Are CDs dying?

[sophie]

I'm pretty sure this is not the case.

It isn't; a CD is actually capable of storing far, far, FAR more data than a vinyl 33 could ever hope to (evinced by the fact that a 33 usually holds about 15-20 minutes to a side whilst CD's generally run in at 80-90 mins. In fact a CD is easily capable of storing the entirety of both sides of a 33 in one disc, and even doubles in most cases, with plenty of room to spare, such that in recent years companies have been releasing "special editions" that add in 3, 4, or in some cases as much as 11-15 extra tracks, usually mono recordings or studio outtakes). Moreover CD's are smaller, more portable, and sturdier; they don't scratch as easily and aren't prone to wearing down and becoming unplayable after listening to it to much. In just about every aspect CDs should be and in fact are superior to vinyl. The problem (and the reason I prefer vinyl) is that in the early days of CD producers didn't really know what to do with all that extra space the CD brought in. Consequently they opted to demonstrate the capabilities of the CD by, rather than enabling CD to broadcast many more minutiae of the musical spectrum than vinyl could imagine, instead to put the extra storage space into raw volume. The result is that early rereleases of classic albums (of which the beatles rereleases of these are the most notoroious) tend to be overbearingly loud to the extent that much of the nuances that graced the original vinyl releases were lost in the noise. This is the main reason CDs got such a bad rap over vinyl. That being said, in recent years (the last 5-7 years or so) the industry has taken to going back, remastering old rereleases, and just generally doing everything right now. The crowning achievement of this trend was the rerelease of the 13 "canon" (that is, CD) Beatles Albums in 2009 which are every bit as good as the original vinyl.

Vinyl is just popular because it's retro (and remember, retro is always better), hipsters like it because they see it as "underground" (I expect they'll shift to cassette or 8-track as vinyl continues to catch on ^_^ ). Personally I like vinyl because the sound quality is good when the tracks aren't worn down by repeated listening, the album artwork is easier to see, and there are certain albums I can get my hands on as vinyl but can't as CD because they weren't released to CD (for example The Best of Eric Clapton and many of the Beatles albums)

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

This is the main reason CDs got such a bad rap over vinyl. That being said, in recent years (the last 5-7 years or so) the industry has taken to going back, remastering old rereleases, and just generally doing everything right now.

Actually, in the early to mid 1990s (I will have to check to be more specific), there were actually made "gold" (I think they were real gold although I am not sure) CDs that had better audio quality. They were made by a Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. My anonymous friend* sent me this:

Spoiler :

*(somebody keeps sending me stuff for my site anonymously through the contact form. using what I assume are 10-minute emails. I have no idea who it could be.)

 

[sophie]

Actually, in the early to mid 1990s (I will have to check to be more specific), there were actually made "gold" (I think they were real gold although I am not sure) CDs that had better audio quality. They were made by a Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. My anonymous friend* sent me this:

How does that even remotely have anything to do what I just said?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well you mentioned that they made CDs with bad audio quality and then fixed that and I added to that. You dont need be rude about it!

 

[Zelig]

Actually, in the early to mid 1990s (I will have to check to be more specific), there were actually made "gold" (I think they were real gold although I am not sure) CDs that had better audio quality.

CDs are digital, as long as it reads, the materials it's made from are completely irrelevant to the sound quality.

 

[sophie]

Well you mentioned that they made CDs with bad audio quality and then fixed that and I added to that. You dont need be rude about it!

No, I said that producers used the expanded space of CD's to increase the overall volume of the recording, which tended to muddy the nuances of the original record. That has nothing to do with these "gold albums" of yours.

And you're the one being rude when you intentionally mischaracterize my post so you can blather on about Tom Petty and your database and derail the thread.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

No, I said that producers used the expanded space of CD's to increase the overall volume of the recording, which tended to muddy the nuances of the original record. That has nothing to do with these "gold albums" of yours.

And you're the one being rude when you intentionally mischaracterize my post so you can blather on about Tom Petty and your database and derail the thread.

I only mentioned the gold incidentally.

Here's a portion of my notes, by the way about the whole audiophile/blu-ray/high-fidelity/petty thing, I had in a text file (I cleaned it up a bit as there are a lot of abbreviations and things that wouldn't be understandable... plus the original thing was much too long to post here)

Mobile Fidelity started going into CDs around 1987 -- they released Damn The Torpedoes (UDCD551) in 1991, Hard Promises (UDCD565) in 1992 & Full Moon Fever (UDCD735) in 1998 -- T.P. himself has a high opinion of Blu-Ray for audiophile recordings (the first one done was the Live Anthology) -- he said in the 2008 interview that the hi-fi version of the Mudcrutch album came with instructions to turn it up & that mastering a recording at a "nice even volume" makes "the full dynamic range, with the highest highs, the lowest lows, and the sweetest sounding mids"

 

[Quintillus]

By and large, they probably are declining. However, mp3s have been around for awhile, and CDs are still significant. Both the higher quality of CDs and the ability to own a physical object probably contribute to this. If FLAC or some other lossless format became the standard for online sales, CDs might decline to vinyl-like status with time, but if that doesn't happen I think they'll retain a decent following.

I don't see Blu-Ray gaining a following in music, except for the occasional concert video. Most people are already happy with CD quality, and CDs are cheaper. If people weren't happy with CD quality, SuperAudio CDs and/or DVD-Audio's would have become popular.

Myself, I've tripled my CD collection from 1 to 3 this year. That probably means CDs are making an inroads into my mp3 purchases percentage-wise, too. And my collection might increase even more on Christmas.

But I buy my CDs online. Usually when the price is either as good or better than the mp3 album (it happens), or when it's pretty close and I know I want the whole album.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have a few (vinyl) records but I am afraid of my old turntable player damaging them so I don't play them.

By the way, I forgot to add this in the previous post -- here is the 2008 interview I referred to in my notes.

 

[Atticus]

Some people say that vinyls are superior because CDs might lose some of the nuances because they're digital. Usually they're unaudible to people, but the artists themselves for example do notice it.

Similar phenomen is when you digitize old vinyls and the scartches sound unnatural on CD.

 

[ZeletDude]

I do think they are waning in use, but I don't think they will die for a while.

 

[Boundless]

My car doesn't have the ability to play MP3's, and I don't own an MP3 player. In my car I usually listen to the classical public radio station, or if I'm in the mood for metal I'll put in a CD (my car has a 6 disc changer). At home I listen to either my MP3's on itunes, or youtube, or Pandora. But I expect to be using my CD's in one way or another for many years to come.

If you bought an MP3 Player, an buy a little iTrip for it (few dollars) you can tune your car radio into your MP3 Player. My CD's can skip if I am on a rough road.. my MP3 player doesn't.. an holds 15,000 songs?

 

[Zelig]

If you bought an MP3 Player, an buy a little iTrip for it (few dollars) you can tune your car radio into your MP3 Player. My CD's can skip if I am on a rough road.. my MP3 player doesn't.. an holds 15,000 songs?

I have never heard of an I trip, but it's not an Apple product, so I assume it's an FM transmitter trying to profit from Apple's 'I' prefix?

FM transmitters are kind of a niche product to be obsoleted soon anyway. Pretty much any car from the past 6 years or so has a direct stereo in plug, an any car from the past couple years has Bluetooth audio, so you can stream digitally to the car audio without screwing with volume levels and interfaces.

 

[Disgustipated]

I never heard of itrip, and my car only has AM/FM and a 6 disc cd changer. It doesn't really skip except on the roughest of roads.

 

[Zelig]

I never heard of itrip, and my car only has AM/FM and a 6 disc cd changer. It doesn't really skip except on the roughest of roads.

Do you have a point, or are you just writing trivial things about your life?

 

[Disgustipated]

No point other than to point out modern CD players do have memory to read ahead and not skip except on the bumpiest of roads. A comment above said something about CD's skipping, so I figured I'd point out that really isn't a serious problem. I also wanted to point out I haven't heard of Itrip either.

If you don't like the post, ignore it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

No point other than to point out modern CD players do have memory to read ahead and not skip except on the bumpiest of roads. A comment above said something about CD's skipping, so I figured I'd point out that really isn't a serious problem. I also wanted to point out I haven't heard of Itrip either.

If you don't like the post, ignore it.

My current portable CD player has a 45-second anti-skip. It reads ahead and then stops spinning while it reads from memory and then it spins up again. It really only skips if you hit a bump as it's starting to spin again.

 

[holy king]

i've seen the cd rise and fall. damn, i'm getting old.

 

[GoodGame]

CDs are almost like 8-tracks now, except you can burn your own. Basically collectible and thrift shop items, otherwise. Yeah they still are in some stores, and people like me with old multi-changer CD audio still buy them once in a while.

Not quite as dead as the 8-track, but CD's have a tenuous existence.

 

[azzaman333]

If I'm going to buy music, I'm going to buy a CD.