Compact discs... could be history

[jack70]

This form of digital storage has been talked about for decades, but this story seems to make the claim that technology may finally be getting there... at least make it cheaper than the current (really cheap) plastic substrate system that CDs use, which is the main reason CDs are the current digital medium of choice for consumers.

This has gotta be great news for the big music corporations... just another excuse to RE-release all their catalog yet again.

Start throwing out those CD's guys...

[Dave_G]

Well, you knew it eventually would move to a non moving media, the costs thusfar have made it prohibitive.

Dave

[Troy]

Awwwwwcrap. 8-Tracks were good enough! I loved the flourescent green Jethro tull ones.

I like owning something. Something I can touch. With everything on one chip one slip and all your music is gone.

I want to go to a store, get out of the house, be swayed by packaging, posters and in-store play. Grab a slice of pepperoni next door to the used record (sorry, CD) shop and joke with my friends about the crap they bought.

It's hard to describe, but I like getting my hands dirty looking for music.

And another thing. I don't want to have to download everything. I already have too much studio tan from this damn computer, now I gotta sit here and search for music for the rest of my day on it now too?

And another thing. When you have 25,000 songs in a directory, how do you ever know what you want to hear? I need to look at the CD stacks and see titles and covers of albums that help trigger the desire to play them. When you have 2,000 song titles that start with the letter "G" in a list on a little LCD screen, it looses all it's context, not to mention, charm.

You telling me that I HAVE to be responsible for providing the printing for saving a copy of my purchase? Sounds like the end of cover art. Maybe I'm an old curmudgeon, but I STILL believe in holding something in your hands on the sofa or in the backyard that says what songs you're listening to, not some BS scrolling LCD screen on the faceplate, always the same color, always the same font. Positively barbaric! I still believe in the power of the album cover and the associations they conjur. It's more important than the people "in the know" think it is.

You telling me that I have to also buy a new storage device that's portable that I plug into my reciever at home, work or the car like one of them Sirius® radio faceplates? Oh, but wait, I also have to buy a new deck to plug this thing in for every SINGLE place I want to hear music? What's THAT cost? The CD is fine, stuff like this goes past eh point of diminishing returns.

Whether that story is, in fact, true or not, this is the future. But I don't have to like it.

[nobody]

I hate that download crap too.

Ya go to the site, spend your time downloading, pay a buck a song, and all you have are files on your hard drive. If you download a whole album, say 15 songs, you still pay just as much as a CD. Then, if you want to listen away from your computer, you have to provide your own media to burn it, you own case if you wanna carry it, your own art if you wanna know what's inside. You end up paying more for less. And, I don't wanna have to transfer all my music files every time I upgrade my computer.

If they could solve the portability issue, the quality issues, and the access issues with super fast connections to everything I want, I may become interested. Until then, it looks like way more trouble than it's worth to me.

Now, the digital media mentioned in the article just sounds like a smaller, cheaper to produce CD in essence. Unless they do some sort of sound quality upgrade or sell them at lower prices, I don't see any advantages for anyone other than the record companies.

[DarrenH]

Awwwwwcrap. 8-Tracks were good enough! I loved the flourescent green Jethro tull ones.

I like owning something. Something I can touch. With everything on one chip one slip and all your music is gone.

I want to go to a store, get out of the house, be swayed by packaging, posters and in-store play. Grab a slice of pepperoni next door to the used record (sorry, CD) shop and joke with my friends about the crap they bought.

It's hard to describe, but I like getting my hands dirty looking for music.

Thank you for saying that. That's precisely how I feel but you said it so much better than I could.

Darren

[tommc]

Couldn't agree more with Troy...I still buy CD's instead of downloading mp3's. Regardless of sound quality, the experience of going out to buy a new CD, removing the plastic, and putting it in the CD player for the first time is part of the hobby. You pay for it though...if I remember correctly, a good part of the cost of a CD covers the distribution and shelf space costs. It's got its pros and cons...I'll take the CD though.

[John Beresford]

Couldn't agree more with Troy...I still buy CD's instead of downloading mp3's. Regardless of sound quality, the experience of going out to buy a new CD, removing the plastic, and putting it in the CD player for the first time is part of the hobby. You pay for it though...if I remember correctly, a good part of the cost of a CD covers the distribution and shelf space costs. It's got its pros and cons...I'll take the CD though.

Couldn't agree with you more, Tomm. You are right----going to the store, opening the wrapper, looking at the labeling all over the disc, popping it in the player -- all part of the hobby, you are right. Very much like DVD shopping for me, too.

Also part of the hobby for me is ordering promotional CD singles of tracks I want WITHOUT buying the entire album, then collecting a fair amount of those, along with select tracks off of same-genre albums, and burning them onto a CD-R for a mixed comp. THAT is part of the hobby for me, too, and I never do this via computer. It's all about touching the original full length CD or CD single, removing the packaging, looking at the label and disc, inserting it in the player. You are right.

[Slosh]

Also part of the hobby for me is ordering promotional CD singles of tracks I want WITHOUT buying the entire album, then collecting a fair amount of those, along with select tracks off of same-genre albums, and burning them onto a CD-R for a mixed comp.

Still working on that Gooey comp?