does it still make sense to buy cds?

[paul secor]

People will listen to whatever format(s) they choose to listen to. If you're happy with whatever you're doing, who cares about what others are doing? Just enjoy the music.

[AfricaBrass]

If Organissimo had existed in the early '80's, the title of this thread might very well have been Does it still make sense to buy LP's? Think that one through.

Good point. In the 80's and 90's, I was the guy buying up all the cheap vinyl possible. Just because most people decided that LP's were obsolete, they always kept their value with me, just as cds have kept their value with me. I've seen how these cycles work.

In my town, there's a bookstore that sells cds for 29 cents a couple days a month. I'm too broke to buy a lot of cds at regular prices, but at 29 cents each, I'm like a glutton at a buffet and I'm still being selective. I've purchased some great titles there. I won't even go into all the vinyl I got on the 19 cent sale (and it was all jazz!!!).

I can't imagine a day when I pay $1 a song for an mp3. lol

[AfricaBrass]

When I was listening to CDs only I would often program the tracks, skip certain tracks, change the song order of the album to my liking, etc. I even used to do this with a 5-CD changer, spend 10 minutes looking at the backs of the CDs to figure out which tracks from the 5 discs I wanted to hear and in what order.

Fast forward to right now and using the computer as the main stereo component, where I can choose from hundreds of albums to select tracks for a playlist. Or create smart playlists using certain criteria (record label, year range, genre, etc). Easily disassembling box sets into whatever configuration I want... Or just being able to instantly access the album I want to hear without having to search through a huge CD rack to find it.

After living this way for a couple years I've lost any nostalgia I once had for shoving a physical platter into a machine.

I think the new technology is wonderful! I love my Squeezebox and mp3 player. I love Spotify, and as you mentioned in another post, I use it to audition albums to see if they're worth getting. Every cd I get instantly gets ripped to .flac and I then also make .mp3 files. It's great!

But... I still love my cds. I love having the whole package. I love having an actual disc in case I lose the digital files. I don't trust having my music collection on a cloud managed by someone else. I guess I'm a bit of a control freak. lol

I guess my main issue with digital downloads is the price. I don't see the value in them. I know I can listen to the music, but I don't think I should pay anywhere near as much as I paid for a cd, since the music company didn't have to actually press a cd and distribute it. I don't think a digital download of an album should ever cost more than $5, and that would be for a lossless download. I just think this new business model is a rip off to the consumer and I'm not buying into it.

[AfricaBrass]

Absolutely. I don't detect any difference in the quality of my listening when I listen to an mp3 I've burnt to CD, listened to on an iPod or the same music played off a CD or LP (well, actually the quality of my listening is poorer with LP because I get irritated by the clicks and pops).

The medium is not the message.

I'm sorry to butt in, but I have to make a point. I'm not for cds made from .mp3 files. Any mp3 file has already been compressed. If I burn an mp3 file to a cd, it will still have the lower quality of the original mp3 file. If I buy a cd, the files on it are not compressed and are of a higher quality than an mp3 will ever be.

I love mp3's and have since the late 90's when they first came out. But I have to be honest, I've tested mp3s verses cds on my home stereo and the cd always sounds better. Even high quality mp3s ripped with EAC don't sound as good, on my home stereo, as cds. In my car, I usually connect my iPod to my stereo since, in the car, I don't hear the same difference I hear on my home stereo.

I'm not trying to be combative, but I'm sad to see cds go away and to be left with mp3s as the only alternative. I feel like it's a step in the wrong direction. If downloadable music was in the flac format, it would be easier for me to accept this change, but it would still have to be at a lower price for me to get behind it. lol

People will listen to whatever format(s) they choose to listen to. If you're happy with whatever you're doing, who cares about what others are doing? Just enjoy the music.

I respect your wisdom (and it applies to nearly everything in life).

Does it still make sense to buy CDs?

When this is on its way in April

I'd say HELL YES.*

However, when it comes out on Rare Live Records in May, then HELL NO.

Wow!!! I LOVE Hank Mobley! My son's middle name is Henry, so I could call him Hank.

I can't wait for this.

Edited February 24, 2012 by AfricaBrass

[A Lark Ascending]

I guess my main issue with digital downloads is the price. I don't see the value in them. I know I can listen to the music, but I don't think I should pay anywhere near as much as I paid for a cd, since the music company didn't have to actually press a cd and distribute it. I don't think a digital download of an album should ever cost more than $5, and that would be for a lossless download. I just think this new business model is a rip off to the consumer and I'm not buying into it.

How much of a CD price came from pressing, packaging, distribution?

Just one source...and I'm sure others will vary...suggests:

Retailer: $5 (29.4%), [now the website]

Record label: $4.92 (28.9%),

Distributor: $2.40 (14.1%),

Giveaways: $1.80 (10.6%),

Duplication/ recording: $1.10 (5.8%),

Artist royalty: 83 cents ,

Songwriter license: 60 cents (3.5%),

Producer royalty: 27 cents (1.6%),

Musicians union: 8 cents (0.4%).

http://blog.collins.net.pr/2006/05/cd-costs-breakdown.html

I imagine the costs I've highlighted in red are still there.

Prices might be different in the States but when I gave up on CD the full price in the UK was £15. Bought from iTunes/Amazon its normally £7.99 (half the price) and through e-music often as little as £3.00.

All I lose is the packaging - a sacrifice I learnt to make once I realised I only read liners once. Others will feel they lose audio quality but - apart from a few dodgy transfers in the early days - I can't tell any difference. And the dodgy transfers to mp3 are as nothing compared to the dreadful mastering to CD of many albums in the 80s (which fuelled the 'remastered' boom of the 90s+).

There are preference/aesthetic arguments for CD over download; but the economic argument falls heavily to download for me. Not to mention that you can hear a recording or read about it and be listening to it ten minutes later!

Edited February 24, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[AfricaBrass]

I guess my main issue with digital downloads is the price. I don't see the value in them. I know I can listen to the music, but I don't think I should pay anywhere near as much as I paid for a cd, since the music company didn't have to actually press a cd and distribute it. I don't think a digital download of an album should ever cost more than $5, and that would be for a lossless download. I just think this new business model is a rip off to the consumer and I'm not buying into it.

How much of a CD price came from pressing, packaging, distribution?

Just one source...and I'm sure others will vary...suggests:

Retailer: $5 (29.4%), [now the website]

Record label: $4.92 (28.9%),

Distributor: $2.40 (14.1%),

Giveaways: $1.80 (10.6%),

Duplication/ recording: $1.10 (5.8%),

Artist royalty: 83 cents ,

Songwriter license: 60 cents (3.5%),

Producer royalty: 27 cents (1.6%),

Musicians union: 8 cents (0.4%).

http://blog.collins.net.pr/2006/05/cd-costs-breakdown.html

I imagine the costs I've highlighted in red are still there.

Prices might be different in the States but when I gave up on CD the full price in the UK was £15. Bought from iTunes/Amazon its normally £7.99 (half the price) and through e-music often as little as £3.00.

All I lose is the packaging - a sacrifice I learnt to make once I realised I only read liners once. Others will feel they lose audio quality but - apart from a few dodgy transfers in the early days - I can't tell any difference. And the dodgy transfers to mp3 are as nothing compared to the dreadful mastering to CD of many albums in the 80s (which fuelled the 'remastered' boom of the 90s+).

There are preference/aesthetic arguments for CD over download; but the economic argument falls heavily to download for me. Not to mention that you can hear a recording or read about it and be listening to it ten minutes later!

I appreciate your thoughts and thanks for sharing this breakdown! It is very interesting to see who gets what. I certainly shows that Apple and any other seller of mp3's is the real winner in this whole situation. I guess the smartest move for the labels would be to sell their own music and freeze Apple and the others out of the equation.

I do agree with Paul Secor that, "If you're happy with whatever you're doing, who cares about what others are doing? Just enjoy the music." I guess for me, the whole move away from physical media has more to it than just the delivery method of music. I have spent my life in record stores and this is really the end of an era that I've enjoyed greatly. I have purchased a couple of downloads and I didn't have the same sense of ownership that I had with records and cds. Maybe this is one of the reasons that it's hard for me to embrace downloads only. Maybe in the end, it will save me a lot of money. I can't seem myself getting much enthusiasm to collect downloads. lol

The funny thing is that I have a Kindle and have no problems buying books for it. The only books I buy for it are fiction and are something I consider disposable in a sense since once I read them, I probably won't return to them for a long time. I buy these books on the Kindle because of the convenience. I agree, it is really cool to be able to get something within a few minutes. There are some books that I wouldn't buy on the Kindle because I'd rather have a hard copy. These are books that I will come back to often and have more value to me. Who knows, this might change as the display technology improves and search ability improves.

[A Lark Ascending]

I appreciate how difficult it is to break away. I bought LPs from 1970 to the late 1980s, CDs from 1985 through to a few years back. It took a leap in the dark to see if I'd feel any loss by going to download totally (apart from things not available as download). I recall being nervous about it, not quite sure if I wasn't spending money on things I'd eventually buy on CD.

It only took a year or so to come to the conclusion that I was happy with the download alone. Probably the biggest wrench was the packaging - until I realised that I didn't really need it.

One thing that accelerated the move was the collapse of the record shop in the UK. It became increasingly hard in the mid-2000s to find anything beyond the most popular in provincial cities. I was buying more and more CDs via online retailers (including many from the US). Downloading was the logical step for me.

I'm still one foot in the past though - I burn everything to disc and make a little sleeve that I stick in a plastic wallet. I still like the physical aspect of being able to take a specific recording down from the shelves and immediately see track list and musicians. Logically I should be past that; but somehow physical existence on the shelf reminds me what is there. I have a fear that I'd forget recording I have buried in an electronic storage system.

But that may well change with time.

As many have said, there is no right way. We all do what suits us at the time.

Edited February 25, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Shawn]

I appreciate your thoughts and thanks for sharing this breakdown! It is very interesting to see who gets what. I certainly shows that Apple and any other seller of mp3's is the real winner in this whole situation.

Apple doesn't make that high of a percentage on track sold via the iTunes Store. The label gets a bigger cut of .mp3/acc sales. Apple makes very little from per sale tracks, but they don't care because the real profit is in the sale of iPods, the store was just a necessity to get people purchasing the players.

Edited February 25, 2012 by Shawn

[AfricaBrass]

I appreciate how difficult it is to break away. I bought LPs from 1970 to the late 1980s, CDs from 1985 through to a few years back. It took a leap in the dark to see if I'd feel any loss by going to download totally (apart from things not available as download). I recall being nervous about it, not quite sure if I wasn't spending money on things I'd eventually buy on CD.

It only took a year or so to come to the conclusion that I was happy with the download alone. Probably the biggest wrench was the packaging - until I realised that I didn't really need it.

One thing that accelerated the move was the collapse of the record shop in the UK. It became increasingly hard in the mid-2000s to find anything beyond the most popular in provincial cities. I was buying more and more CDs via online retailers (including many from the US). Downloading was the logical step for me.

I'm still one foot in the past though - I burn everything to disc and make a little sleeve that I stick in a plastic wallet. I still like the physical aspect of being able to take a specific recording down from the shelves and immediately see track list and musicians. Logically I should be past that; but somehow physical existence on the shelf reminds me what is there. I have a fear that I'd forget recording I have buried in an electronic storage system.

But that may well change with time.

As many have said, there is no right way. We all do what suits us at the time.

I appreciate how difficult it is to break away. I bought LPs from 1970 to the late 1980s, CDs from 1985 through to a few years back. It took a leap in the dark to see if I'd feel any loss by going to download totally (apart from things not available as download). I recall being nervous about it, not quite sure if I wasn't spending money on things I'd eventually buy on CD.

It only took a year or so to come to the conclusion that I was happy with the download alone. Probably the biggest wrench was the packaging - until I realised that I didn't really need it.

One thing that accelerated the move was the collapse of the record shop in the UK. It became increasingly hard in the mid-2000s to find anything beyond the most popular in provincial cities. I was buying more and more CDs via online retailers (including many from the US). Downloading was the logical step for me.

I'm still one foot in the past though - I burn everything to disc and make a little sleeve that I stick in a plastic wallet. I still like the physical aspect of being able to take a specific recording down from the shelves and immediately see track list and musicians. Logically I should be past that; but somehow physical existence on the shelf reminds me what is there. I have a fear that I'll forget recordings I have buried in an electronic storage system.

But that may well change with time.

As many have said, there is no right way. We all do what suits us at the time.

Thanks for sharing this, I appreciate it. It's comforting that you've been able to make the shift to downloads and to be happy about it. I think my biggest block is just accepting that the world is changing. It's been so hard seeing the record stores disappear. I didn't realize how good things were before. I've had to get rid of much of my collection and I do admit that it's nice not being buried in music.

That's neat that you make your own discs. I go out of my way to make nice covers for use with my Squeezebox and if I'm ripping jazz, I make sure to put down all the discographical information.

[Teasing the Korean]

At these prices, hell yes! It's getting close to what it was like for buying vinyl in the late 80s/early 90s.

[AfricaBrass]

I appreciate your thoughts and thanks for sharing this breakdown! It is very interesting to see who gets what. I certainly shows that Apple and any other seller of mp3's is the real winner in this whole situation.

Apple doesn't make that high of a percentage on track sold via the iTunes Store. The label gets a bigger cut of .mp3/acc sales. Apple makes very little from per sale tracks, but they don't care because the real profit is in the sale of iPods, the store was just a necessity to get people purchasing the players.

Thanks for sharing this! I didn't know this, so the record companies making a greater profit off of each downloaded album now. I guess there's also the trend with young people to not purchase the entire album and just buy the tracks they want. I could see that cutting into a label's profit from missed album downloads.

At these prices, hell yes! It's getting close to what it was like for buying vinyl in the late 80s/early 90s.

lol - I'm with you on this!