Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs Effective 7/1, Target Pushes Away CD & DVD Industry
02-08-18, 10:35 AM
#51
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Re: Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs Effective 7/1, Target Pushes Away CD & DVD Industry
I think what killed the market for them was a stauch refusal to drop prices on new and catalog releases: new releases were $15 or so 20 years ago, and they're still nearly that expensive in stores now. Absolutely NO single-disc new release should be more than $10 ever, and catalog stuff should be $5 at the most.
I will say, Sony had the right idea with their CMG / SBME Special Markets lines, it's just a shame they started doing it too late in the physical media game.
03-07-18, 04:27 PM
#52
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Re: Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs Effective 7/1, Target Pushes Away CD & DVD Industry
There's no evidence that people can tell the difference between redbook CD and 24/96. In fact, the couple of studies done on it suggest it is virtually impossible for people to notice the difference. There's one where they downrezzed SACD --> cd quality and no one could tell the difference beyond the margin of error, except for at ridiculously loud decibel levels (and if I recall that was just one or two people).
http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=14195
(full study is behind a paywall these days but I read a big piece of it years ago).
The only real difference was that mastering tended to be better on the hi-rez audio formats vs the loudness war thing going on on most CDs.
I haven't seen a true study on high-rez compression vs CD, but from blind test results I've seen on the internet, I imagine it is similiarly almost impossible for most people to tell the difference between mp3 and CD above say 256kbps or so.
CD audio was a really well-thought out standard.
Wikipedia summary of the study:
In September 2007, the Audio Engineering Society published the results of a year-long trial, in which a range of subjects including professional recording engineers were asked to discern the difference between SACD and a compact disc audio (44.1 kHz/16 bit) conversion of the same source material under double blind test conditions. Out of 554 trials, there were 276 correct answers, a 49.8% success rate corresponding almost exactly to the 50% that would have been expected by chance guessing alone.[40] When the level of the signal was elevated by 14 dB or more, the test subjects were able to detect the higher noise floor of the CD quality loop easily.
The authors commented:
Now, it is very difficult to use negative results to prove the inaudibility of any given phenomenon or process. There is always the remote possibility that a different system or more finely attuned pair of ears would reveal a difference. But we have gathered enough data, using sufficiently varied and capable systems and listeners, to state that the burden of proof has now shifted. Further claims that careful 16/44.1 encoding audibly degrades high resolution signals must be supported by properly controlled double-blind tests.
The authors commented:
Now, it is very difficult to use negative results to prove the inaudibility of any given phenomenon or process. There is always the remote possibility that a different system or more finely attuned pair of ears would reveal a difference. But we have gathered enough data, using sufficiently varied and capable systems and listeners, to state that the burden of proof has now shifted. Further claims that careful 16/44.1 encoding audibly degrades high resolution signals must be supported by properly controlled double-blind tests.
Last edited by GreenMonkey; 03-07-18 at 04:33 PM.
03-07-18, 10:21 PM
#53
Re: Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs Effective 7/1, Target Pushes Away CD & DVD Industry
Disc space is cheap, so I ripped all of mine losslessly (FLAC/ALAC). I'd love to know what sources were used for that AES test. High frequency content, and things like cymbals which produce a ton of higher-order harmonics, are most noted for audible artifacts. It's a bit depth problem more than a sampling rate one. Red book content above 8kHz only has 3 bits (= 8 discrete volume levels) available for volume. An 8 volume spread in 96db of dynamic range is far too granular.
03-07-18, 10:23 PM
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Re: Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs Effective 7/1, Target Pushes Away CD & DVD Industry
Old phone so not much space for music, but just got a car with a USB port so I should try the flash drive thing.
03-13-18, 02:15 PM
#55
Re: Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs Effective 7/1, Target Pushes Away CD & DVD Industry
To be honest, I'm not sure that this news will matter to most people - or that most will even notice. I myself like CD's & still collect them to some extent (typically older bands from the '60's - '80's), but don't remember when the last time was that I actually bought a CD in a store - it's been years. I usually get them via Amazon.
I always found CD's at brick & mortar places like BB & Target to be overpriced - plus, the selection there sucks. They only carry new titles & I'm only into older bands/albums.
I used to patronize a local store that exclusively sold used & new CD's, but they went under about 5 years ago - not surprising. Too bad, since they had an amazing selection.
The important thing to remember here is that companies will not be stopping CD production completely - just that less brick & mortar stores will carry them.
The news that most new cars don't have CD players these days is disheartening. I do have an older car & it does have a CD player, which I enjoy listening to while driving (I haven't gone digital yet). That being said, this is not surprising & is just a sign of the times.
It's interesting that back in 2001 I had to pay extra $ to have a CD player included in my then-new car. In 2008, my then-new car came with a CD player that I didn't need to ask for. And, my next car probably won't have a CD player at all. Progress
I always found CD's at brick & mortar places like BB & Target to be overpriced - plus, the selection there sucks. They only carry new titles & I'm only into older bands/albums.
I used to patronize a local store that exclusively sold used & new CD's, but they went under about 5 years ago - not surprising. Too bad, since they had an amazing selection.
The important thing to remember here is that companies will not be stopping CD production completely - just that less brick & mortar stores will carry them.
The news that most new cars don't have CD players these days is disheartening. I do have an older car & it does have a CD player, which I enjoy listening to while driving (I haven't gone digital yet). That being said, this is not surprising & is just a sign of the times.
It's interesting that back in 2001 I had to pay extra $ to have a CD player included in my then-new car. In 2008, my then-new car came with a CD player that I didn't need to ask for. And, my next car probably won't have a CD player at all. Progress
Last edited by TheDude; 03-13-18 at 02:23 PM.
03-13-18, 03:25 PM
#56
Re: Best Buy to Stop Selling CDs Effective 7/1, Target Pushes Away CD & DVD Industry
Since I have all my CDs losslessly ripped, in my car I stream iTunes Match via Bluetooth instead of playing CDs.
