally bad support overall and for the most part replaced by Blu-Ray albums which aren't considered a different format.

I fail to see how more 'convenient' buying digital music is even more than movies- at least if I buy a digital movie I can fire up a few different apps on my Roku and watch it. I don't see any way to do the same for music other than through Amazon or Google Play. I have a bunch of free music on both but the interfaces are a bit awkward. Seems like if I bought a digital album I'd either have to use Amazon Music on the Roku (I don't think there even is any way to listen to Google Play music on that), buy an Apple TV unit to use ITunes, or download it to something- and then how would I listen to it on my main system?

I used to buy a ton of CDs every month, but that stopped when the record labels started RAISING their prices at a time when CD manufacturing costs had dropped. In the 80s there was speculation that CD prices would drop when the costs did, but aside from catalog titles that didn't happen. A few years later DVDs came along and those were priced a lot lower in comparison- in some cases you could buy a movie on DVD with extras for LESS than what the soundtrack album on CD would cost you. Music DVDs were a better value also and that's mainly what I've spent my money on music-wise since then- you usually get the music in multi-channel instead of boring 2-channel stereo, plus visuals along with it. My last big music purchase was last month, the Tangerine Dream box set which has all the music they recorded in the 70s for Virgin Records on 16 CDs plus two Blu-Rays with multi-channel mixes and concert footage- the Blu-Rays were the main reason I bought it. I don't see much point in concert albums with no picture to go along with them.

New music in general seems to have declined, in quality as well as record sales. There are a few recent songs I have liked but not enough to go buy the album and then spend the time listening to it. (In the old days I would usually give every CD a first play with headphones while reading the included lyrics if there were any, otherwise just staring at the liner notes and pictures. I don't have time to do that as much now.) The "loudness war" mixing trend is a definite problem and doesn't give people much reason to buy such music on a better-quality medium. Radio has generally gotten more bland (the top-rated station here right now is "Classic Rock" which only plays older songs, I personally would rather hear new stuff on the radio and buy the older stuff I want to keep hearing again) and of course MTV hardly even plays music anymore (if music videos aren't a "thing" anymore, then why not show concerts and the like, rather than what they've gone to now?) Something needs to be done to bring the excitement back.

morriscroy

(On a tangent).

I did this exactly around 15 years ago. The type of stuff I was buying on cd circa mid-2000s, were cd compilations of rare material such as demos, unreleased albums, live recordings, etc ... which were never released back in the day. (I avoided bootlegs and looked for official releases, typically released by indie record companies or self-released by the actual band). Back in the day, many of these were "holy grails" and legendary for the hardcore fans.

Unfortunately I found out the hard way that just about all of these cds I purchased were a huge disappointment. There was a big reason why most of these "holy grails" were never released back in the day: they were a total embarrassment and/or sounded like complete garbage.

This eventually led to my exit from the cd collecting market.

Rival11

I'll always buy them - even with Google now streaming at 320 kbps - I like the tangible and the artwork (even though most artists barely include any artwork nowadays).

mndtrp

This was me until the last release. Reznor releases FLAC for the same price, so that's how I go now. All of his digipaks and whatnot are just stored in a box, so I don't see the point any more. I do still occasionally buy CDs from local bands or from merch stands at concerts.

I wish more bands did this. I can see if a band tours every year or two, the enjoyment would diminish. If there's enough of a change between one tour and the next (a new album, a change in sound, anniversary tributes, etc), then having something documenting it each time would be great.

DeanoBKN

Only of my favorite band to keep the collection going...so once every 3 or so years?

PhantomStranger

Good music is still being made but it's almost all from outside the major labels these days. You have to dig much harder and look towards smaller labels for quality music.

bralph

I am perfectly content to use Spotify for all of my music needs, and once upon a time I had 100s of CDs. I think the last CD I bought was Taylor Swift for my daughter, back before she relented and allowed her catalog on Spotify. In fact, I could have gotten a free copy of the latest Raconteurs when I bought concert tickets, but I gave the code away instead.

Chrisedge

Too much wrong with this to tackle, but short version of my answer is, Most digital music can be played across lots of different devices, from phones, to iPods, to set top boxes like Apple TV / Roku, etc...CD's can only be played in a computer or disc player. So digital music is easy to access anywhere.

Alan Smithee

Well, I guess I'm a luddite because I don't know how to play digital music on too many devices. It certainly isn't as easy as playing movies, quality notwithstanding. My main concern is my main system anyways, and that has plenty of disc players- and I've found they DO sound better than 'digital'. I do listen to a lot of online radio and such, but I don't pay for that.

Yes there is still good music being made now, but it hardly ever gets played on the radio or other mainstream outlets. The stuff that gets promoted the most is usually garbage, IMHO. In the 80s I liked the more 'underground' stuff than mainstream also, but even most of the mainstream music was still listenable and deserving of good sound quality.

loyal ninja

Dead format? It's not like someone purchasing a VHS tape in 2019. Retailers worldwilde still stock CDs and will probably continue to do so for some time.

Digital distribution is convenient, but it's not an all-around superior alternative (much less successor) to audio CDs. I do like to have lossless archival backups of my music via physical media, and CDs of course serve that purpose just fine. Digital distribution services on the other hand usually provide only lossy, inferior encodings that may be locked down by DRM that restricts how the audio can be migrated from one device to another. And vendors sometimes use this kind of DRM maliciously to create a vendor lock-in scenario where customers can playback purchased audio using only certain software or licensed devices. (e.g. Apple music services functioning only on Apple devices - which has been the case in the past)

PhantomStranger

Digital distribution seems to be built almost entirely around everyone using their phone as a listening device. Which is fine for casual music listeners and probably the best business model for record labels, but it's a terribly poor system for serious listeners.

What's funny is that the record labels themselves think digital sales will be dead in a couple of years - they expect almost all future music revenue will be streaming subscriptions. Make no mistake, I believe the major labels are actively pushing people towards this cliff for their own benefit.

Trevor

I’m shopping for a new car. Well, used, looking 2016 range. It’s amazing how hard it is to find a CD player.

PhantomStranger

I've seen a list of recent cars with available CD options somewhere on the net. It's a strange array of random models. Many manufacturers have re-engineered their center consoles for computer interfaces, so CDs often have nowhere left to go.

B5Erik

I will NEVER stop buying CD's.

Streaming sucks. No streaming service has all the music I want. No streaming service has the sound quality of CD's. Fuck that.

I like listening to what I want, when I want. I can play the CD, or rip a high quality MP3 for my car. I've got lots of options - and a master copy of every album I own. I've had 4 computers crap out on me, and I just lost an external hard drive 6 months ago. So downloads are out. Streaming is out (limited selection, inferior sound quality).

CD's are still the best format - the best way to listen to music.

PhantomStranger

I'll agree, but the major labels themselves are starting to gear the system away from CDs entirely. It's pretty clear there's a small contingent of older consumers that would support CD indefinitely, but trends like CD-Rs replacing pressed discs for older and niche material isn't good.

cultshock

For some reason, major labels are practically forcing the obsolescence of the CD format themselves.

loyal ninja

Fortunately, major labels don't produce much content that's actually worth owning in the first place.

PhantomStranger

They happen to own most popular legacy content. There was nice Beach Boys archival material released last year only through digital outlets - fans were up in arms. And remember, the average Beach Boys' customer is most definitely still buying CDs.

Obi-Wanma

I pretty much stopped buying CD's in 2015 when I purchase my current car, which doesn't have a CD Player. I ripped all of my CD's to a thumb drive that I keep in my car after that and haven't touched them since. The very few CD's that I have purchased or been given since then have gotten ripped and thrown in a drawer never to be seen again.

cultshock

Luckily for me, the genre I mostly listen to (metal) is largely made up of fans who still very much buy all the stuff from bands they like (vinyl, CDs, tapes, t-shirts, etc.) Metal heads are the obsessive collector geeks of the music world.

morriscroy

Another big genre for cds is classical music. (Though not so much vinyl or t-shirts).

Alan Smithee

I've finally resigned myself to buying used CDs- I normally don't like buying used media at all unless it's an obsolete format or something way out of print. Local record store which is going out of business had all their soundtrack CDs at $1 each, couldn't pass those up. Got Xanadu for the car, will keep listening to the 8-track at home

Just2See

I'm buying more CDs than ever. For me music is a serious pursuit, so I wish to secure access to my favorite recordings. Albums can disappear from streaming services at any moment, and there is a tremendous amount of music missing from them. It is also very rewarding to build up a collection. For casual listeners or for discovery streaming is fine, however for committed music lovers the CD has no substitute.

andicus

^Wow. Talk about a lurker. That has got to be a record!

And I agree with your post. It's the same reason I still buy physical video media.

cultshock

Yeah, it's funny, I was just reading on the Steve Hoffman forum that most classical music buffs have stuck with CDs and haven't gotten on board with the vinyl revival. Probably mostly due to space limitations and much of the music has a lot of quiet passages so fans of the genre like the format itself to be as dead quiet as possible (I think this was the first genre to truly embrace CD back in the eighties). I've seen some absolutely massive CD box sets of classical music, so they definitely still sell to that audience.

I wonder about jazz and blues and physical media? Along with metal and classical, those are two other music genres with serious collectors/fans.