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Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield heralds a "CD Revival"


ghost of miles

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Long discussion about this on the Hoffman board. Best as I can tell, it’s largely sales of Adele, Taylor Swift — but especially BTS (whose fans buy multiple different variations of each release, keeping their all sealed as collectors items).

In short, I wouldn’t celebrate too quickly.

Apparently Adele has a huge fan base among “women of a certain age” (who still only listen to things on CD).

And I’m guessing Taylor Swift has something to do with her literally re-recording and re-releasing (new versions of) all of her prior albums, because she didn’t own the rights to that music (not sure I said that right, but that’s gotta be what’s going on).

And BTS fans have like 8 (or maybe more like 14?) different versions of every cd of theirs (music the same, packaging different), all still perfectly sealed.

 

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26 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Long discussion about this on the Hoffman board. Best as I can tell, it’s largely sales of Adele, Taylor Swift — but especially BTS (whose fans buy multiple different variations of each release, keeping their all sealed as collectors items).

In short, I wouldn’t celebrate too quickly.

Apparently Adele has a huge fan base among “women of a certain age” (who still only listen to things on CD).

And I’m guessing Taylor Swift has something to do with her literally re-recording and re-releasing (new versions of) all of her prior albums, because she didn’t own the rights to that music (not sure I said that right, but that’s gotta be what’s going on).

And BTS fans have like 8 (or maybe more like 14?) different versions of every cd of theirs (music the same, packaging different), all still perfectly sealed.

 

Oh yeah, and I think Sheffield acknowledges this to some extent in his article.  I'm just happy to see somebody touting the format... for the past couple of years I've doodled around on a draft of a post for the Night Lights site extolling CDs.  Darcy James Argue recently posted on Twitter about retaining all of his Ellington CDs because Spotify's Ellington catalogue is so spotty.  And I was happy to see this item in the Hoffman thread that you mentioned:

Generation Records in NYC selling new CDs again.

"Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in. It’s 2022 and we have started to sell new CDs again. We restocked hundreds of new titles this week, with many more on the way."
 

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I see the CD as an inconvenient storage device for a handful of digital files, coupled with either a jewel case that often cracks or a digipak where the holder often breaks. The only thing it does better than a cloud file storage is that it comes with a booklet. Despite several shortcomings in comparison with the compact disc, the LP is nicer to handle and look at as an object, and comes with more authenticity for anything released before the early 80s.

The CD revival will not match the LP revival by any means, I think. I disagree with the author on this point, however:

"They were less glamorous than vinyl, less cool, less tactile, less sexy, less magical." 

When the CDs arrived in the 80s, they seemed to have a lot of "magic" to them. 

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I know what too often happens when you have an accident with a LP.  Irrevocable damage.

I also know what usually happens when you have an accident with a CD. Damn near nothing.

Too bad that CDs were already on the market for 10 or so years before the recording/mixing/mastering processes caught up (and finally surpassed) their analog counterparts. But now that they have, hell, put it all on thumb drives for all I care, continue to consolidate and condense.

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I don't think we're in for any kind of CD revival; not until I see CD players for sale at Costco anyway. But the author mentions Heart of the Congos and Lee Scratch Perry so kudos to him for that and the snappy writing through the whole piece. Keep those names and albums in the ether. It does the world a favor.  

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4 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

 my favorite (by far) physical music format:

Mine too.  Also FWIW, I'm another one who has never heard of BTS.  Started to google it, saw "boy band", and stopped at that point.   Also agree that CD mastering got really good in the mid-late 90's.   Albums are cool in theory and to look at, but not in practice and to live with.   So thankful for CD's, and for the miracle of the reissues that pumped out nonstop over a 10-15-20 year period (and still trickle out now - hello Lloyd McNeill CD's).

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I agree that a large-scale CD revival seems highly unlikely, though I wonder what the impact of the logistical issues that have been plaguing new vinyl production will ultimately be on that format's success going forward.  After I shared this same story to Facebook, I did get a fun text from my youngest brother, informing me that he'd sent the story to my 16-year-old niece because she likes to listen to CDs on an old boombox.  And her younger sister informed me at Thanksgiving that she loves CDs and flip phones.  Undoubtedly my family's youngest generation is an outlier, but it's still a kick to hear such retro inklings from them.

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I don't know what BTS stands for, but I have a lot of cds, and never bought into the download culture. I don't own any downloaded music, but I do listen to Pandora. Some of their algorithms are spot on, some aren't. When I hear something interesting there, I may spring for a cd or lp. The excitement of going to the Tower Records, browsing the thousands of titles will never be replaced with sitting at a computer screen one on one with Napster or the like.

Maybe the resurgence of physical formats, like the LP and the CD, will usher in the resurgence of the record store. Not the used kind, but where unopened, sealed disks are sold, and new releases slated for this and that day are to be found on that damn day. I still remember the early morning line outside Tower Records when the new U2 album was to come out. ...Keeping my fingers crossed. 

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Bring it on !

More than happy with CDs and LPs. Never got into purchasing downloads and in general I use Spotify to check out albums I am unfamiliar with.

CDs over the last decade or so have been a bargain. In contrast to the price-gouging (especially here in the UK) in the younger days of the medium. It used to be £15 and up here back in the early 90s !

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1 hour ago, Dmitry said:

 

Maybe the resurgence of physical formats, like the LP and the CD, will usher in the resurgence of the record store. Not the used kind, but where unopened, sealed disks are sold, and new releases slated for this and that day are to be found on that damn day. I still remember the early morning line outside Tower Records when the new U2 album was to come out. ...Keeping my fingers crossed. 

Couple of these have cropped up in London in the last few years. Also it's noticeable that once used-only shops are now stocking new releases 

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51 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

I think we could speak of CD Revival, when we will see CD Player revival, like happened with LP: lots of new records players on sale, Model T ones, not the Porsche's.

I hope it increases the options on portable CD devices (boomboxes, etc.).  Those have shrunk severely in recent years.

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19 hours ago, Dub Modal said:

I don't think we're in for any kind of CD revival; not until I see CD players for sale at Costco anyway. 

I noticed throughout the past year that I never saw any stereo system components on sale except speakers.

5 hours ago, Dmitry said:

Maybe the resurgence of physical formats, like the LP and the CD, will usher in the resurgence of the record store. 

It appears to me that shops of almost every kind have been on the decline, presumably because of the internet.

I wonder if internet shopping has resulted in a decline in driving.

4 hours ago, sidewinder said:

CDs over the last decade or so have been a bargain.

Agree 100%!

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Another revolutionary feature of CDs is the creation of the CD recorder! These recorders provided for the transfer of LPs to CDs (CDrs) via a turntable. A CD recorder allows for the recording from any source in addition to LPs. Basically anything that plays through your computer's speakers can be recorded on CDR.

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totally agree with the section on CD Box sets (plus extensive/informative booklets in many cases, though the print was often miniscule) - CD is the best medium for listening to artists /various artists larger outputs. So suited to Mosaic's mission/game plan.

I remember the early Mosaic catalogues only advertised vinyl & as CDs emerged the catalogues had addenda exhibiting the CD versions.

Turning a vinyl disc every 20 minutes or so can get tedious eg the Keynote, Commodore massive sets - pity they were never given a proper CD Rx. I know that Fresh Sound did a digital job (basically bootleg) on the Keynote set - no alts though.

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