Posted on 12/01/2011 6:16:52 AM PST by Libloather
Compact Disc death foretold for 2012
Major record labels to kill format?
By Caleb Cox
7th November 2011 15:45 GMT
The major record labels are planning to kill off the CD format by the end of next year to make way for digital downloads only.
That's the claim made by music site Side-Line which says it heard whispers that the end of the CD is nigh from music industry insiders.
That said, it has failed to get any official confirmation from the labels, though that's not perhaps surprising.
The notion is that, by the end of 2012, the majors will focus entirely on downloads. The only CDs that will go on sale through 2013 and beyond will be special editions and albums from the biggest artists.
If true - we're not entirely convinced; we can't see the majors acting in such harmony - the news could spell even bigger profits for digital content suppliers Amazon and iTunes, while ruining bricks'n'mortar stores like HMV, which already struggles due to the rise in digital-download popularity.
(Excerpt) Read more at reghardware.com ...
I still don’t get what the record companies have to complain about. They can now put out sub-standard audio quality and no one cares. They have an inventory of infinity, with no physical product to worry about. What’s not to like?
Does this mean I should start looking to replace my 8 Tracks?
yep, but they will be around for a long time after that.
I still buy tons of CDs, but mostly independent releases, and almost nothing from major labels other than archive stuff. Most new music on major labels is garbage from cretins whose only talent is for marketing and self-promotion (just look at yesterday’s Grammy nominees, only about four people worth listening to in the bunch). Downloading is for people who are too dumb, young or tonedeaf to care about sound quality. Maybe if they’d ever heard anything worth listening to, they’d start demanding to hear it clearly. /rant
A friend of mine that works at Best Buy said they are going to greatly reduce the number of CD’s and DVD’s they sell in their stores after Christmas(literally down to one rack). Seems they take up too much floor space given the way the inventory turns and the margins they make on them.
I guess it might be worthwhile to hang onto the classics on VHS.
“Oh, I'll make you a CD of his stuff, it's really great... I've got to remember to do that, I'll bring it next week... it's a home game next week, right?...”
I pulled out my iphone, ran sound hound, identified it and downloaded it in the time it took him to settle on a way to get a CD to me.
I don't think I have anything to play a CD on anyways.
Young people constantly using earbuds won't hear clearly for much longer anyway. They will soon need their music in "sign language" format
Will books be next? I love the bracing smell of paper and ink and the feel of the crisp pages a real book.
I’m not old, but I’m not a kid.
I understand the cloud, and digital formats, and digital only music. I reject it. If I can’t buy music on a physical media, I won’t buy music.
I think there are more than a few like me.
Any wonder the RIAA is in such a state?
You want to get something REALLY worth listening to? Get Suzy Bogguss’ recent “American Folk Songbook.” What an amazing piece of work. Such talent.
And yes, I know there’s already Kindle.
Retailers will have nothing to sell.
Not a trivial issue. Middlemen still have a lot of influence, and will not go quietly into the dark night of straight-to-customer downloads. Kodak was faced with this, and their fumbling was terminal: retailers threatened to stop carrying the still-in-demand physical photography products if Kodak pushed into digital imaging, so the giant stayed with the current big money source and missed the abrupt transition - now they're bulldozing miles of buildings. Music labels will face the same: CD sales are still huge, and retailers will find a way to make exiting the medium very painful; customers may or may not notice & care, but the big money playing the game will.
Fortunately, I'm pretty flexible as to what I like.
I still miss Polaroid film! More instant than digital as far as prints are concerned.
Maybe it was the end of CDs the Mayans foretold us about?
Kindle 3, with new InkScent® technology and real PaperFeel® case.
I like my Nook, but the price of new e-books is so close to the printed book price it is hard for me to justify "buying" something I cannot resell and might disappear at any time if the hardware becomes obsolete. On the other hand being able to pick up classics for free from Project Gutenberg or for a couple dollars in large collections from B&N is a huge advantage.
Exactly.
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