New decade, end of the CD?

Rottenhat wrote: they've never heard it.

Just a bunch of lies and misinformation IMO. Either you have never listened to a properly ripped and encoded MP3, or you're just too credulous and believe everything the audiophile camp is saying (and most of that is motivated by justifying the enormous amounts of money they put into their gear).
[/QUOTE] Yeah. I agree completely. [/QUOTE]
If I rip for immediate burning I do flac...if I rip for storing on an iPod i rip mp3 VBR at 320.  I can still hear a difference... though it doesn't destroy the entire enjoyment.  It does in fact very much show its head when the album is an old record...say...an old Jazz album with a lot of white noise and soft brushes on the snare.  Then it becomes an obvious challenge...or in old Orchestral recordings.

In any case...if you're going to listen albums with a lot of studio work in them compressed to perfection, then it probably doesn't matter for you.  I personally have Anglagard's - Epilog on vinyl along with Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior because of their minimal studio production.  On the other side...I'd never buy an album such as Flower Kings on vinyl...CD is fine, and ripped mp3's still sound fine.

The download culture will ruin the age of physical music.  It is already moving remarkably fast, and soon, all but digital media will be obsolete.  It will be a sad say when one must stare at a glowing screen to hear the new progressive rock album by "..."  I'm just glad to see that there still remains faithful businesses and artists devoted to the superior physical media.

For what it's worth, my local Costco seems to no longer carry CD's at all.  Now they never had a great selection, but they did have the usual country and pop best-sellers, and were usually reliable about-catering to us old farts (new Dylan albums, new Rush albums, etc.).  Anyway, what used to be the DVD section is now the Blue Ray section, and what used to be the CD section is now the DVD section. 

well at least if I get a bluray player I can still enjoy me old DVDs

 ^ hear hear, physicality should not disappear, if people wanna be able to simply download or stream that's great, but don't rob those of us who like to see, touch, smell and taste our music

^ rip a song in mp3 (high bitrate, properly ripped and encoded) and flac ... then give the two files to a friend and ask him to burn them to an audio CD, just labelling them A and B. I bet you won't be able to tell A from B.

[/QUOTE]

Just a bunch of lies and misinformation IMO. Either you have never listened to a properly ripped and encoded MP3, or you're just too credulous and believe everything the audiophile camp is saying (and most of that is motivated by justifying the enormous amounts of money they put into their gear).
[/QUOTE] Yeah. I agree completely.

Long rant is long.

Hey. I'm going to join this party late and I am also going to confess that I haven't read most of it. But here are my thoughts regardless.

Basically, I don't think that the CD will ultimately die in the foreseeable future. However, it is true that physical media is dying. It's much more of a hustle to buy physical copies of media(be it music or videos) and manufacturing is something that also costs money(not to mention environmental damage) which could be saved.
Of course, you can't deny that there is a large minority which does want to hold a physical copy and I don't think that this demand will really die. But what you have to really understand is that MOST people, not us prog fans or some audiophile crowd, the average Joe(or Jane) doesn't care much about quality or possessions. So the importance of having a lossless format or a physical copy is less great and therefore with reduced demand will eventually come reduced productivity.

The music industry is changing a lot due to the digital age and some musicians will choose to release singles on itunes while others will insists on releasing albums. I don't think it's a bad thing, if anything it allows for more freedom for the artist and I support having that option.

CDs are not needed anymore since music can be offered on the flac file format or another lossless.  People can always make their own discs, and it is a waste of environmental resources to make something that is digital more tangible.  People are buying licenses to listen to music, and that is all they own.  I am very content with the sound quality of the downloads online between the 256k aac and 256k vbr mp3 extreme.  Aimeestreet.com sells 320k cbr.

ONE NOTE:  Many groups are not available as downloads.  King Crimson and the Smiths are not available on iTunes or AmazonMP3.


Edited by javajeff - April 18 2010 at 12:23