The compact disc’s last stand

True / Slant ^ | 22 March 2010 | Michele Catalano

[ShadowAce]

Yesterday, I got a text message from my cousin asking if my son wanted any CD shelves, because he was getting rid of his.  I texted him back “LOL CDs.”

Our CDs – thousands of them – are stacked on a floor to ceiling shelf unit in the garage. All those compact discs have been ripped onto the various computers in our house, shrunk down to invisible little bytes that take up no space in the house.  All of our subsequent music has been bought in digital form (save for my occasional vinyl purchases).

If there was any doubt that the compact disc is dying, look no further than Universal’s announcement that they will start selling most CDs for ten dollars or less.

The Universal Music Group could rewrite U.S. music pricing when it tests a new frontline pricing structure, which is designed to get single CDs in stores at $10, or below.

Beginning in the second quarter and continuing through most of the year, the company’s Velocity program will test lower CD prices. Single CDs will have the suggested list prices of $10, $9, $8, $7 and $6.

[…]

“We think [the new pricing program] will really bring new life into the physical format,” Universal Music Group Distribution president/CEO Jim Urie said.

I think Universal is wrong in thinking that the problem is pricing.  We live in an age of instant gratification.  You hear a song you like, you plug in your iPod, go to the iTunes store or whatever the Zune equivalent is and that song is yours ten seconds later. Who wants to go to a store to buy music? Or even order a CD online? Sure, you never have to leave your computer chair to do that, but then there’s the waiting for it to be delivered. Digital music purchase is the ultimate in home delivery.

Way back in some year I don’t care to remember – let’s call it 1981 – I was working in a video rental store. It was one of the first of its kind on Long Island. For just $75.00 a year, you got the privilege of paying $3.95 a night to rent a limited selection of movies, mostly MGM classics, low budget horror movies and tons of porn.  My boss may have not had a lot of foresight when it came to stocking movies, but he was smart enough to know when a gig was going to run out. He saw the prices for VHS movies coming down and knew it wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t charge ridiculous prices to pillars of community who called ahead for their copies of Bad Girls and Debbie Does Dallas to be slipped into brown paper bags.

So he sent me to a trade show, where I was to listen to talks on the future of home entertainment. I spent an entire Saturday afternoon in a hotel conference room at JFK Airport watching haggard salespeople talk about the future.

That’s where I saw my first compact disc.  The salesman held the disc up for all to see and proclaimed it be the Next Big Thing. He talked about the bulkiness of vinyl, the scratches and skips on our records, the difficulty in storing large collections of music. He held the CD up to the light and made it shine for us. It was like magic. How could all that music fit on one little disc? We were mesmerized.

My boss didn’t think CDs would ever become a thing. He cited the tiny little album art and liner notes as the main reason compact discs would never catch on.  I’d call him shortsighted, but a year or so after that he turned the video rental store into a video game store and made a boatload of money. Most of it off of me.

Later in the 80s I was working in a record store when we had to clear a small space next to the classical records for the arrival of compact discs. Everyone dismissed them. The jewel boxes came housed in cardboard boxes the size of a small child. The prices were exorbitant.  We called them novelties. They’d never catch on. Even though the big name artists were all latching on to the new technology, touting the cleaner sounds, we were all “Yea, call me when the Butthole Surfers release something on CD. We’ll stick to our scratchy vinyl.”

Six months later, half the record wall was replaced by new shelving for CDs. A year or less after that, the cassette department was gone.

CDs had a nice, long run but it was only a matter of time before something came along to push them off the shelves. Turns out it was a thing that needs no shelf space. The ease of buying digital music – and, of course, the pirating of – have done to the CDs what Georgetown did to my NCAA bracket: made it damn near obsolete.

Universal can throw as many life preservers as they want to the drowning medium. Fact is, compact discs will some day be looked upon with the same curiosity as today’s teenagers look at cassettes.

[library user]

[newfreep]

CD is now relatively low resolution using 16-bit/44Khz technology.

Super Hi-Rez downloads of 24-bit/192Khz (and even more 24/96 downloads) is now available if you have a DAC capable of this level of decoding. This is approaching "Master Studio Tape" quality.

[autumnraine]

Yes, but you could put so much more on a flash drive. Little 3 inch flash drive can hold several gigs and you are done.

[ShadowAce]

Which format is best and which players will play it?

The formats are all pretty much the same--it just depends on the sample rate you record your songs at.

MP3 is actually a closed format, and does/can require fees to use. OGG is a completely free and open format that does not require any fees to use, and is not owned by any for-profit company.

I personally use an iRiver (running the RockBox firmware) as it can play the OGG format as well as the MP3 format. I purchased it used a few years ago, so you'd have to perform some research for today's players.

[SharpRightTurn]

I don’t do ipod.

I like my CDs.

Each to his own, of course, but I have no interest in downloading to my computer, MP3s, or flash drives.

But if CDs are a dying media, I suppose I had better purchase the titles I want before they pull the plug.

[NonValueAdded]

I hope you are using high quality CD’s then and remastering them every year or so.

[newfreep]

See my post #22.

My business is involved in the importing/distribution of very high end audio reproduction equipment. Hi-Rez downloads that approach "Master Studio tape" quality is the future...IF you have a high quality DAC capable of decoding 24/192 information.

As someone who has always preferred vinyl LP (still have a huge LP collection) because of it's higher natural musicality vs. digital, once you hear the quality of these Hi-Rez downloads, it's quite mind blowing.

That said, I'm searching for my last high-end Turntable/Arm/Cartridge combo.

[vanilla swirl]

So, when the next solar super-storm hits (google 1859 Carrington event) or we get hit by an EMP. Music (along with many other things) effectively dies. Except those of us with vinyl.

[newfreep]

FYI - MP3 is a very low quality music signal that is highly compressed. Definitely not considered high quality by any stretch...even compared to standard CD.

[norge]

No reason at all...the music’s great!

[listenhillary]

I’ve had a 30 gb ZEN mp3 player for many years. Works fine, the ripper is fast and the software works on my PC.

http://us.store.creative.com/category/25657833161/1/ZEN.htm

[bert]

There are millions of CD’s out there. My kids have gazillions it seems. Now they have MP3 and the bonanza of getting married and integrating the spouses CD’s into the hoard has lost its luster.

With kids running around, storage is a problem

The market will be flooded with unwanted CD’s

[Commander X]

They said the same thing when cds arrived on the scene, thata vinyl would die. In fact, the opposite has occurred. More independent record shops are reporting big surges in vinyl buying again. Just read Goldmine Magazine.

I do not think cds will die out. There are many specialty and niche labels out there that are releasing much overlooked music from the 1920s thru the 1980s on cd. CD Universe is great online store to buy these cds from.

I have plenty of cds and will never stop buying them. Hard drives do not last as long as a cd. And who cares if the younger kids are not buying them. Why should we follow them? Trendy...who cares?

Finally, I am glad to hear that Universal is finally dropping the price of cds. Yippy...more for me to buy!! They were supposed to drop prices years ago but never did.

[norge]

You hear a song you like, you plug in your iPod, go to the iTunes store or whatever the Zune equivalent is and that song is yours ten seconds later.

Only to be lost when you iPod dies, or your hard drive fails. CD's are nearly permanent, and you can easily catalog them. They are independent of the device on which you play your music. Play them in the car, on the music system, anywhere. You own them, and you can do with them as you wish. They can be copied and used on other devices such as iPod or MP3 players.

All that seems to be true, but one of the most puzzling things to me was the lack of interest in the Mini-disk, as opposed to the CD.

The Mini is smaller, protected from scratches, and is completely editable, from deleting to adding to manipulating content. And they were pratically indestructible.

Alas, too late now, their time has passed.

[SharpRightTurn]

“The market will be flooded with unwanted CD’s”

I hope you’re right. That’s music to the ears of a tech-challenged, set-in-his-ways old codger like me.

[listenhillary]

With kids running around, storage is a problem

I just nail them into a keg and stuff food through the bung hole until they turn 18. (/humor off)

[Mad Dawgg]

"What alternatives are there to the iPod? I’m picky about quality so I want the highest sampling rate possible in my digital music."

Literally thousands without the proprietary nonsense that is Apple iPod. My current one I use is also my Phone and quality of music is limited to only what your CD ripping program can do.

I use the Motorola Em330 Phone it has several features I required (Phone, Camera, Video Recorder and FM Radio as well as MP3 player) it eliminates several pieces of electronic gear I used to drag along wherever I went.

of Course the most important of all features is that it flips open like a star trek communicator ;-0

Several nice features are included such as memory card swaping that allows you to load music without complicated external programs. Just either hook your phone up via usb or use your mem card to hook to your computer and drag and drop. No syncing goofiness needed.

Further you can make your own ring tones using songs or whatever you desire.

And that is just ONE alternative to iPod. My wife and daughter have replaced their Ipods with Phone/MP3 players as well both have different phones and both are glad to be rid of iTunes syncing!

But there are many more choices that are just MP3 players. It just depends on what you want! The nice bit about a phone/Mp3 player is that when you are listening to music the phone can be set to overide the music and go directly to a call without having to shut down the music (it pauses) or take of headphones or pickup another device.

[listenhillary]

They also used a proprietary Sony format. Sony - the company that put root kit spy ware in their CD’s. Gotta love them.

I had one for a year or two and sold it. It did sound very good.

[newfreep]

If the kids are not too large, you can just wet ‘em and stick them on a glass window like a magnet.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

I hope you are using high quality CD’s then and remastering them every year or so.

Please don't give me anything to worry about ..... ? We are using good CD's -but buy them in stacks of 100 at Sams. Are those good enough?