Best Buy to cut CD & DVD space!

[Ajani]

I really don't want CD quality downloads, not when high-rez digital music is available to replace it.

That I agree with... I wish the major download providers like iTunes and Amazon would just skip lossless quality as the next step and go straight to High Res...

Yes, but 85% of that would be top-40 and "Hip-Hop" so you wouldn't be missing much.

This I don't agree with... The genre of music has nothing to do with the quality of the recording... Many audiophiles appreciate how much better a well recorded top-40 or Hip-Hop album sounds (especially on a quality setup)...

[TheHills44060]

You could just load all your CDs to a standalone music server such as the Olive 3HD:

http://www.olive.us/

Then you wouldn't need to access the internet or turn on a computer...

Also, it's not so much that the hobby is moving in this direction, but that the world in general is moving that way... So short of spending the rest of your life in an underground bunker, you may be forced to embrace new tech anyway...

In that case I would just continue to use my cd player. There would be no reason to transfer cd's to a music server if the server was simply acting as a player.

In the late 90's I used to download trance and techno tunes from Mp3.com only because they weren't available on cd. That was fine because it was new at the time but I have probably downloaded a total of 10 songs from the internet in the last 10 years.

[Ajani]

In that case I would just continue to use my cd player. There would be no reason to transfer cd's to a music server if the server was simply acting as a player.

In the late 90's I used to download trance and techno tunes from Mp3.com only because they weren't available on cd. That was fine because it was new at the time but I have probably downloaded a total of 10 songs from the internet in the last 10 years.

The major benefit of using a Music Server is actually not to download music from the internet.. It is to play music... 95% of the music in my server is from my original CDs (only 5% is downloaded music)...

I have playlists for just about every genre of music or mood that I feel like... So if I feel for early 90's reggae, I just press play and listen while the server goes through 40 songs... Now imagine if I had to be actively changing CDs instead to hear those 40 songs (from various albums)...

[TheHills44060]

Ahhhh now I see what you mean. Yeah the playlists seem like a really neat function but not enough for me to ditch a trusty cd player...especially one that sounds really good to my ear.

I could see myself possibly buying something like the Olive to play music in a room where I did a lot of entertaining but it would never find it's way into my main listening rig. That still doesn't help my qualms about being forced to "download" new music in the not too distant future though.

[Geoffcin]

This I don't agree with... The genre of music has nothing to do with the quality of the recording... Many audiophiles appreciate how much better a well recorded top-40 or Hip-Hop album sounds (especially on a quality setup)...

It might not have anything to do with the recording of the music, but the CD's I've gotten that were "top-40" were engineered to be compressed so it will sound good played in a high ambiant noise enviroment like a car. Audiophile quality reproduction is wasted on these CDs.

[E-Stat]

Yeah the playlists seem like a really neat function but not enough for me to ditch a trusty cd player...especially one that sounds really good to my ear.

I agree that convenience alone shouldn't replace quality. It shouldn't have to. I use a Squeezebox Touch as transport only connected to a Manley DAC. Admittedly, I use an existing Wi-FI network for connectivity. Even the latest $25k EMM Labs XSD1 player offers digital inputs to use its DAC separately.

I could see myself possibly buying something like the Olive to play music in a room where I did a lot of entertaining but it would never find it's way into my main listening rig.

I'm with you in that when I listen to the main system, I tend to be more focused and don't mind changing discs (or LPs for that matter).

That still doesn't help my qualms about being forced to "download" new music in the not too distant future though.

I confess my perspective differs based upon the convenience factor. You mean that I can instantly have any music I want without having to hunt down multiple stores or wait for Amazon.com to deliver a week later? This assumes one can still get at least CD quality.

rw