an article i came across and an excuse for me to rant

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46735093

the trend is definitely affecting us that buy our music
CDs are suffering. the quality of releases now is getting bad. i gave and got several CDs over xmas
the amount of crappy digipaks being pumped out is crazy

those flimsy pocket style ones that don't even have a tray glued on (you just slide the disc in)

i got the ved buens ende CD reissue. was disappointed it was a digipak but got over it, until i put it on, they couldn't even be arsed to give me CD Text, just track 1 , 2, 3
if i keep getting crap i'll be tempted to join the streaming

Cars don't come with installed CD players anymore.
Much of the new laptops for sale don't have disc-drives anymore.

Not much of an incentive to buy CDs when it's become difficult to find anything to play them on.

It's definitely dropping, but physical releases still exist. I don't really get the drive for vinyl. Per my understanding, older vinyl had a somewhat different/richer sound, but modern vinyl does not, since it's not the format, but the production and audio engineering that matters. All changes like this eventually see some kind of backlash, mostly that will occur in the form of the streaming/digital services abusing consumers and/or artists in some capacity.

This article highlights how little artists actually get from streaming services. Spoiler: It's pretty much nothing.

The article notes that Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" was played around 11 million times over the holiday season. For this, she received a check of a whopping $92,400. I'm sure there will be at least one moron who ignores what this actually means and says, "who cares about Mariah Carey", but the point is that a song can be played 11 million times and pay out less than a 100k. That's absurd. Think about the bands and artists who don't get remotely that many plays on the service, who maybe get a thousand plays over a whole year, if that. These services are shit for actually making money.



In just the way vinyl came back based on nostalgia and the questionable belief of "it sounding better", other formats or physical releases in general may see a resurgence with some other kind of fallout.

This topic is such a conundrum for me as a listener and a musician. I listen to more music than ever nowadays but it's mostly through streaming at the office and on my work commutes. I still listen to my CDs at home and buy them when I get the chance, but I definitely don't listen to them as much as I used to. I don't own any vinyl but I don't mind its resurgence either.

What personally bugs me is how the vinyl market is viable yet so expensive to partake in. As the article highlights, vinyl production is much more costly than CD manufacturing and it seems to set up a divide between musicians who can afford to produce a vinyl run that might sell and musicians who can't. I don't think it's gonna be detrimental to band development by any means but it is quite cumbersome.

the CD is a nice halfway house for me. i get something to look at and own and its convenient to play
but its never going to be as nice as an LP

with digital i found myself skipping around tracks so much more. with the CD im committed to playing the whole album

it was mentioned about Cd players in cars. its true the CD player in my car was an afterthought (shoved in the glove compartment)
if i didn't have one in the car i would end up ripping my CDs and putting them on the ipod, making them a little bit more redundant

i think if i ever move to digital i'll be buying the album and getting my copy rather than renting it

I think there will be a end to the atrocious spotify phase we're currently in. Maybe ownership of cd's/vinyl will be out the door, but the algorithm-driven websites that tell the user what to listen/watch/read/think based solely (or mostly) on user input is making our society a bunch of idiots on multiple levels, and is starting to glare its ugly head. My optimistic self believes that, eventually, politicians will severely limit the use of recommendation engines and algorithms that think for the user. It actually wouldn't be that hard- if the algorithm takes user data as, say, ~75% of the input to generate a recommendation, it could be considered illegal and not to be used on a public website.

Yeah, I mean, I got off CDs around 2012 and never looked back. I do most of my listening though my streaming account with Amazon, followed by supporting smaller acts/labels through Bandcamp. I've only stopped using an "old school" iPod in 2017-prior to that I would purchase digital albums. I stream primarily off my iPad via bluetooth, and that was one of the main reasons I bought the stereo receiver I did (bluetooth, HDMI, AV inputs). I very rarely buy CDs these days, only to support a particular label I am fond of (I buy all their releases) or if it's the only way to get the music of a local band (rare-most bands are on Bandcamp these days).

That said, I am admittedly swept up in the vinyl craze. But even then, I only buy new releases that I consider "vinyl worthy" (many factors go into determining this) and used LPs from the early 90s and prior, where the music was largely produced in analog for this format (and yeah, listening to an album on vinyl that was specifically produced for vinyl-major difference).

It's about money too, as a recent new home owner (and soon to be a solo home owner, but that's a different topic altogether), I have to really try and curb my spending, or better my "responsible" handling of money. It's $85 yearly for my Amazon subscription, when I would otherwise would spend upwards of $1,500 per year when I was buying CDs.

I've adjusted to the digital music era quite well, and don't really feel nostalgic for my former CD collection at all.

As long as they are available, I will always buy CDs, and if/when they disappear, I'll cease to buy music. Never cared for vinyls and I can't for the life of me understand how on earth tapes are coming back - to me it just makes no sense.

I stayed with CD's until 2011 or so. I do miss getting the booklet, having the artwork and the lyrics etc. However it had become increasingly hard to get cd-players and the electronic format is just so much more convenient. However I will never rely on a streaming website with a subscription. I want to own the music I listen to, and have access to it whenever I want. I don't want it to be locked to me subscribing to an online webpage (even though I know one can download ones library for offline use also).

I stick to mp3's for the most part. Its very convenient and I can save and store them as I'd wish. Therefore I also still use an mp3-player and I'm satisfied with that. I don't need much more.

I would very much regret the CD going extinct. As it is, the CD/DVD drive is the only reason I still have kept my old-ass laptop, aside from the occasional irritating game of chess against the computer.

I didn't note this in my original post, but I still purchase CDs even though I rip them all to an old iPod. I simply like how it handles music organization, programmable playlists, and stats. Digital music is prone to digital rot (this manifests in audio errors and digital skipping), which is part of why I keep the CDs, so I can re-rip if needed. I only wish CDs themselves were more durable long-term.

While the CD (and all physical media with the small exception of the fairly recent vinyl resurgence) is losing popularity there is still a ton of them released. Small labels still release them, as well as underground bands. Even if CD production stopped now there is such a large secondary market for CD's (different editions, japanese pressings etc.) that I would probably keep buying them for the rest of my life.

Every technological shift, from the very beginning of the 20th century when music first started to be recorded, was decried as The End Of Western Civilization!! by people at the time. I checked outside just now, and western civilization still seems to be there. CDs probably won't ever really go away. 8-tracks did, and wax cylinders, but vinyls and cassettes are still around.

Unfortunately, I think that artists will need to return to a singles-model for the digital age. Stream a song to create awareness. Stream a second one to gin up support, maybe a third with the release date announcement. Then when the album is released, plug the shit out of it and make it available for sale, not streaming, on all available digital outlets. Only when sales have petered out would you stream the whole album.

Eh? Like losing 0's and 1's? I had never heard of such a thing and looked it up... wouldn't it take a really long time using the same hard drive for that to happen? By which point it's probably affecting other data and you should get a new drive anyway? And enough time where the CD itself is degrading?

Anyway, I love vinyl. It's really not that different than collecting CDs and I don't make claims it sounds better (really depends since most vinyl these days is pressed from the same digital source as a CD) but I love records and won't look back to CDs. The feel, the weight, the sleeves. I think the main difference is I enjoy the ritual of playing a record on my turntable. Dusting it, placing the needle, flipping it when the side is done.

I also noticed after finding a few old albums I loved from CD or digital that the track-listing was designed with vinyl in mind when that was the main format, so when you flip the record it's like you've come back after a brief intermission and they lead with a bang (Blondie's 11:59 to start side B of "Parallel Lines" comes to mind), or they do a thematic or sonic divide ("Queen II" where the A/"white" side is mostly written by May and fairly diverse with a lean towards straightforward osongs about feelings and what not- plus a straight up 70s rocker song with him on lead vocals. Whereas B/"black" side is all by Mercury and focused on fantasy lyrics, progressive writing and arrangements, songs that flow into each other, and with easily the most "metal" stuff Queen ever did. PS that side is amazing and everyone should listen to it ).


Collecting music will never really go away, it just shifts and changes. The responses in this thread alone show that people still want to buy and collect CDs, even if it moves more to a "niche" thing.

One physical music format I hope never goes away is 5.1 surround, either on DVD or Blu-Ray.

I know this is niche, and there are very few metal albums formatted this way (the only ones I own are two albums by Dream Theater), but the ones I do own are amazing listens. Seems to be more common among prog rock (nearly all of Steven Wilson's various projects, some late period Opeth, the majority of the King Crimson catalog, and selections from the Yes catalog are ones I own) and alt rock (most of REM's Warner catalog and mid-period Flaming Lips albums-which are the most experimental takes on this format-are ones I own).

Basically, if a band/artist I like releases music in this format, I always try and get it.

I'm still using compact disc and won't stop until the end. Whenever that is.

Generally, per my understanding, it is more likely to occur with a lot of harddrive shuffling, but I've encountered it with music I have ripped myself that hasn't been copied or moved dozens of times. I forget which track, exactly, but part of Megadeth's Rust in Peace was skipping, and I re-ripped that and a couple other albums last year. I think another was a Hypocrisy album.

File degradation occurs to all digital formats, but is probably more noticeable in music files than, say, some image or text files or some gigantic mechanical floorplan PDF. You might have to dig through a lot of text to find a spot where the wording is jumbled, or notice a few pixels off in an image. But in a 4 minute track, you'll hear it pretty easily.

At the end of the day, nothing is forever.

I can't NOT own physical copies of music that I love. I'll always buy CDs. I don't want to buy digital files. I want the actual CD, with the jewel case, the booklet, and everything.

Please explain.

I had to look it up too. Basically as the storage medium that the music is on ages it will inevitably accumulate small instances of damage that will eventually degrade the files.

Same here. I will keep buying until the very end.

I still feel like I can't really enjoy an album fully unless I own it in a physical format. I never stream full albums. I'll use YouTube and Spotify to listen to a couple of songs from an album but I never play the whole record. I reserve that until after I have purchased a physical copy. That is if I enjoyed it enough to purchase.

I've only bought a few digital albums ever. It just doesn't really appeal to me unless it would be the *only* way to "own" the album. And yeah, between cd and vinyl, I love both equally and for different reasons. I find that I often enjoy older albums on vinyl more than their cd counterparts (that warm analog sound) but I'll still get new vinyl from new bands as well. It just depends on what I come across for a good price first, really.

Same here, buying digital albums just isn't for me, especially as there are still (and probably always will be) physical formats for purchase. Every physical purchase is like christmas! Waiting for my goodies to show up.

Well...the CD is sort of a link between physical and digital and one step towards the latter. It is actually an outdated format at this point because we already have high-quality digital formats that don't need CDs anymore. But while FLAC and other lossless digital formats (and streaming) are currently the highest quality in the digital segment, vinyl is the highest audio quality when it comes to analogue audio formats and therefore at least vinyl has it's right to live as an valuable alternative to downloads whereas CDs, Tapes and idk...floppy discs are only needed for nostalgia reasons and people who want a cheap physical release so that people at least have something in their hands while listening...so they still have a purpose even though they are not really needed.
Btw, I still buy Tapes, CDs, Vinyl as well as digital stuff (rarely), I bought printed USB sticks before and I would buy floppy discs if it wasn't exclusively done by DIR. I just love collecting no matter the format.

I will use CDs as long as they will be produced, my collection is growing and growing, but I'm also not sure, if they will last any longer... when I asked for a CD in the shopping mall in my city, the seller asked me "Why aren't you listening to them on Spotify"...

Unless you're a struggling underground band that can't afford pressing physical copies, I have zero interest in digital files. I think vinyl got overhyped but I'm fine with it, and cd is a great format all around, so as long as it stays around I'm supporting it. I even bought a couple of tapes last year.

Streaming can disappear anytime and I won't even notice; sampling a song or two on Youtube to get an idea is as far as I've ever gone. I want to be able to listen to whatever I want without depending on internet access, plus sound quality and ecenomic support for artists are a joke.

I sold my whole collection of ~900 CDs back in 2011. I did it because I needed the money, but honestly I also felt relief at the time and have never really looked back. I've gone all digital for video games too, although with movies I still hang onto blu-ray to a minor extent (buy like 5 per year). If an album isn't on Spotify it basically doesn't exist in my world - yeah, sucks that I'll miss out on some stuff, but there's just always so much stuff out there anyway.

Artists having low payouts and spending too much time touring when they should be writing/recording does bother me. That problem precedes streaming services though, and I think the future is looking brighter as the industry changes. I don't know if Spotify/Apple/Amazon/whatever payouts will necessarily be higher, but the business model will keep changing for sure and there are definitely artists small and big that are figuring it out in new creative ways. I know rexxz have talked about this stuff here, a welcome counterpoint to the gloom and doom kind of tone the conversation tends to have on this forum.

Maybe this will help. Also, SSD's are less stable in the long term?? Goddammit.

<-- a thousand times.

Fuck that guy.

I have over 1000 metal CDs, and I'll continue to collect them as long as they're around and easily obtainable. I enjoy collecting the physical album to feel I own something tangible by the bands I enjoy, while also supporting them. I'm not a huge fan of digipaks, and prefer jewel cases generally. Digipaks are much more easily damaged, and sometimes feel rather cheap (like Immolation's Kingdom of Conspiracy, a cheap thin barebones digipak).

I think CD is the best format, as it's the most affordable combined with the highest quality. Vinyl is overrated and overblown in all areas, and the prices are often not competitive with CD. However, I do grab a vinyl once in awhile as well for collectability, as they are often the most collectible, being limited with special pressings and goodies included.

I burn the CDs I buy onto my laptop, and then transfer them to my micro SD card on my phone. That's how I predominately listen to music these days. I lost my playlist on my old PC that had a large 1000 band collection on it, and have slowly built up my SD card since then.

I sold my CD collection to buy my first guitar. Then I collected vinyl. 22 years later, I had to sell my vinyl collection to make rent after going through some hard times. I didn't care. As much as I enjoy the sound, I would rather not have as much stuff. The records that I had were somewhat random, a combination of my own taste, things I found good deals on, and things people had given me, but there wasn't enough metal. Not enough of what I listen to and too much of the world that I live in and what other people expect you to be. I enjoyed having a wide variety of records. But at the end, I was glad to shed it all.

I hope we'll always have vinyl because it sounds so good. But we don't need CD's and other digital physical formats.

We really need to make some adjustments so that artists can make ends. Our income options are limited in a world that is often hostile to the arts (increasingly so in my experience, at least in the US) and it is getting harder, financially, to sustain what you are doing if you are not on a commercially oriented path. Of course this varies a lot based on individual circumstances. But since selling physical copies of your work in order to sustain it is becoming a thing of the past, we need a new way.

Vinyl collecting is still popular. I'll return to it some day. Pressing your work on vinyl as an independent band is not out of reach, but it is very expensive and the turn-around time and quality these days can be issues. I live in the moment, choosing how to share my work and how to sustain it on a day to day basis, always experimenting and going off the beaten path. However things change, I hope it won't hurt us, that we'll still be able to make strange noises and make them available, and listen freely to what we want. Using the internet to listen to music raises a lot of questions about privacy and the implications - no one knows what vinyl you have, but if you make or listen to controversial music online, your job options may be limited as a result. One example among many. But we need to consider that angle of things. We need to preserve our freedom to make and to listen to what we want, regardless of how formats change and the world we exist in changes in return.

Fuck digipaks man. Just because of the cover I have to pay 3 additional bucks more than a jewel case cd. Very evil and sly marketing. I can never find a digipak CD in my local "walmart" that's less than 15 bucks

$15 for a CD in any format would be a dream come true in Australia.

I've noticed that the "deluxe edition" of an album is often in a digipak thus making it more expensive. But yeah, I'd always choose a jewel case version over a digipak if possible.

It all depends on manufacturing. I've got some digipacks that are nearly 20 years old and I could still honestly list as near mint if I ever intended to put them on sale, and some that are barely 5 years old that look beat to hell despite the obsessive care I take.

I guess I'll be the outlier here. I use Spotify as my main way of listening to music. If I find an artist that isn't on Spotify I'll check and see if they have a bandcamp or something and buy a digital copy there.

I used to collect vinyl but it just takes up too much room and I can't listen to it in the car or at work.

If it isn't on Spotify there's about a 99% chance I won't give it a chance.

Satan's Hallow is the last band I can think of I bought an album for, because it wasn't on Spotify and that was over a year ago.

I agree with Jack White. The CD is on the way out. I mean, what is a CD, really? It's just a digital storage device. It's like an iPod that only fits one song. CD's paved the way for music fans to go 100% digital. I know the article also says that vinyl sales have plateaued, but a vinyl record provides more of an aesthetic pleasure in terms of its weight, its packaging, etc. The other advantage that both vinyl and digital have over CD's is storage. Store 100 CD's and you'll have broken cases, etc. Too many moving parts. Plus, new cars don't even come with CD players anymore.

Some vinyls are mastered differently than the CD's and in many cases are less loud than the CD. Then you have records that are just as bad as the CD. Personally I wish they put the effort into making the CD sound amazing since it has more potential than any vinyl. But production is a lost art.

Also you usually get the shitty remaster on the streaming sites IME.