Does anyone else buy CD's anymore?

[tommy p]

I just bought a Saxon 10-CD set.

I want to get both that and the UFO set when (if) they drop in price.

Still buying CD's but not as many as I used to (have about 400 now) and still playing vinyl as well (have about 1500 including my first LP purchase in "73 when I quit buying 45's- 45's long gone). Still playing all this through my 27 year old (not surround sound) Harmon Kardon amp. My cave rocks.

I'm the opposite ratio. I have over 2,000 CD's and just 200-250 LP's.

The new Kix is only $7.99 for a physical disc and a mp3 download on amazon. The best part is, it's actually really good IMO.

Man, is it ever!!! So glad they came out with some new music. Ironically, one of their biggest issues with their old bass player Donnie Purnell was that he wrote all the songs. On the new album, Steve and Bryan each have 4-5 writing credits but their new bass player Mark has 10!

[Jeff R]

I'm mostly digital downloads now, then I'll burn CD copies of the music for my car/commutes.

[gorch]

CDs? Yes, because I'm no dinosaur. The sound quality is much better than any download or streaming service offers these days. Also, I like to read the booklets. I should check more for Vinyl since it became quite popular again.

However, I feel guilty concentrating to much on Amazon. Killing other/smaller service providers therefore. I loved to conquer music shop catalogues when I was young. Buying here and there when there were great deals or special imports.

[dragan]

^^^^ buy a few,6-10 / year (about half at concerts/ shows in support ) download single tunes I like or need to learn

[ZR]

I buy CDs but not as many as before. I do like the sound, art and booklet. About the only bands I buy everything from is King's X, Weezer, Relient K, The Creepshow, and can't think of any others.

[Tres Aardvarks]

We just did digitial downloads for a while, but when a band's stuff isn't even available for it, you have to go looking. Also, certain albums I won't buy off iTunes as it's so compressed. I'd rather get the CD and rip it myself at a less squashy setting.

ETA: one other thing I miss about a non-physical media is looking through the liner notes...I actually REALLY miss that!

[alantig]

All physical media unless it's something that is download-only and I *have* to have it. And there's very little I've found that I *have* to have. Even then, I almost never do it unless I can get lossless downloads.

[Steve Haynie]

Buying a CD means there is something that is mine. Reading the booklet or just liner notes is part of the fun. Yes, that can be read online, but reading that information while listening to an album without any other distractions is part of the album experience.

It is good to support the local music store.

Something discovered this year is Amazon offering digital downloads with CD purchases. When an Amazon gift card was sent to me, it was used to buy CD's. The CD's came in the mail, but the downloads were available before the mail arrived. There is no need to rip a CD to MP3, they are already done and downloaded.

Will this added bonus/service make a few more people buy online instead of locally? My favorite local store has a kiosk that allows customers to search and sample albums before purchasing. It even allows customers to pull up all the necessary information to do special orders. Perhaps the addition of digital downloads with a CD purchase in a store will follow.

As for the future of CD players, there are newer car stereos that have MP3 ports and no CD player. Pop in a flash drive or even a memory card. Fewer moving parts ought to make the player cheaper to produce, and one day they could be smaller or have a different shape and profile. The iPod ports and cell phone hook ups have been part of car stereos for a while. Why the MP3 input has not been incorporated into car audio players a few years sooner is kind of a joke.

If I ever buy a new car stereo, it will have an MP3 port to allow me the luxury of having to only carry a small flash drive with several albums' worth of music. There will be no more CD cases in the glove compartment, console, or the back seat.

[cynic]

I buy CDs. They're typically less expensive than lossless downloads (often half price for new releases), and include the art and notes along with the music.

I burn them all, but use the physical CD unless sitting at the computer.

As for lossy digital downloads, my ears are pretty shot and I hear / feel the difference. No thank you.

[sledhead44]

I still buy CD's. CD's to me sound way better in the car than listening to music in the car through the ipod. I have not tried a flash drive yet.

When recently shopping for cars, I was surprised to find that many no longer offer multiple CD players, just single CD, or none at all. I was like WTH? I am only 39, I can't be a dinosaur.....damn, I am a dinosaur.

[jwhitcomb3]

I usually download digitally from eMusic.com, but for a new release I can sometimes buy the CD for about the same price. I like Amazon's Autorip feature, where I can order the CD and get the digital download immediately. Amazon's new prime music service has some good stuff too.

I prefer to rip CDs to Apple Lossless compression, but I rarely listen to music in situations where the audio quality difference between CD/Lossless and mp3 matters to me.

I couldn't get rid of my vinyl fast enough. I miss the big artwork, but my life is so busy I can't think when I'd have time to listen to music and enjoy the cover and liner notes anymore. Some mastering issues aside, I far prefer the sound of a CD to an LP (and not replacing needles, dusting LPs, record preservatives, surface noise, isolating the platter, replacing belts, anti-static measures, record wear, etc.).

[bruce919]

YES!

[tommy p]

I still buy CD's. CD's to me sound way better in the car than listening to music in the car through the ipod. I have not tried a flash drive yet.

When recently shopping for cars, I was surprised to find that many no longer offer multiple CD players, just single CD, or none at all. I was like WTH? I am only 39, I can't be a dinosaur.....damn, I am a dinosaur.

That bums me out too. I'm still driving a 2003 Honda CR-V that has a 6-CD changer in the dash. Love that!

[gorch]

^^^^ buy a few,6-10 / year (about half at concerts/ shows in support ) download single tunes I like or need to learn

Forgot to mention that I prefer to support bands in buying CDs at concerts, especially at smaller venues. Mostly get them signed as well.

[Steve Haynie]

^^^^ buy a few,6-10 / year (about half at concerts/ shows in support ) download single tunes I like or need to learn

Forgot to mention that I prefer to support bands in buying CDs at concerts, especially at smaller venues. Mostly get them signed as well.

Yup. Buying a new band's CDs to give away as gifts helps the bands and pleases friends.

[Crimsontider]

CD's should at 48hz and digital downloads should give people with good ears the choice of downloading .wav files or .iso images of the CD.

[elduave]

You betcha, Haynie!

[RichF]

I'm a dinosaur. I still buy CDs, but it's getting increasingly difficult. There are fewer stores selling CDs and those that do are stocking less and less. Yes, Amazon makes just about everything available, but buying online is not the same. Many of the CDs in my collection are happy accidents, discs that I came across while shopping that I hadn't set out to buy, but either found a good deal on or discovered their existence while looking for other things.

I also like to buy direct from bands when I see them perform. It makes me feel that the band is seeing a little more of the money than they would if I bought elsewhere.

That's also why I'm a fan of things like Kickstarter and Pledge Music. I can spend my money helping to make sure that bands I like get to continue making music and the money goes directly to them.

We're probably the last generation (I'm 45) that will buy music in a physical medium. I'm sure my kids will only be downloading or streaming music and will view my CD collection as one of dad's relics, like a collection of old baseball cards.

Even though I listen to a good deal of music on the computer and have ripped most of my CDs to put on an iPod I don't have to worry about my CD collection disappearing like I would worry about downloads disappearing when a hard drive crashes.

Eventually music will be like cable TV where you pay a monthly fee for a bunch of music you have no interest in hearing. And that fee will continually go up. I hope that there remains a way to physically own music for the new music that I want to hear. I'm certainly not going to pay to stream the KISS albums that I've already bought three times.

[Steve Haynie]

There is already a streaming music service on cable TV. A friend showed me that when I told him to check out Hell's Human Remains album. He just pulled it up right then.

[Crimsontider]

.........

Eventually music will be like cable TV where you pay a monthly fee for a bunch of music you have no interest in hearing. And that fee will continually go up. I hope that there remains a way to physically own music for the new music that I want to hear. I'm certainly not going to pay to stream the KISS albums that I've already bought three times.

You made some good points and this one in particular. I hate being nickle and dimed and that's the way it's heading. Photoshop is now a monthly subscription and Microsoft wanted to do the same thing but a revolt started before it got off the ground. Under this system, you can not micromanage your money with your time, instead paying everyone while not using all the services.

Hopefully it will stay at the top levels. For instance a few companies started adding dongles with their software to plug into your USB for licensing.......you only have a set number of USB inputs. We only have a set amount of money, so subscription services will benefit the bigger high profile companies the most.

Maybe ATT ought to purchase the power and water companies and we can just hand them our paycheck every month and have unlimited access to the 99% garbage media and software available

Of course they would have to cap our power usage like with the web.

I have a webpage that has links to about every television channel in the USA, about the same time I discovered that ATT put a cap on my data. I could have dropped cable and ran a HDMI cable from my PC to my TV. ATT claimed is was doe to a few downloading movies, but it was because they lost more cable customers that year than ever. It's a racket that we pay separate fees for TV, Internet Telephone and Internet when they all travel through the same line.

Rant over other than thank you to those software engineers that make us so many good products for free, and good bands that give away some of their music to help promote going on the road.

[Crimsontider]

http://www.tvpc.com/ChannelList.php

I watch YouTube movies and docs with Chromecast a lot. You could drop cable and run a chord to you television and watch a lot of channels with sites like the above a good old roof top antenna, a roku box and Chromecast. But the monopoly internet service providers will cap your ass.

10 years from now, TV and the internet will be one service. Ultra high definition TV's are now here where you could put a 150" TV on the wall and have Krystal clear quality. They are just not broadcasting yet. I still don't know of a network that broacasts in 1080p yet, it's either 720p or 1080 interlaced.

[dragan]

when tv was free we had 5 stations not so much to watch, now theres hundreds of stations for hundreds of $ and still not much to watch , unless you pay more / program . so yeah ,its a scam on the public and in my area a monopoly on the internet ( which is the only reason I have cable )

[mudshark]

Guess I'm running with the dinosaurs because I still buy CDs.

[LucSulla]

I always buy the CD if I am a fan.

[Crimsontider]

when tv was free we had 5 stations not so much to watch, now theres hundreds of stations for hundreds of $ and still not much to watch , unless you pay more / program . so yeah ,its a scam on the public and in my area a monopoly on the internet ( which is the only reason I have cable )

So true. Channels like TBS and WGN got us excited about the future, not expecting watered down muck. One good aspect of the broadcast days was that everyone was familiar with the same entertainers. It also kept us culturally on the same page. Some of the biggest stars today are reality folks and tabloid fodder. Far cry from what you would see on Carson every night.

Not being able to choose your channels is collusion in the cable industry, who are now at the top of the food chain. I am happy that Comcast has dropped it's bid to by Time Warner. Fox News and CNN owned by the same company is just too much.

Back to CD's. Anyone who buys them has my respect, because it automatically says you do not engage in even the lowest form of thievery. Audiophiles buy records for sound quality, a CD and digital download sound 95% the same if that far apart.