The compact disc’s last stand

True / Slant ^ | 22 March 2010 | Michele Catalano

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

But but but - won’t those crash too?? (memory sticks, I mean)

[cavador]

I was cleaning out some cupboards in the shed last week and found a whole box of these I had forgotten about=

[Señor Zorro]

Amazon MP3 is DRM free with very reasonable licensing.

Because the MP3s are DRM-free, you can play them on any MP3 device or even burn your own CD.

[norge]

Oh, I forgot one more thing...they are completely re-recordable.

I’ve been using them in our recording business for over ten years, largely because they are so flexible and we have multiple uses (and re-uses) for them. Out of perhaps 1000 MD’s we’ve lost two.

[jjsheridan5]

I gave my entire cd collection (200+) to a flea market that was raising money for a dog rescue organization. It was the most rewarding thing I had ever done with those cds.

Honestly, with all the options available, I can’t see a single good reason to have all of that clutter lying around.

[Pontiac]

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.

A lot of good your vinyl will do you with out something to play it on after EMP. (Unless you have an old tube amp and a turn table manufactured before the advent of diodes)

But as far as the storage medium is concerned a CD is as good as a LP for surviving an EMP or Solar Flare.

If an EMP or Solar Flare worries you build a faraday cage room for your electronics.

[zeugma]

One of the things that really annoyed me about CDs is the fact that even though there was so much more room on a CD than there as on an LP,very few groups ever filled it up. To this day, your average CD has 40%+ dead space on it.

I still like CDs, because the sound is better than MP3s, but I rarely buy new disks. Second-hand stores rock.

[zeugma]

OK everyone, what was the first couple of disks you bought?

For me, the choice was easy.

1) Dark Side of the Moon

2) Sgt. Pepper

[rawhide]

Fact is, compact discs will some day be looked upon with the same curiosity as today’s teenagers look at cassettes.

Showing my age. I can remember looking back at the records my dad had as old-fashioned, when 8-tracks were in!

[AlexW]

“But but but - won’t those crash too?? (memory sticks, I mean)

Sure they can, but not any worse then a CD.
They are cheap enough now that you can make duplicate backups
on more then one.
They are like having a hard drive in your pocket (no pun intended :P)
I have not even seen a CD in over a year, even though I have boxes of them from the past.

[IYAS9YAS]

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

Funny to see the word "codger" when replying a post about CDs.

To me a codger still has slate 78s. I'm only 41.

[meyer]

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.

I don't know why the mini never caught on - were they compatible with all the regular CD players? How much music would they hold? The CD caught on partly because it held the equivalent of an entire vinyl record (I still have 240 of those in storage, though I doubt I'll ever play them again). There was no significant change needed on the part of the consumer other than needing to buy a CD player.

I'm not sure that having an editable format is desirable, particularly if you want to maintain a somewhat permanent archive of the music.

[raybbr]

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.

Seems to me this woman doesn't understand economics. The fact that they are dropping the price, would indicate to me, that they want to sell MORE CD's not less.

How she derives the premise that the drop in price portends the end of CD's is beyond me.

[Seruzawa]

On top of the DL problems there’s the other issue that few bands and artists produce enough good material to justify a full CD purchase. Most CDs have only 1 or 2 decent tracks. It’s cheaper to just buy tracks you like.

[calex59]

Ditto, I keep my music on my computer(music I paid for, BTW)but I keep it backed up on CDs along with many other things I want to keep in case my backup drives fail. I learned that lesson the hard way, back in the day.

[vanilla swirl]

“A lot of good your vinyl will do you with out something to play it on after EMP. (Unless you have an old tube amp and a turn table manufactured before the advent of diodes)”

I do have some old tube equipment. The storage medium is, of course, not the problem. And, depending on the event, not all solid state electronics will be fried.
My point is simply that the more that music becomes just “magnetic ones and zeros” the less stable it is.
(oh yea, I’ve got an old “Victrola” I could modify and use ;-)

[fedupjohn]

OK everyone, what was the first couple of disks you bought?

Allman Bros "Live at the Filmore East" &
Doobie Bros "Which We Once Vices are Now Habits".

[Seruzawa]

After that kind of EMP listening to music will be the least of our problems.

[shorty_harris]

I second the use of OGG. I even think it sounds better than an equivalent MP3 (although I'm not a very good judge of sound quality). It supposedly gives you better sound quality and smaller file size.

I use Cowan players, because they play OGG, and sound great, and I've been happy with them.

If I find an artist I like, I'll usually buy the CD, then rip to OGG or FLAC (lossless compression), and store it on my music server (a little Atom based, low power unit I built), where I stream it wirelessly anywhere in my home.

[Drew68]

Apple iTunes is generating more than a billion dollars of downloads each year.

More than a billion dollars? Wow. In 1999, consumers spent nearly $40 billion on recorded music.

Some are paying for recorded music but many aren't. They're either pirating the music for free or listening to the songs they want to hear on Youtube playlists. The current business model is finished.