Is the Physical CD Still A Viable Market? 410
An anonymous reader writes "With iTunes and P2P networking dominating the online music scene, does the physical CD have any place in our future? Slyck is running an article on the study conducted by the NPD Group." From the article: "Since its peak sales year in 1999, there has been a steady deterioration in the number of physical CDs sold and shipped. The most immediate blame is typically placed on piracy, however over the course of the last six years this has proven superficial to reasons of more substance."
Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
CD? Dead. CDR? Alive and kicking! >:)
Re:Nope (Score:5, Interesting)
Remember when Norton was selling software on Zip disks? I still chuckle at that.
Now as for music CDs, those may be heading for a downward trend.
Re:Nope (Score:4, Insightful)
A friend of mine made a fake death metal band on a dare and has sold out on CDs at $3 a piece, burnt on his own personal machine.
Sucks to be the people who can't rip the world off anymore.
Life likes to work that way.
Apples and oranges... (Score:5, Insightful)
What does the price of one have to do with the price of the other? Aside from the fact that this is digital information on a shiny plastic disk, there's no comparison. But, hey, I'll compare the two anyway.
A movie released on a DVD has usually made back its production costs at the box office (and then some). DVD/VHS sales and rentals are a secondary source of revenue for the studio.
A music CD's sales revenues are the main event for the artist and the label (and no, very few bands make money off of touring and merchandising...very, very few).
Okay, that's the supply side of things. How about the demand side?
I own some of my favorite movies on DVD. I own a lot of music CDs, too. I will maybe watch a DVD about five or six times before I get sort of tired of it and lend it to a friend or just stop watching it. Maybe I'll grab it off the shelf to play for a friend that hasn't seen it (and see it through their eyes, which freshens the experience).
By contrast, I can't count the number of times I've played my favorite CDs. I listen at home, in the car, at work. If I had a nickel for every time I listened to Television's Marquee Moon or Nirvana's Nevermind, I'd be rich enough to throw Steve Ballmer off of the Space Needle and get off on a technicality. $15 spent on a CD is a greater value to me than the same $15 spent on a DVD. Amortize that $15 against the amount of enjoyment you get from that creative work.
k.
Re:Apples and oranges... (Score:4, Insightful)
The movie's costs have been theoretically recouped before the DVD/VHS release.
The CD's costs haven't been recouped. And "5 guys around a tape recorder" is a gross oversimplification.
The Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Sessions was literally "5 guys" around a Focusrite mic in a church. But that's the exception that proves the rule. Most major label releases are produced in a studio that's got $500,000 worth of gear and an equivalent amount of studio build-out: sound proofing, acoustic treatments, isolation booths.
Add to that the cost of marketing, pressing, printing...
Of the $16 retail price of a CD, the wholesale price is $8, the distrubtor gets between $1 and $2, and the retailer gets the rest.
The artist gets about $1 per unit. The songwriter gets a statutory rate of $.37 per track in most cases.
Then there's performance royalties, synchronization royalties, and transcription royalties. Learn a bit about the business before you critique it.
k.
Re:Apples and oranges... (Score:3, Insightful)
First, a million dollars isn't even going to touch the cost of a real movie. Second, that million dollars in sound equipment and studio is identical, and reused for thousands of albums, while most of the costs in movie production are reoccuring. The per album cost of a million dollar equipment/studio investment is like
Re:Nope (Score:3, Insightful)
You ipod kids are welcome to come tell everyone how everyone you know only listens to music on their ipods and that you don't know anyone who has bought a CD
Re:Nope (Score:3, Insightful)
I'l print to that! (Score:3, Insightful)
CDs, or similar, are still a very handy medium and will be there for a while still.
Re:I'l print to that! (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyways, I certainly hope CDs are commercially viable forever. All forseeable future commercial media for music are inferior, due to DRM.
Re:I'l print to that! (Score:5, Interesting)
if like me you lived in one of the larger paper lumber harvesting regions of the US like me you'd have known that paper companies had been liquidating their assets for more than a year, to try to compensate for lower demand/more competeitive global markets.
yup, the sale of former timbering grounds have freed up massive chunks of valuable real-estate at rock bottom prices, at least here in wisconsin.
Re:Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
CD sales are booming for Indie artists and local artists. RIAA sales have dropped but simply because the quality has dropped massively and the price has increased. $18.99 for a CD is simply outragous for the low grade crap they sell. Indie artists sell their CD's for $12.99 to $9.99 and typically have better content, the production quality is as good as a $20,000,000 studios is from their basement Mac running garage band, and finally the Indie artist is not encumbered with the massive debt that the RIAA and Racord companies force upon the artists. Very very few signed artist make it out of the debt hole.
Indie artists are doing great with CD's and as long as there is a CD player in every new car sold they will be very popular, wanted and purchased. It's simply that the overpaid, overpriced, medicore junk that is marketed by the big companies is not selling for some reason. I wonder why that is?
i hope music cd stays (Score:3, Interesting)
When I was young and long before the time of Napster, MP3 used to be the only way I get new music. It was a time when you could find Spice Girls MP3s openly on some web sites and nobody cared. It was a time that it took a Pentium 100Mhz computer 70% of CPU time to play MP3s. The computer I used was hooked up with some crappy speakers, and I couldn't care less.
Nowadays I pretty much have disowned my MP3 collection, and I prefer buying physical C
Yes! (and you shouldn't be surprised) (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Nope (Score:3, Interesting)
The Collector in Me Cringes (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The Collector in Me Cringes (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Collector in Me Cringes (Score:3, Interesting)
M
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:For independents, yes, it's dead. (Score:4, Insightful)
a) its your own music, yes?
b) you sell it via a web site?
c) you sell it as CD but not as download able (buyable) mp3?
The main problem with your site is very simple: no instant satisfaction.
The buyer is there and he wants it now not at some undefined time in the future (after mail delievery). Instead of buying your product delayed he is going to buy something else instantly some minutes later.
The second thing is: the prices are not compdetitive (but they are ok if you bear in mind your manufacturing costs in that small volumes, how ever the ordinary customer does not know that, nor is he willing to pay the price).
angel'o'sphere
Re:For independents, yes, it's dead. (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll agree with your assessment about requiring payment to provide an mp3, but that doesn't mean you can't also sell people the same thing you've already given them for free. It seems dumb, but it's a mechanism for letting people show appreciation for what you already gav
Re:For independents, yes, it's dead. (Score:4, Insightful)
Try substituting "my music" for "MP3" in that sentence.
It's your choice, of course, what you want to sell: products or content. But it sounds like you're suffering from the age-old problem of not selling what your (potential) customers want.
Re:The Collector in Me Cringes (Score:3, Interesting)
I too want to have a physical object. As long as the RIAA is unable to offer DRM free alternatives, it will remain a very medium to me.
Re:The Collector in Me Cringes (Score:2)
At first I thought that I agreed with you, but then I thought about the random casettes that show up while cleaning the nether regions of my house. Just toss them.
For the collector market, i imagine hard copies will always be available. You can still buy some new artists on viynl (SP)...
When I buy a CD, it is because an artist isn't available on iTunes. And then the CD gets loaded into iTunes, and the physical CD gets stored as a backup or given
Re:The Collector in Me Cringes (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Collector in Me Cringes (Score:4, Informative)
Current technology permits printing to your own CDs. You have the Canon and Epson inkjets, as well laser etching as with Lightscribe via HP and LabelFlash by Fuji & Yamaha, or wax transfer as with the Signature printers. While inkjet is spiffy enough, it's not as spiffy as a true blue silkscreened disk in terms of durability. Wax transfer is OK, at least water proof, but the wax will scratch off. Lightscribe/LabelFlash are monochrome only.
The cover and booklets are, in the most simple terms, paper and ink. Making your own covers is a time consuming task and people using OEM ink on their printer can make one but at the cost of bucks a piece, where as commercial printing can produce a better product in bulk on mass for less. I've said this before but the best way to cash in on the pirate market is to offer for sale licensed covers and booklets for the consumer as a form of license to listen to the media no matter where they got it from.
Even those who don't care about booklets and cover art might care about a disc with a spiffy spine that they can spot on a shelf, rather than a slew of unmarked cases. This is something worth paying a few bucks each for.
Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
Not everyone who listens to music even owns a computer!
Many people, while not Luddites, are not as tied to technology as many Slashdottes and 20-somethings.
Re:Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
The only way I can buy music that will play on all of these is to buy the CD and rip it to AAC myself. If I buy WMA audio, I can't listen to it on my iPod or 'phone (or my computers, easily, since none of the run Windows). If I buy iTMS music, I can listen to it on my iPod and computer, but not my 'phone.
Eventually the record labels will have to realise that DRM helps vendor lock-in, but does nothing to prevent piracy, and that it works against their own commercial interests. In the intervening period I will avoid online music retailers.
Re:Nope (Score:5, Interesting)
I use iTunes under Windows, then JHymn (http://www.hymn-project.org/ [hymn-project.org]). The unencrypted files will play problem-free under Linux and can translated into MP3s without issue as well.
Re:Nope (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Nope (Score:5, Interesting)
It's worth noting that myself (and many other geeks, I'd imagine) avoid using the iTMS for the sole reason of the CRAP. While 99c is still a bit much for me for lossy songs with no booklet (I've made a few exceptions, but I think they were all stuff not available locally), it'd be fine for me if it was the equivalent of .flac (lossless, no crap). I'd like the booklet, but I more or less stopped caring about the same time that the cheap bastards at the MPAA started swapping in ads for chapter indexes in DVD cases. I'll admit, though, the security tag thing being stuck to the disc itself was a bit more disenheartening than just ads or nothing.
It's not even the vendor lock-in that bothers me with crap. Well, not entirely. I have an iPod and see no reason to change to something else, nor to carry something else in my pocket that can play music as well. One computer being able to play my music at a time is enough for me, believe it or not, and while I don't like the idea of a limitation, I also see no reason that I'd need to allow five different machines to be able to play protected media at once. The principle of the product vendor not only telling me what I can or cannot do with my product but then enforcing it (it's not like warning labels - there's nothing that technically prevents you from using a hairdryer in the shower except common sense) is just wrong in every way imaginable. In fact I'd much rather see enforcable warning labels than what's going on digitally - I don't need to hear about the guy who's suing the chainsaw company because he thought he's tough enough to stop the blade with his hand, despite what the label said.
Once someone goes and cracks iTMSv6 encryption, I'll be much more willing to use the store to buy music. For the time being, I really can't be bothered to get a v5 installer going on a separate computer with a separate account and a separate card (which, seeing that I have a single debit and no credit, could be problematic), then jHymn the music, convert it to MP3 and add it back into the library of the computer that I actually sync to the iPod and play music from. Could I? Yes, but the amount of effort I'd have to put in would almost make it easier to just get music the old fashioned way.
Ruling out piracy, of course. It's not as if I'd prefer to pay nothing for a higher quality and unprotected version of the song, which has a considerably better chance of having a scan of the booklet than a download from iTMS. Nope, not a chance. I love giving money to the people going out of everyone's way to screw me over and lock me into a specific vendor.
Re:Nope (Score:2)
But your point is well taken.
I don't think that the music industry will abandon DRM, however. As much as it keeps users from doing whatever they want, it also slows down rampant piracy. Yes, I did say SLOWS DOWN and RAMPANT.
Apple has sold more than a billion songs, and they're all DRM'd (at least I think all of them are). If they
Burn a CD from iTunes (Score:2)
Some people claim this results in noticably worse sound quality, but I've never seen any evidence for that.
Re:Nope (Score:4, Interesting)
As a Slashdotter and a 20-Something: The only music I have purchased online was from a gift certificate - it was so terribly DRM laden and hindered that I vowed never to go back. I will only purchase CD's, at the end of the Day I have a tangible product and I can use it anywhere I want. Yes, I fall into the category which rips CD's and if this becomes illegal then you can be sure that I will NOT help the recording industries bottom line unless they can prove that I have some control over how I use the product that I purchased.
Re:Nope (Score:3, Funny)
Yup! (Score:3, Insightful)
Your logic is flawed. You only took a snapshot of our current day, but fail to see the trends.
Remember the times when the Walkman [wikipedia.org] was an expensive gadget? It wasn't long until it took off. MP3-CD players are inexpensive to get, computers are pretty popular right now (remember you don't need a Pentium 3200 to burn / rip a CD), and cybercafes are available to anyone at $1 / hr.
Also remember that today's 20-som
Re:Nope (Score:2)
CDs, like it or not, are still alive and kicking, mainly because they are mostly hassleless to use, are long lasting, players can
Re:Nope, sell music people want to listen to... (Score:3, Insightful)
What ever happened to "albums"? I mean actual pieces of work which as a WHOLE are something more then the individual songs? When was the last time there was something like that?
Let me put it this way, I am probably the quintesential,
Re:Nope, sell music people want to listen to... (Score:3, Interesting)
I also love Bruce Cockburn, who was amazing
Re:Nope (Neo-Luddites) (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, bars, music festivals, ren fests, etc (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sure, bars, music festivals, ren fests, etc (Score:2)
I have a friend [joshwoodward.com] who made his own for about $0.90 a disc plus his own time. Heck, if you're feeling saucy, he'll sell you one for $5. [joshwoodward.com]
And what about games? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:And what about games? (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't matter what he XORs against, as long has he XORs against the same thing twice. I think you should go and beat yourself over the head with a clue stick. Repeatedly.
Generally it's a good idea to do some basic fact checking before you start mocking someone.
Re:And what about games? (Score:2)
Why CDs are necessary. (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, the people actually selling CDs are no longer offering this, now that they load up their CDs with "copy protection" technologies which circumvent security measures, often mimic viruses, and in some cases fill the error-checking bits with garbage, thus hastening degradation of the CD-- and which the consumer is giving no warning that these technologies are present.
Which is why I don't buy CDs anymore.
Re:Why CDs are necessary. (Score:2)
Which, of course, is illegal almost everywhere, since such a product is not a CD and representing it as such is misleading.
Re:Why CDs are necessary. (Score:2)
Au contraire [cdbaby.com]!
OK so it ain't Top 40 radio but indie musicians need (and, perhaps, deserve) more support anyway.
But then again, IIAIE (I Am An Indie Musician)...
Some people like to "own" a song, not a copy. (Score:2, Interesting)
Free-er media (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Free-er media (Score:2)
The rest of the world, on the other hand, might consider the quality of a purchase and the purchase price before buying. I know for me, I can generaly get albums for a few dollars cheaper on iTunes than I can buying the physical CD.
However, like the parent, I'm paranoid about losing my music. With a pre-version 6 iTunes [oldapps.com] and JHymn [hymn-project.org] I can feel good
Yes, But. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but.
(Note that you can legally acquire a lossless DRM-free set of bits. Whether or not it's legal to rip those DRM-free bits, on account of your computer not automatically running the DRM/Spyware/Rootkit shipped with the CD, or on account of it not being able to run the DRM/Spyware/Rootkit shipped with the CD, has yet to be determined by the courts. But acquiring the DRM-free bits is legal.)
The most interesting case of the upcoming decade will be whether the DMCA's anti-circumvention rules apply to a DRM-laden CD - ripped to MP3 on a machine that didn't support Windows Autoplay, from a drive and/or OS that presents both the .wav "files" and the data track with the autoplaying rootkit as separate sets of files, without any intervention from the user.
Re:Yes, But. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Yes, But. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yes, But. (Score:2)
Some of us don't do downloaded music (Score:2)
I buy a lot less of them. (Score:4, Insightful)
Now what really has crimped my CD buying is MP3s. Not those I buy or download but those I ripped. I am going through music I haven't listened to in many years. Discovering songs I enjoyed way back when and again now.
Summary, 75% of my new music is individual tracks from iTunes. The remaining 25% only occurs when I find more than a pair of tracks I like on a CD. Of course that means soundtracks are always purchased.
Are CDs doomed? Probably, simple reason is that they have now become cumbersome. When I can cram a thousand songs in a device less than the size of a CD (width) it becomes apparent which is more convienent for taking the music with me. Its only a matter of time before that convienence influences purchasing them in the first place.
Do we get a vote? (Score:2)
There's an installed base that will only play standard CDs, but they're also totally rippable. In other words, they can either kiss off the installed base market to bet the farm on DRM or they can keep selling standard CDs and render DRM largely pointless.
Selling non-DRM ISO images (a la MagnaTune [magnatune.com] is, of course, Not Gonna Happen. Decisions, decisions ...
What I'd like to see... (Score:2)
I do think that physical media like CDs are on the way out, but I think there are plenty of people who will cling to it for years
Re:What I'd like to see... (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What I'd like to see... (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course it is. (Score:2)
This story is just baiting people, but anyway....
Of course there will always be a market for CDs (or any physical sound carrying medium) because:
-Digital music is DRM encumbered--you can't really control what you own. And if you're on the ridiculous Napster-type plans, you're really on a music rental plan and all your music stops functioning after your membership expires. This may apply to the physical media one day to, but for now, this the rule for digital store downloads, and the exception for the phys
CD's are clunky and unreliable (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:CD's are clunky and unreliable (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll never buy DRM-impaired music though. Anti-piracy is the excuse for DRM, not the motive. Not at all.
Plenty (Score:2)
MP3s are just files. Just data. You can't hand around an MP3. MP3s can't be packaged, and they are forever MP3s. Worth the extra money. That and my local record place are really good, and I prefer the actual service I get from them rather than the click click done of Amazon or iTunes.
Other mediums are becoming more prevalent (Score:3, Insightful)
Something that has been on my mind, too (Score:2, Insightful)
There are two things the CD still has going for it:
1) It is cheap as dirt to buy and
2) The data is hardcoded, so it cannot be changed once written and "sealed".
But it seems hardcoding data is not even
media format change is over (Score:2)
Re:media format change is over (Score:2)
Not so changed from tapes but i added enough CDs to my collection. I am not really into new music and have bought everything i wanted to buy from the back catalogs.
But, YES, i want CDs (or vinyl) not a file that can evaporate on a whim. And whoever said burn your downloads to CD should be shot, or they need a better HiFi than an Ipod!
So to sell me music they need to show me an EASY way to find AND sample new music.
Slightly off topic, but still funny (Score:2, Funny)
http://www.collegehumor.com/movies/1672870/ [collegehumor.com]
And the inevitable answer is... (Score:2)
Personally, I find it to be too much of a hassle to maintain a music collection in digital form. It's less work for me to stick a CD on the shelf.
Yes (Score:2)
I honestly think that there will have to be some changes in the electronic-downloaded-music world before CDs become obsolete.
Are other mediums likely to take over? Yes. I wouldn't bet on anything that says a given (physical or electronic) format is the "be all and end all" for a given media. Technology and smart people will improve things over time. However,
Physical media = durable backup (Score:3, Insightful)
I will keep buying CDs. I don't listen to the actual CD anymore: I just rip it, put the files on my RAID server and listen to the digital version via my computer or my iPod and keep the CD safe in storage. If anything happens to my music (or if, God forbid, i need to re-rip it because a new/better format comes along), I still have the original CD (which I paid for).
Personally, I hate iTunes and most online digital services: they will end up killing physical media, and that's a bad thing. CDs are (mostly/theoretically) DRM free and you can listen to them on a variety of devices. Digital media is often encumbered by lossy compression and/or DRM.
Vinyl CD digital audio (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Albums should come... (Score:3, Insightful)
...with the MP3 version right on the CD itself. That way you can transfer the songs onto MP3 if you are using a computer, or you can listen to the CD if you don't have an MP3 player. I had been doing this when I was still burning regular music CDs using CD-Extra, and I think it's quite a pleasant idea. If you include DRMed MP3s even, this would probably deter people from ripping it themselves. I'd love to just have the MP3s totally, but I think that's a nice compromise at least.
Now as far as whether CDs will last or not, I think a lot of people only have a CD player and not much else still. I do believe there should be more in the MP3 CD player market. Such as "Get all of Eminem's albums on 1 CD" and such in stores, because a lot of people have MP3 CD players (some don't even know that they do). You could charge a little less for this type of album maybe.
Another thing I think would be nice is if MP3 players could maybe have an input port for media of some kind. Then offer some type of downloadable cartridge or something (I guess like they did with those song things you can buy at the toy store), and allow the user to copy it to the device and still retain a physical backup, so that you don't have to worry about losing the information if the player stops working
I definitely am not in the market for a copy of a song in downgrade quality with no physical backup and without real convenience over other types of online downloading. Simply put, in most cases it's easier to bittorrent than itune an album, and also cost effective. Until the industry provides attractive options that in some way enhance the end user's quality, CDs will continue to drop in sales, Itunes (being as it is the only alternative, or just about the only alternative) will continue to rise, and a lot of people will continue to download illegally. Now you can punish all the people, or give them what they want. Pass the savings on, it doesn't cost as much to do digital distribution, so don't charge as much... Either way, I hope CDs hang around at least a little while longer.
Yes, for me... (Score:2)
I would never pay Tower prices ($18.99 for a new CD, who the hey are they kidding!) but if I can find an album (er... CD) where I like 5 or 6 songs, I'll pay $11 at Amazon or Target for it. I really do use the CD as the "rip from this" medium, though. I've heard of people that check out CDs from the local library and rip them at high bit rates -- perish
Re: (Score:2)
Barebones CDs won't cut it much longer (Score:5, Interesting)
When U2 released their last album, they promoted the hell out of the iTunes version, and released a CD version complete with a snazzy cardboard case, bonus DVD and 48-page hard-bound book. A plain vanilla CD version with just the lyrics was also sent to stores (if you didn't want to pay the reasonable markup on the mini-boxed set). Everyone I know - even fellow iTunes store addicts - ended up hunting down the deluxe version. Even people that don't particularly like the band were transfixed by the whole package when they saw it. (Pics here [stunningabsurdity.com] and here [stunningabsurdity.com]. )
The band went into it knowing people would be tempted to download it for free, but never whined about it. Instead they offered a wide variety of choices and actually did something to make fans want to go out of their way to get the physical product - and the most expensive version of the release, at that.
Only as long as Chuck Norris lets them (Score:2, Funny)
it's the only way I buy music (Score:2)
Physical CDs give me content I want without DRM, they provide proof that I own the music, and they provide a physical backup. If that weren't a music distribution model already, someone would have to invent it.
For free music, I use podcasts; they deliver interesting and new stuff onto my machine every day.
The way music died (Score:2)
WatchOnline:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/musi c/view/ [pbs.org]
The music industry has never really been a giant money maker. However, massive corporations bought into the industry during a weird peek time. Hip Hop and Rap were becoming popular and something completely new was being marketed. Moreover, many people were replacing their vinyl and cassettes.
Now that has leveled off, and they're bitch
It can be if they want (Score:2)
Cheap, plentiful players for a format that consumers are familiar with.
If some label gets smart before CDs become totally supplanted by downloads, they can easily sell $5 CDs *without* any DRM crap. Then hype the convenience of a source of known quality you can rip and use any way you want.
It makes me think of satellite vs cable. Cable sucks, but not having it drop out in heavy rain is a read convenience.
The CD would come roaring back to life .... (Score:2)
CD - Yes, Mass Market CD - No (Score:4, Interesting)
I buy more music now a days, although none of it from labels the RIAA ever made a dime from. I just got back from a music festival in Northern California and picked up a dozen albums on physical CDs. Many musicians now have their own web site and market on CDBaby [cdbaby.com]. Despite free downloads and live taping allowed, sales were brisk. I'm one the minority who believes MP3 sound is inadequate, so if I like it, I'll buy it. More so from an artist who runs his own label and will see something from the sale.
CDs may be dying but Vinyl is still kicking! (Score:5, Funny)
A few labels (MERGE) are even beginning to allow you to download MP3s of the LP tracks the second you order-- allowing me to have both a high quality digital recording and the warm wax for my turntable.
In the realm of these independent record labels and their fans, Vinyl is quickly becoming a dominant media-- many fans fighting tooth and nail for limited vinyl pressings and other special releases. Out of print Death Cab for Cutie lps, Sunny Day Realestate lps, and early original Modest Mouse pressing go for over $100 on ebay.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
CD-FLAC! (Score:4, Interesting)
That would be way too good for customers, though. It'd probably never work. I mean, can you just think of the poor recording artists!
Outside of the Slashdot Bubble... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Long term market (Score:4, Funny)
Back catalogues (Score:3, Interesting)
When they first appeared we saw people rushing out and buying replacements for their old vinyl and tape albums. Then we saw the collectors boxsets, and now we get the desperate 'best-of' rehashes. Consumers have consumed and having replaced their old collections are mainly interested in buying new releases, and so the CD market has slowed down. What would be more interesting would be to see what has happened to sales of genuinely new releases(and a new Eagles compilation doesn't count).
The Physical CD dead? Hardly! (Score:3, Interesting)
No, seriously now. For one, services like iTunes don't offer things losslessly; for two, they restrict my use of them too much for me to even bother (hell, I don't even have many convenient ways to play fuckin'
Thirdly, packaging. I mean, let's be honest now, it's been possible forever now to transmit text electronically quite well, but books are far from gone. It's just extra nice, convenient and so forth to have an actual physical copy in posession. Which is actually why I often buy albums I like in Vinyl now; I can usually just download lossless versions for digital use on the side (which is often how I came to like the album enough to buy it), and if you're going to go for the physical packaging, why not go for the gusto? Now, vinyl isn't exactly the easiest to get albums or singles in, so it's not always an option and many people would rather have a CD instead, but the fact that even now there are stores that sell a large volume of actual records speaks to the desire people have to actually own a physical copy of something (and what's more physical than analog?).
So no, I certainly don't think CDs are going away anytime soon. Yeah yeah, they'll decrease in prominence and sales, they might not even stay at the top of the food chain . . . but there's a long ways from that to complete oblivion as the title suggests (not that I'm sure the article claims such; in true slashdottian spirit I've avoided reading TFA).
Furthermore, if you expand the definition of CDs a bit and go into other forms of physically sold disks, there's alot of room for the medium to evolve from here. As noted, there aren't any major services offering lossless audio (unless I've been misinformed?), meanwhile we have emerging media types like DVDA and the growing practice of either two-sided disks or just a CD and a DVD to give extra content like videos along with albums, so even in the mere digital product the physical disks retain certain advantages over the online services.
Besides, if anything is going to fall to the power of the internet, I think that print newspapers will go before CDs. So maybe once/if that happens we can start thinking about perfoming the final rites for Compact Disks.
the drop in CD sales... (Score:3, Insightful)
nConsumers found out how much they were being ripped off/gouged by a quarters worth of plastic and 10 cents worth of paper and revolted. Napster came about because people got *tired* of shelling out big bucks for music CDs.
And to this day, the millionaires who have no coneption of what a dollar is worth to joe working stiff and who make the decisions on pricing for discs at the RIAA vendors are STILL clueless to this. To them, 10 to 20 bucks is like a nickle or a dime to regular people, they think it's cheap! They simply *don't* get it. They are incapable of relating because they are millionaires. They can intellectualize it all day long, they just won't understand it was the pricing that lead to "piracy" way more than just the ability to do so. In fact, the "ability to do so" has been driven precisely by outrageous pricing on music and movies.
Those over priced bit sellers are their own worst enemies.
And I don't want to hear it can't be done, you can walk into any walmart and see older movies on DVD for two dollars.
And that's all bits on a disk are worth. Bit sellers need to get a clue back to the "volume sales" concept. At two bucks, they would sell a lot more disks, and make more money, even if the net per disk was lower.
From my cold dead hands... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Urgh. (Score:5, Funny)
So yes, there is still a viable market for CDs.
Good thing CD's aren't digital audio...
Re:Urgh. (Score:2)
That said, the dynamic range of the sound that is put on CDs is compressed in a lot of cases, which is a shame, but there you have it.
Re:Bitrates (Score:5, Informative)